Movie-A-Day #40: A Hard Day’s Night (1964).

On the night of Feb. 9, 1964, America settled in to watch a quartet of virtually unknown Brits perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for the first time – and to witness history. The Beatles were already hugely popular in their native land, but Great Britain at that time was something of a pop cultural backwater. Real popularity meant having some success in America. But their Ed Sullivan appearances shot them into the stratosphere and launched the Beatlemania that would forever change pop cultural – and world – history. “A Hard Day’s Night” is a fictionalized version of that early success, and it captures John, Paul, George and Ringo at their young, frolicking best.