There was a part of me that reacted with some joy - "Another Beatles book!" - and a part of me that thought - "Another Beatles book? What new can be said?" As it turns out, a fair amount new can be said.

This book takes a deep look at The Beatles' five feature films (A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, and Let It Be) as well as some of their work individually in films and touches on the revised footage of Peter Jackson's Get Back and Ron Howard's Hollywood Bowl films and the animated Beatles series and the Anthology footage. And when I say "deep dive" I mean it - almost ridiculously so. I mean, is it important for us to know:

Hairdresser Betty Glasgow worked on Lolita, A Hard Day's Night, Alfie, Georgie Girl, To Sir With Love in the 1960's and such work after the 1960s as Empire of the Sun, Titanic, Tomorrow Never Dies, Saving Private Ryan, and three Harry potter films.

Probably not. But it does indicate the level of research that Matteo has put into this book. Anyone with any connection to a Beatles film, and especially anyone who then had contact with other noted films or filmmakers, is mentioned or acknowledged here. It can get distracting, but I suppose if I were inclined to a career in wardrobe or makeup or continuity or some such, it might be nice to see these.

While I might poke a bit of fun at the inclusion of some of these people and their role with the film, I will totally admit that I highlighted more in this book than any other book in recent memory. My highlights are generally movies I'm interested in watching - movies mentioned because of some often tenuous connection to the Beatles (such as The Girl on the Motorcycle, which featured Marianne Faithfull (she is heard on the song "Yellow Submarine"), and Up the Junction which included music of Manfred Mann).

The average Beatles fan may have a reaction similar to my initial take: "Yay! ... Really?" But any Beatles fan who is also a cinephile will find this to be a real treasure.

The book can be a bit of a slog at times, with all the minutiae, but it can also be a real delight. I definitely felt that I learned some new things about the Beatles (Subafilms Limited was formed by Brian Epstein and the company produced Gerry and the Pacemakers' Ferry Cross the Mersey and the Beatles' concert film at Shea Stadium!), and this book helped put into perspective the timeline of events surrounding the Fab Four's film work within their commitments for producing albums and going on tour.

Looking for a good book? The bottom line here is that Act Naturally: The Beatles on Film by Steve Matteo is maybe too dense with material that is only peripherally needed. And that it's condensed into only 350 pages means it's info-dump heavy without much analysis. Still, it will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the Beatles on film.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

An excellent and enthusiastic look into the film career of the Beatles. The Fab Four had a five film celluloid career that is given a well deserved deep dive by author Steve Matteo. It is filled with well done research and interesting facts only about the Beatles but the evolution of youth in British cinema.
This book is chock full of facts and nuggets that will entertain any fan. After reading it, you will get an entirely new appreciation for their contributions to cinema as well as the films themselves
Thank you NetGalley, Steve Matteo and Backbeat Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A must read for any level of Beatles fan. Since I am in fact a huge fan of the Beatles and a historian I loved every page of this book!

I found the author had forgotten the point of the book from the very beginning. He spends a large amount of time exploring British films and actors to set the tone of when the Beatles first film debuted. I completely agree with this approach but it went on too long and could have been condensed. Outside of discussing Elvis and the beach movie series, the rest of the examples have no tie-in to the Beatles. The book begins more as a study of British film history than anything to do with the band.

Beyond the first chapter, the author overloads you with so much information, but most of it is useless to the point of the book. So much could have been shortened to make the book more compelling but instead it feels like a chore just to get to any information about the Beatles making a movie. While some may find it fascinating to read about each piece of equipment used in Abbey Road Studios for various albums, I found it dry. It’s information like this about topics unrelated to the filming of the movies that made me want to give up on this book so many times. When the author finally gets around to describing filming, it reads more like a bullet pointed list of dates and locations rather than providing any type of visual or story affecting the days. I found it to be a misstep that the author never describes the plot of each movie before he begins documenting each day of filming.

It wasn’t until the last three chapters of the book where the author is more focused on the band than the music and movies of the times. It’s here where I was completely engrossed in what was going on and how the movies were made and what the motivations were. There’s no denying the book is chock full of information but I didn’t feel half of it was relevant to what the plot of the book was described as. Did I learn something? Absolutely. But it took too long to be entertained and up until then it wasn’t an enjoyable read. This book is definitely for the more analytical type or for the musician who will find each engineer and guitar used fascinating as opposed to the casual Beatles fan.

Thank you to Rowman & Littlefield for this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.