"The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling - Ireland 1965"
Director: Peter Whitehead
65 minutes, November 6, 2012

ABKCO Films presents a meticulously restored and fully-realized version of this first-ever, legendary, but never released film.
Shot during a quick tour of Ireland just weeks after "(I Can t Get No) Satisfaction" hit # 1 on the charts, "The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling - Ireland 1965" is an intimate, behind-the-scenes diary of life on the road with the young Stones. It features the first professionally filmed concert performances of the band and documents the early frenzy of their fans and the riots the band s appearances inspired. The band is shown traveling through the Irish countryside by train; dashing from cabs to cramped, basement dressing rooms through screaming hordes of fans. Motel rooms host impromptu songwriting sessions and familiar classics are heard in their infancy as riff and lyric are united. Charlie is my Darling is the invaluable frame that captures the spark about to combust into The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.


"The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling - Ireland 1965" DVD incorporates the new 2012 version of the film as well as the director s cut and producer's cut, plus significant unseen additional performance and other footage shot in Dublin and Belfast in September of 1965.
"Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965" would make a worthy addition to a Rolling Stones collection under any circumstances, but considering how little performance footage exists from the band's early years--a five-song set on "The T.A.M.I. Show" and a few mid-'60s appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" are about it for official titles--that's even more true.
In what might be described as a shorter, more shambolic version of the First US Visit, Albert and David Maysles' chronicle of "The Beatles"' 1964 trip stateside, this hour-long documentary follows "The Rolling Stones" as they tour Ireland, a sojourn that roughly coincides with the release of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", their first massive worldwide hit.


The Rolling Stones in 1965, photo courtesy of Marc SharattRex

We see "Mick Jagger", "Keith Richards", "Brian Jones", "Charlie Watts", and "Bill Wyman" in a typical variety of settings: in cars (escaping the hordes of screaming teenage girls), killing time backstage, in hotel rooms (where Richards, who always has an acoustic guitar at hand, and Jagger work on new songs like "Sitting on a Fence", as well as ad hoc renditions of "Eight Days a Week" and other Fabs faves), on the train, in interview segments... and, best of all, on stage.


The Rolling Stones in 1965, photo courtesy of Marc SharattRex

The latter bits, featuring beautifully restored sound and visuals, are viscerally exciting, especially given the relatively low-tech equipment used by band and filmmakers alike; powerful versions of "The Last Time", "Time Is on My Side", "Around and Around", "Satisfaction", and others are by themselves well worth the price of admission.
This is "The Rolling Stones" in the days before drugs and depravity set in, when even the musicians themselves had no idea how long the ride would last ("The future as a Rolling Stone is very uncertain", says the soft-spoken "Brian Jones").