A Hard Day's Night | Page 4 | Fab forum

Both interpretations work. I have never seen it as anything other than John trying to put off someone he'd met briefly before and didn't want to get caught up with again. The other theory does work as well however. Here is the scene as it appears in the script:

48A. INTERIOR CORRIDOR AS BOYS PASS THRU ON WAY TO DRESSING ROOM

JOHN is behind them. JOHN, BOYS and MILLIE are walking towards each other.

MILLIE
(as all pass)
Hello.

JOHN
(stopping… the boys carry on past, not noticing her)
Hello.

MILLIE
Oh, wait a minute, don't tell me you're …

JOHN
No, not me.

MILLIE
(insistently)
Oh you are, I know you are.

JOHN
No, I'm not.

MILLIE
You are.

JOHN
I'm not, no.

MILLIE
Well, you look like him.

JOHN
Oh do I? You're the first one who ever said that.

MILLIE
Oh you do, look.

JOHN looks at himself in the mirror.

JOHN examines himself in the mirror carefully.

JOHN
My eyes are lighter.

MILLIE
(agreeing)
Oh yes.

JOHN
And my nose…

MILLIE
Well, yes your nose is. Very.

JOHN
Is it?

MILLIE
I would have said so.

JOHN
Aye, but you know him well.

MILLIE
(indignantly)
No I don't, he's only a casual acquaintance.

JOHN
(knowingly)
That's what you tell me.

MILLIE
(suspiciously)
What have you heard?

JOHN
(blandly)
It's all over the place, everyone knows.

MILLIE
Is it? Is it really?

JOHN
Mind you, I stood up for you, I mean I wouldn't have it.

MILLIE
I knew I could rely on you.

JOHN
(modestly)
Thanks.

MILLIE touches his arm then walks away. After a moment she turns.

MILLIE
You don't look like him at all.

JOHN winks at her and she winks back.

 I think it's John putting her off the scent. The only two Beatles with really distinctive noses are John and Ringo, to my mind. But there is the script, fabfouremily, and we all see different things, so which theory do you like?

(PS You wanted to kickstart the thread, think you've managed it!)

My favorite part of the movie, really, is their accents. It's a funny movie, and they have some good songs in there, but for me, their accents and faces are what make the movie so great. George is my favorite in AHDN, I find his parts the funniest. Also, is it just me, or were their accents thicker in AHDN than in Help!, MMT and Let it Be?

Is this what you're after?

Shot No. 57
Ext. Street

(PAUL comes down the street looking about him for RINGO. In the street is an old building, the sort of place that is highly favored for TV rehearsals. There is a sign on the door saying "TV Rehearsal Room." As PAUL draws near, a load of actors and extras, etc. are leaving, they are in costume, they are the ones who earlier had been going to a word rehearsal. When PAUL gets near the entrance he decides to go inside.)

Shot No. 58
Int. Hall

(PAUL enters and wanders about. He reaches a door, pushes it open and looks in. He sees a girl clad in period costume. She is moving around the room and obviously acting. PAUL watches her for a moment and then decides to go in.)

Shot No. 59
Int. Rehearsal Room

(PAUL goes into the room. The girl is in mid-flight. She is very young and lovely and completely engrossed in what she is doing. The room is absolutely empty except for PAUL and herself. She is acting in the manner of an eighteenth-century coquette, or, to be precise, the voice English actresses use when they think they are being true to the costume period… her youth, however, makes it all very charming.)

GIRL: "If I believed you sir, I might do those things and walk those ways only to find myself on Problem's Path. But I cannot believe you, and all those urgings serve only as a proof that you will lie and lie again to gain your purpose with me."

(She dances lightly away from an imaginary lover and as she turns she sees PAUL, who is as engrossed in the scene as she was.)

GIRL: (surprised) "Oh!"

PAUL: (enthusiastically) "Well…go 'head, do the next bit."

GIRL: "Go away! You've spoilt it."

PAUL: "Oh! Sorry I spoke."

(He makes an attempt to go. He simply continues to look steadily at the girl, then he smiles at her. She is undecided what to do next.)

GIRL: "Are you supposed to be here?"

PAUL: "I've got you worried, haven't I?"

GIRL: "Of course not. I asked who you are, that's all."

PAUL: "No you didn't, you asked me, Was I supposed to be here?"

GIRL: "I'm warning you, they'll be back in a minute."

PAUL: "D'you know something, 'They' don't worry me at all. Any road, I only fancy listening to you, that's all but if it worries you… well…"

GIRL: "Of course it doesn't worry me, I can…" (she interrupts herself) "…Who are you?"

PAUL: (smiling cheekily) "Another worrier."

GIRL: (accusingly) "You're from Liverpool, aren't you?"

PAUL: "How'd you guess?"

GIRL: "Oh, it's the way you talk."

PAUL: (innocently) "Is it…is it, really?"

GIRL: "Are you pulling my leg?"

PAUL: "Something like that."

GIRL: "I see. Do you like the play?"

PAUL: "Yeah, I mean, sure, well, I took it at school but I only heard boys and masters saying those lines, like, sounds different on a girl." (smiles to himself.) "Yeah, it's gear on a girl."

GIRL: "Gear?"

PAUL: "Aye, the big hammer, smashing!"

GIRL: "Thank you."

PAUL: "Don't mench. Well, why don't you give us a few more lines, like?"

