Info Wanted: 'A Hard Day's Night' / 'Help!' - AMC mono broadcasts? (+ Yellow Submarine 80s TV airings)

Hello,

Does anybody happen to have recordings/rips of the versions of A Hard Day’s Night and Help! that AMC used to show (back when they showed movies uncut and commercial-free)? The versions AMC showed were the original theatrical mono mixes, which have never been included on any commercial release. I’d love to hear how the films originally sounded, rather than the modern mixes’ jarring contrast between mid-60s optical for the dialogue/effects and modern digital masters for the songs.

Also, Yellow Submarine used to show up on local TV stations in the 70s/80s - does anybody have an off-air TV recording of that film, or any kind of tape copy predating the first VHS/laserdisc release? The reason I ask is because there is no official release of the film with its complete original mono soundtrack. The original VHS/LD was a stereo remix, and the mono track on the DVD is not completely mono; for some reason, there’s a 15-minute segment about between “All Together Now” and “Nowhere Man” which is a 2.0 fold-down of the 5.1 remix.

U.S. TV airings of “YS” from before the late-80s video release would have had the original mono soundtrack (and would also be the only way to get the U.S. exclusive “Beatles to battle” scenes in mono). I’m not sure if it ever aired in the UK or Australia (or any other country that would have shown it in English) back in the 80s, but I’d assume those broadcasts would have been mono as well (though possibly the UK cut).

Any Beatle fans here who might have any of these?

I saw that, thanks.

Still, I know someone (maybe not here) has the AMC versions...

The mono mixes of AHDN and Help! showed up in a bootleg set called "The Beatles Filmography." Anybody have this?

As far as Yellow Submarine, the Blu-ray will have the mono mix, but I'm not sure if they just recycled the version from the 1999 DVD with that one part being in stereo. FYI, it switches to stereo right after the end of "All Together Now", and goes back to mono after George says "I think I burnt me finger."

Technically, if you combined the mono mixes of "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Only a Northern Song" with a mono fold-down of the 1987 LD (which I believe is the original mono rechanneled to stereo during the non-song sections), you'd probably end up with a good simulation of the mono mix. Still, I'd love to hear that section in mono, and I hope it's intact on the Blu-ray.

There are two mono 16mm prints on eBay right now - one is faded, but the other apparently isn't. However, the unfaded print is about to end, and both of them are too expensive for me. I have no idea which cut is represented on either of these prints.'

The faded print is here. Buy It Now for 500 bucks: http://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-Beatles-YELLOW-SUBMARINE-Complete-Uncut-Feature-Film-Theatrical-/110873662574

The unfaded print is here. I will note that the reserve doesn't seem to be met, so this may end up being relisted: http://www.ebay.com/itm/EXTREMELY-RARE-16mm-film-Yellow-Submarine-1968-Beatles-UNIQUE-OPPORTUNITY-/290704540177?pt=US_Film&hash=item43af574211

Apart from 16mm prints, there is a preservation of a Christmas 1979 BBC broadcast floating around out there. Does anybody have this, either? It used to be online, but disappeared in the Great File Locker Purge...

Good news: I asked on SteveHoffman.tv about the mono track of the new YS release, and apparently it is 100% original mono. (And it's lossless to boot!)

The only thing that needs to be found now is a mono copy of the U.S. cut. It did air on TV in the 80s, I think. Even a faded 16mm print would work, as long as the sound is in good shape...

FYI, there's already a full frame LD transfer of the old US Cut of Yellow Submarine on the Pirate Bay. It's pretty good quality though I can't remember if it was IVTC'ed.

I have that rip. The LD was rechanneled stereo. It was good rechanneled stereo, but it wasn't the original mono.

I do think there should be a better rip of the LD. A mono reconstruction track for the U.S. cut could be done if someone could just find a mono element for the American "Beatles to battle" ending. Two 16mm prints sold on eBay recently, but they were prohibitively expensive.

I've heard there are preservations of TV airings, but I don't know of any American ones. Anybody have the 1979 BBC preservation, who can say which cut it was? I'm assuming it was the UK, but you can never be too sure...

SilverWook: I forgot to clarify that I don't have a laserdisc player, so I wouldn't be able to do anything with them. Or did you mean send me the files once you've ripped them?

If you meant send me the discs, just hold on to them, because they're of no use to me without a player, and I don't really have the money to buy one.

Just wanted to clear that up.

Oh OK, I'm fine with that.

I know they can't fit on a DVD, but I think every LD preservation needs an X9/X0-style raw video capture and lossless PCM WAV rip, at least as a starting point.

By X0/X9, I meant raw uncompressed AVI video into the computer, HuffYUV or whatever it's called. Like the X9 captures that were 8 gigs to a CAV side. All DVD recorders compress the video to whatever recording speed you set, right?

I'm sure your stuff looks great. I was just thinking...

Sounds good to me.

That sounds great! Can't wait. Very interested.

Finally, my prayers have been answered!

Will these be full-size VOB versions that can be burned to DVD?

Great! Thanks, schorman13.

Unfortunately, on both torrent pages on Demonoid, the message now appears: The torrent you requested was deleted by its owner or a moderator. Any plans for a re-up to an alternative torrent site?

EDIT: Never mind. The torrents are on Demonoid again.