AllMovie

This movie, which is actually three shorts assembled together into a feature-length release, exists (or once existed) in two forms -- it initially reached the US in 1965 with a running time of over 100 minutes, but in its reappearance in the video era, first from Rhino Home Video in a dark, redded-out print, and later on a DVD of high quality but questionable origin, it had a running time of 70 minutes. The difference was caused by the removal of the third of the short subjects, a modern dance piece set to Beatles music entitled "Mods and Rockers," directed and produced by Kenneth Hume, which provoked legal action over its use of the Beatles' compositions (performed on the soundtrack by the Cheynes), and the prominent use of the Beatles' name in promoting the feature. What is left is a set of entertaining clips of various British music acts of the early/middle-1960s, some great, a few near-great, a couple -- such as Millie Small -- downright groundbreaking, and most of them at least enjoyable. The performances are all lip-synced to the standard studio renditions, but it is interesting to put a face on some of the middle-level acts that never had a high profile, either in England or America, and also such figures as John Gustafson (later a highly respected bassist), of the Merseybeats; and it's also funny to watch such very straight-laced deejays as Alan Freeman trying to look, act, and sound cool introducing members of this new generation of British rock acts. There are better jukebox features of this sort, of course -- Go Go Mania (aka Pop Gear) comes to mind -- but those with a taste for the music and the period will get a kick out of Go Go Big Beat.