GIRL: (pouts)

PAUL: "You don't half slam the door in people's faces, don't you? I mean, what about when you're playing the part, like, hundreds of people'll see you and…"

GIRL: (cutting in) "I'm not…"

PAUL: "Oh, you're the understudy sort of thing?"

GIRL: "No." (aggressively) "I'm a walk-on in a fancy dress scene. I just felt like doing those lines."

PAUL: "Oh, I see. You are an actress though, aren't you?"

GIRL: "Yes."

PAUL: "Aye. I knew you were."

GIRL: "What's that mean?"

PAUL: "Well, the way you were spouting, like…" (he imitates her) "'I don't believe you, sir…' and all that. Yeah, it was gear."

GIRL: (dryly) "The big hammer?"

PAUL: (smiling) "Oh aye, a sledge."

GIRL: "But the way you did it then sounded so phoney."

PAUL: "No, I wouldn't say that… just like an actress… you know."

(He moves and stands about like an actress)

GIRL: "But that's not like a real person at all."

PAUL: "Aye, well, actresses aren't like real people, are they?"

GIRL: "They ought to be."

PAUL: "Oh, I don't know, any road up, they never are, are they?"

GIRL: "What are you?"

PAUL: "I'm in a group… well… there are four of us. We play and sing."

GIRL: "I bet you don't sound like real people."

PAUL: "We do, you know. We sound like us having a ball. It's fab."

GIRL: "Is it really fab or are you just saying that to convince yourself?"

PAUL: "What of? Look, I wouldn't do it unless I was. I'm dead lucky, cos I get paid for doing something I love doing." (he laughs and with a gesture takes in the whole studio) "…all this and a jam butty too!"

GIRL: "I only enjoy acting for myself. I hate it when other people are let in."

PAUL: "Why? I mean, which are you, scared or selfish?"

GIRL: "Why selfish?"

PAUL" "Well, you've got to have people to taste your treacle toffee."

(She looks at him in surprise)

PAUL: "No, hang on, I've not gone daft. You see, when I was little me mother let me make some treacle toffee one time in our back scullery. When I'd done it she said to me, 'Go and give some to the other kids.' So I said I would but I thought to meself, 'She must think I'm soft.' Any road, I was eating away there but I wanted somebody else to know how good it was so in the end I wound up giving it all away… but I didn't mind, cos I'd made the stuff in the first place. Well… that's why you need other people… an audience… to taste your treacle toffee, like. Eh… does that sound as thick-headed to you as it does to me?"

GIRL: "Not really, but I'm probably not a toffee maker. How would you do those lines of mine?"

PAUL: "Well, look at it this way, I mean, when you come right down to it, that girl, she's a bit of a scrubber, isn't she?"

GIRL: "Is she?"

PAUL: "Of course… Look, if she was a Liverpool scrubber…" (PAUL starts acting a Liverpool girl, he mimes about then turns, extending his leg.) "Eh, fella, you want to try pulling the other one, it's got a full set of bells hanging off it… Y'what?… I know your sort, two cokes and a packet of cheese and onion crisps and suddenly it's love and we're stopping in an empty shop doorway. You're just after me body and y'can't have it… so there!"

GIRL: (shattered) "And you honestly think that's what she meant?"

PAUL: "Oh, definitely, it sticks out a mile, she's trying to get him to marry her but he doesn't want… well… I don't reckon any fellas ever wanted to get married. But girls are like that, clever and cunning. You've got to laugh." (He laughs)

GIRL: "Well it's nice to know you think you're clever."

PAUL: (grinning) "And cunning."

GIRL: "And what do you do about it?"

PAUL: "Me? Oh, I don't have the time, I'm always running about with the lads… no, we don't have the time."

GIRL: "Pity."

PAUL: (not noticing the invitation) "Aye, it is, but as long as you get by, it's alright, you know… bash on, happy valley's when they let you stop. Any road, I'd better get back."

GIRL: "Yes."

PAUL: (going) "See you."

GIRL: "Of course."

(PAUL stands at the doorway, shrugs, then goes out. After a moment the GIRL starts to act her speech. She is still using her actress voice.)

GIRL: "If I believed you sir. I might do…" (she breaks off and smiles) "…clever and cunning…" (she starts again but this time she delivers the lines in a saucy, teasing manner)

(PAUL pops his head back round the door.)

PAUL: "Treacle toffee…wowee!"

(He disappears and the GIRL laughs delightedly.)

(End of Scene)
 

The Examiner posted excerpts from Roger Ebert's reviews of AHDN and YS in their obituary.

“It was clear from the outset that 'A Hard Day's Night' was in a different category from the rock musicals that had starred Elvis and his imitators,” he wrote in his book “Roger Ebert: The Great Movies.” “It was smart, it was irreverent, it didn't take itself seriously, and it was shot and edited by Richard Lester in an electrifying black-and-white semi-documentary style that seemed to follow the boys during a day in their lives.”

and

“Unfortunately, most animated cartoon makers are content to reproduce the real world. So there’s a recognizable jungle in 'The Jungle Book,' and Tom and Jerry chase each other through an unmistakable living room,” he wrote. “The beauty of 'Yellow Submarine' is that it casts this objective universe aside and sails in a world of pure fantasy. The strange creatures and designs that inhabit Pepperland are simply a delight to the eye.”

Huge loss to the film community today. :'-(

parlance