Best Music Movies of 1964

Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.

Hailed by one music reviewer as "the grooviest, wildest, slickest hit ever to pound the screen," "The T.A.M.I. Show" is an unrelenting rock spectacular starring some of the greatest pop performers of the 60s. These top recording idols - representing the musical moods of London, Liverpool, Hollywood and Detroit - packed the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium with 2,600 screaming fans and virtually brought down the house. This is the cinematic record of that electrifying event.

Elvis plays a bad-boy singer roaming the highways on his Japanese motorcycle; laid up after an accident, he joins a carnival owned by the feisty Barbara Stanwyck.

In prohibition-era Chicago, the corrupt sheriff and Guy Gisborne, a south-side racketeer, knock off the boss Big Jim. Everyone falls in line behind Guy except Robbo, who controls the north side. Although he's out-gunned, Robbo wants to keep his own territory. A pool-playing dude from Indiana and the director of a boys' orphanage join forces with Robbo; and, when he gives some money to the orphanage, he becomes the toast of the town as a hood like Robin Hood. Meanwhile, Guy schemes to get rid of Robbo, and Big Jim's heretofore unknown daughter Marian appears and goes from man to man trying to find an ally in her quest to run the whole show. Can Robbo hold things together?

Lucky Jackson arrives in town with his car literally in tow ready for the first Las Vegas Grand Prix - once he has the money to buy an engine. He gets the cash easily enough but mislays it when the pretty swimming pool manageress takes his mind off things. It seems he will lose both race and girl, problems made more difficult by rivalry from Elmo Mancini, fellow racer and womaniser.

The buoyant Molly Brown has survived the first crisis of her life—a flood. Sixteen years later she sets out to make her way in the world. She assures the Leadville saloon keeper that she can sing and play the piano, and learns quickly. Soon she marries Johnny Brown, who in a few years will be able to replace the original cigar wrapper wedding ring with a replica in gold and gemstones. The Browns head for Europe and bring a few crowned heads back to Denver for a party that turns into a ballroom brawl. Molly goes to Europe alone, returning on the Titanic. She didn't survive a flood as a baby for the story to end here.

Neighboring widowers plot to romantically unite their son and daughter by pretending to feud and forbidding the two children to associate with each other. Their scheme works and the two youngsters fall head-over-heels in love. To end their "feud" the fathers hire a bandit and his henchmen to fake an abduction and allow the son to rout the assailants. The plan works, but the two love birds discover that requited love is much less exciting than forbidden romance and they break off their relationship. Matt, the son, resolves to see the world and receives a severe buffeting, while Luisa, the daughter, has an unhappy romance with the bandit, who steals her most precious possession, her mother's necklace. Matt returns, sadder but wiser, and the two former lovers reunite.

A private investigator endures the rigors of an insane asylum in order to locate $1 million in stolen loot.

New York, USA, February 1964. Five grueling days in the life of George, John, Paul and Ringo, the Fab Four, The Beatles: the hysterical fan reception at JFK airport; several press conferences; in their rooms at the Plaza Hotel; in the backstage at the Ed Sullivan Show; hanging out with the legendary DJ Murray the K; and the frantic return home.

A millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.

Local beach-goers find that their beach has been taken over by a businessman training a stable of body builders.

Five seamen and a passenger are intent on making the most of the 14 hours they will spend in London.

A Martian teenager sent to prepare for an invasion falls in love with an Earth girl.

An Army officer returns to the Smoky Mountains and tries to convince his kinfolk to allow the Army to build a missile site on their land. Once he gets there, he discovers he has a look-alike cousin.

A trio of gorgeous American tourists hope to find love while vacationing in Spain. Secretary Maggie Williams falls hard for a married newsman named Paul Barton while fighting off the advances of one of his employees. Singer Fran Hobson sets her sights on a handsome European doctor. And coed Susie Higgins receives an unexpected proposal from smooth-talking womanizer Emilio Lacaya.

The story of the country and western singer Hank Williams.

Sam Costa is a man about town, dispensing wisdom and witty quips from the bed of his Space Age bachelor bad whilst watching a stream of musical performances on his picture wall

A cutout of a woman's silhouette is displayed in many locations while a free jazz soundtrack is heard. The jazz musicians will pose later for the camera in a studio.

Cliff Richard and The Shadows are hired to star in a movie shot amid the lush tropical scenery of the Canary Islands. A sunny seaside spectacular, filled with romance, excitement and high spirits - not to mention a dozen musical numbers.

While at his workshop in Puerto Rico, Pablo Casals prepares to conduct a Bach suite for a concert performance. Oscar Winner for the category "Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects"

Radioactive waste dumped off the coastline creates mutant monsters. The beasts attack slumber parties, beaches, tourists, and terrorize a waterfront community as a scientist, his daughter, her boyfriend and the local police try to find a way to stop them.

Little Richard, The Shirelles and Sounds Incorporated perform on UK television in 1964. Songs include: "Rip It Up," "Lucille," "Long Tall Sally," "Everybody Loves A Lover" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (The Shirelles), "I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy," "Send Me Some Lovin'," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "Hound Dog," "Good Golly Miss Molly," "Tutti Frutti," and "Jenny Jenny."

