As an unreconstructed Stones fan this film is a favourite slice of pop history. Andrew Loog Oldham as the Stones manager at the time was desperate to get the band on film after seeing the impact of the Beatles Movies. He was introduced to Pete Whitehead who had made a film called Wholly Communion which recorded Alan Ginsberg, Alexander Trochi and other giants of the poetry world performing to a packed Royal Albert Hall and in the process giving birth to what became the underground art movement of the 60's.
The original cut featured more of Brian Jones and in a move that may have started his marginalisation within the group Oldham had his footage trimmed and some footage from a London gig that showed the band being mobbed on stage inserted. This footage also featured in Whiteheads "Tonight lets make love in London". Oldham also inserted some music from the "Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra" doing some Stones tracks.
The rights to the film and its soundtrack became confused when the band became managed by Alan Klein and was completely unavailable for some years. A version released on video in the UK had all of the original music replaced by soundalikes.
My favourite scene is a drunken Mick Jagger doing an Elvis impersonation and a surreal moment when he poses for some snaps with an unidentified family. Also funny but sad is the moment Brian Jones is lost for words when Whitehead asks him to define the word "surealism".
