| The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover of The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit | |
| Directed by | Albert and David Maysles |
| Produced by | Stanley Hirson |
| Starring | John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Ed Sullivan Murray The K |
| Distributed by | MPI Home Video (1991) Apple Films (2004) |
Release dates | VHS/Laserdisc: 13 November 1991 DVD: 3 February 2004 (United States) 9 February 2004 (other countries)[1][2] |
Running time | 83 mins |
| Language | English |
The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit is a 1990 re-edited version of the 1964 16mm documentary What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A., about the Beatles' first visit to America in February 1964. Made by documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles, it documents the Beatles' U.S. trip as they travel to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Miami Beach. Most of the non-musical footage is of the Beatles in hotel rooms, often acting irreverently in front of the camera.
The new version is 83 minutes long, two minutes longer than the original.[3][4] Among other changes, it adds 22 minutes[5] of the Beatles' live recorded performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and removes several scenes with Brian Epstein.[6]
The original film premiered on 13 November 1964 as a special episode of the CBS variety series The Entertainers. It is still shown at various festivals, such as Silverdocs in 2008,[7] and was shown at a special screening at the Maysles Cinema in New York on 18 November 2011 in honor of Albert Maysles' 85th birthday.[8]