This classic show was one of Judy's last appearances at the historic Palladium Theatre in London. This unforgettable night also marked a young Liza Minelli's first public stage performance with her legendary mother. Witness Garland's exquisite talent as she performs the most-loved songs of her career while a budding Liza Minnelli more than holds her own offering a glimpse of the performative talent that would eventually launch a stunning career of her own.

Jazz vocalist Dave Lambert auditions a new group of singers at RCA Studios in 1964.

Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The musical story of THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA, this television adaption of the 1959 Broadway hit was videotaped in black and white in front of a live audience and featured Burnett, Bova, Gilford, and White from the original Broadway cast, as well as new principals Bill Hayes as the Minstrel, Shani Wallis as Lady Larken and Elliott Gould (in his first appearance on any screen) as the Jester. Due to the reduced running time of 90 minutes, several songs and scenes were either cut or shortened. The conflict concerning Sir Harry and Lady Larkin was downplayed so that they were married in secret.

The show opens on an image of the Globe Theatre, with Ringo Starr unfurling a flag with the legend "Around The Beatles". The studio setting is arranged as a theater in the round, (hence the show's name) echoing the seating arrangement of the Globe. The opening act is a humorous rendition of the "play within a play", Pyramus and Thisbe (Act V, Scene I) from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Paul McCartney as Pyramus, John Lennon as his lover Thisbe, George Harrison as Moonshine, and Starr as Lion.

Abridged version of the classic Cole Porter musical.

The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the 9th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR), the contest was held at Tivolis Koncertsal on Saturday 21 March 1964, and was hosted by Danish TV speaker Lotte Wæver.

The Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes is a 1964 short film directed by Robert Clouse. In Storyville, New Orleans, jazz trumpeter Jimmy Blue Eyes is occupied by a series of high-stakes games. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Two bands practice and then rehearse at a celebration of the life and work of Frantisek Kmoch. At the same time the film shows motorbikers training for and then competing on a race.

Sharda, a college student and the daughter of a wealthy educationist, marries Vijay, a college professor, against her father's wishes. Things take a turn when Vijay meets with an accident.

An aspiring young singer unexpectedly gets her big break by inventing a specialized clothes rack.

Prince David is having trouble finding a bride amongst the maidens of the village, so his father decides to hold a masked ball. Sinderella, an adopted French orphan, puts up with abuse from her stepmother and two stepsisters, and is not allowed to go to the ball. She is despondent until her inebriated fairy godfather appears and fixes her up real pretty and sends her on to the ball, with the admontion that she must return by midnight. Sinderella and the Prince get along famously, but the time flies and she leaves in a hurry, dropping her gilded support in her haste. The Prince mounts a desperate search for his loved one, requiring all the maidens of the village to try on the forgotten garment.

A young music student faces expulsion after her instructors learn she is moonlighting as a pop-music writer.

An animated short based on the cartoons of Gerard Hoffnung.

Bob Dylan plays his seminal acoustic track, Mr Tambourine Man at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island in 1964.

Starring Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, and Marty Robbins along with appearances by Ray Price, June Carter, and Ernest Tubb (and many more!), this film takes you back to the country music of 1960's Nashville. Don't miss these country legends perform classic country and western tunes.

Cameras from the Australian Channel 9 recorded the sixth and final show of the Melbourne leg of The Beatles' world tour on 17 June 1964. It was screened on 1 July 1964 as an hour-long special, The Beatles Sing For Shell, named after the oil company which sponsored the broadcast. Nine of The Beatles' Melbourne performances were included in the show (the others edited out and discarded at the insistence of Beatles manager Brian Epstein): I Saw Her Standing There, You Can't Do That, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Buy Me Love, Twist And Shout and Long Tall Sally. The complete unedited concert (from an alternate audio feed) was also aired on Australian radio.

Daphne, Op. 82, is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, subtitled "Bucolic Tragedy in One Act". The German libretto was by Joseph Gregor. The opera is based loosely on the mythological figure Daphne from Ovid's Metamorphoses and includes elements taken from The Bacchae by Euripides.

Documentary following the 1964 groundbreaking Beatles tour of Australia.

First transmitted in 1964, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem is performed at the Royal Albert Hall. The Melos Ensemble is conducted by Benjamin Britten, and the performers include Heather Harper (soprano), Peter Pears (tenor), Thomas Hemsley (baritone) and Simon Preston (organ and chamber organ). Also featured are the BBC Chorus and Choral Society, Boys from Emanuel School, London Philharmonic Choir, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

A 16 minute short comprising 2 acts of a 1964 event where an innovative group of musicians performed on a real railroad track. The audience on one side of the tracks and the musicians on the station side.

A short modern dance film which utilized the songs of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison as performed by a band called the Cheynes (featuring Mick Fleetwood on drums). The short film was later folded into a full-length program alongside a pair of jukebox shorts, Swinging UK and UK Swings Again, retitled Go Go Big Beat for U.S. release. The original promotional synopsis for the film describes it as follows: "A symbolic ultra modern coffee bar sets the scene for a girl in gold lame jeans, bolero and bootees, to start moving to the pulsating rhythms beating out from a glittering juke box. As the music becomes progressively louder and more frantic, so the dancer increases the speed of her lithe movements to keep pace with the tempo. A boy starts to dance with this red-headed dynamo of a girl, but is repelled when she accepts the advances of a second boy. The two men vie for her attentions."