Skip to content
- Cat.no: DC10008
- Released: March 2006
- Format: DVD 9
- Rating: 8/10
- Running time: 60 minutes
- Region: 2, PAL
- Widescreen: 16:9
- Sound: Dolby Stereo 2.0
- Classification: E (Exempt)
- Languages: English
- Retail price: £12.99
- Extras: Bonus Gallery of Stuart Sutcliffe’s artwork
Before Beatlemania gripped the world in 1964,the Fab Four were cuttingtheir teeth on the seedy Reeperbahn strip in the seaport city of Hamburg.The then Beatles line-up consisted of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, GeorgeHarrison and Stuart Sutcliffe.
As it turned out, it would be more than justanother round of gigs for Sutcliffe and co. A series of key events wouldreshape the group forever. The sensitive Scotsman, nicknamed The James Deanof Hamburg, had a huge artistic influence on The Beatles early days.Indirectly, he created the prototype Beatles that would conquer the world.
Despite his great love of music, it was his art and love for Germanphotographer Astrid Kircherr that lead him to eventually quit the group.This remarkable and tragic story is of a potentially significant artist(described as a late Abstract Expressionist) who never fully realised hisambitions.
Close friend Klaus Voorman believed his life had been condensedinto a short moment in time. In Astrids words it was, “Unconceivable that ayoung man so full of life and talent could drop dead”. His death at the ageof 21 was caused by a brain haemorrhage, dying in her arms. The autopsyshowed an indentation in the skull. For some time he complained of weightloss, sever headaches and bouts of fainting.
Using his own words andinterviews by his nearest and dearest, sister Pauline Sutcliffe, fiancéeAstrid Kircherr (who would become a mother figure to the group and initiatedthe Mop Top hairstyle), singer Tony Sheridan who the Beatles brieflybacked, college friend Rod Murray, friend Klaus Voorman and first Beatlesmanager Allan Williams, were given an insight into his thoughts andcharacter.
Theres a guided tour of old haunts both in Liverpool (Ye Crack)and Hamburg (Bambi Kino Cinema and Kaiserkeller), places Lennon andSutcliffe lived and venues they played. Some of their existence was quitepitiful, particularly in Germany. In one of his letters home, he wrote,“Hamburg has little quality except the kind youd find in a test tube ofsewer water its a vast amoral jungle”. Sutcliffe described Lennon as,“Self-centred – always a loyal friend.”. Theres no doubt it was an intensefriendship, and one gets the impression Lennon was jealous of him.
When the Sutcliffe / Kircherr relationship blossomed, he enrolled at theHamburg State Art College, to do a BA degree, though spiritually, he hopedto play some part in their future in some artistic way. The reality oflove and art appeared to win over the illusion of fame and fortune, eventhough he believed they would make it.
Through the DVD we see archive footage and stills of the group, Sutcliffespaintings which appear to transcribe his suffering, andinterestingstories.
Astrids remorse remains acute: she still has a photograph of Sutcliffe byher bed.
Well documented and worth viewing at just the right running time of onehour.
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.