magical mystery tour (film)

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Magical mystery tour.

Release date: 27 November 1967

"It was like we were in another phase of our career you know we'd done all the live stuff and that was marvellous, now we were into being more artists. We got more freedom to be artists." PAUL

"If you think it was good, keep it, if you don't, scrap it." JOHN

"You have success with something that might have seemed like a far out idea, people had said wow this is great and so when we'd come back again George would be really quite keen to try, what other ideas have you got?" GEORGE

"And now we are going to play a track from Magical Mystery Tour which is one of my favourite albums because it was so weird I Am The Walrus, one of my favourite tracks because I did it of course but also cos it's one of those that has enough little bitties going to keep you interested even a hundred years later." JOHN

"The Beatles songs had started to sound more individual from Revolver onwards or even before then." GEORGE MARTIN

The Beatles devised, wrote and directed a television film called Magical Mystery Tour which was broadcast on BBC Television at Christmas, 1967

Even before Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, had hit the shops, the idea of the programme had been born and work had commenced on the title track.

It was decided that the soundtrack for the programme would be released on two seven inch discs which would be packaged with a booklet in a gatefold sleeve. The booklet contained stills from the show along with a comic strip telling the story. A lyric sheet was also stapled into the centrespread of the booklet. The EP was a runaway success and reached no. 2 in the UK singles chart, held off the top spot by their own single... "Hello, Goodbye".

In the US, the double-EP format was not considered viable so instead, Capitol Records created an album by placing the six songs from the EP on side one of an album and drawing side two from the titles that had appeared on singles in 1967. These titles were "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", "All You Need Is Love" - their anthem that had been broadcast around the world via Satellite in June. "Baby, You're A Rich Man" and their current single, "Hello, Goodbye". The US release made # 1 in early January 1968 and stayed there for eight weeks. Its initial chart run lasted 59 weeks.

1967 had certainly been a year of great achievement but it was also tinged with sadness. Brian Epstein, The Beatles' manager since 1961 passed away on 27th August, 1967 at the age of 32.

The US configuration for Magical Mystery Tour was later adopted by many other countries (including the UK in 1976). When the Beatles catalogue was first issued on Compact Disc in 1987, Magical Mystery Tour joined the core list of titles.

If they aren't already planning so, the Beatles should start planning their next full-length film immediately. After watching a rough cut of their 'Magical Mystery Tour', which BBC viewers can see on Boxing Day. I am convinced they are extremely capable of writing and directing a major movie for release on one of the major cinema circuits. The film sequences for the musical numbers are extremely clever. For 'Blue Jay Way' George is seen sitting cross-legged in a sweating mist which materialises into a variety of shapes and patterns. It's a pity that most TV viewers will be able to see it only in black and white. 'I Am The Walrus' has four of them togged up in animal costumes switching at times to them bobbing across the screen as egg-men. A special word of praise for Ringo, who more than the others comes over very, very funnily. But praise to all of them for making a most entertaining film. I only wish they would now put out a sequel made up from the parts they left on the cutting-room floor. NME July 20, 1967

Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

Directed by john lennon / paul mccartney / bernard knowles / george harrison / ringo starr.

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Description by Wikipedia

Magical Mystery Tour is a 52-minute-long British surreal comedy television film starring the Beatles which originally aired on BBC1 on Boxing Day, 26 December 1967, in a monochrome transmission at 8:35 PM. It was repeated in a colour transmission on BBC2 on 5 January 1968. Upon its initial showing, the film was poorly received by critics and audiences. The film received an American theatrical release in 1974 by New Line Cinema, and in select theatres worldwide in 2012 by Apple Films.

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Behind The Scenes Of The Beatles' 'Magical Mystery Tour'

David Bianculli

The Beatles look out of the Magical Mystery Tour coach skylight, on location in England in September 1967. Apple Films Ltd/Channel Thirteen hide caption

The Beatles look out of the Magical Mystery Tour coach skylight, on location in England in September 1967.

On Friday night on PBS, Great Performances presents a documentary about the making of a Beatles TV special from 1967 — Magical Mystery Tour — then shows a restored version of that special . Magical Mystery Tour has the music from the U.S. album of the same name, but it's not the album. It's a musical comedy fantasy about the Beatles and a busload of tourists taking a trip to unknown destinations.

It was written and produced in 1967, which was an incredibly fertile period for the Beatles. "Strawberry Fields Forever" came out that year, as well as "Penny Lane" and the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album. That was followed, a month later, by the live TV premiere of "All You Need is Love," broadcast globally. The Beatles, it seemed, could do no wrong. And then they did Magical Mystery Tour, which was televised by the BBC the day after Christmas — on Boxing Day — as a holiday special. A quarter of the British population watched it — and many of those hated it.

Back then, the 53-minute program was filmed in color but wasn't broadcast that way. Imagine the Sgt. Pepper cover in black and white, and you can imagine how much was lost in the translation. Reception to the TV special was so poor that the show wasn't even picked up in the United States — just the soundtrack. Eventually, the special was syndicated to some local TV stations and toured the college film circuit along with Reefer Madness. That's when I first saw it. But on a national level, Magical Mystery Tour has never been televised in the United States — until now.

On Friday — as always, check local listings — Magical Mystery Tour will be preceded by the new one-hour companion documentary , Magical Mystery Tour Revisited. This may be the first case on record in which a documentary about a film is longer than the film itself — but it's worth it.

The documentary, produced by Jonathan Clyde of Apple Films and directed by Francis Hanly, is wonderfully thorough. It explains how the idea for Magical Mystery Tour came about, and how Paul McCartney originally drew the concept as a pie chart — then shows the chart. It covers the origins of each number written specifically for the show, from the title song and "The Fool on the Hill" to "I Am the Walrus" and "Your Mother Should Know." It presents lots of outtakes and new interviews with McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Martin Scorsese, Terry Gilliam and Peter Fonda. It also includes a vintage interview with George Harrison, whose assessment of the 1967 TV special is as unfiltered as the program itself.

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It's a fine documentary — better, to be honest, than Magical Mystery Tour itself. But Magical Mystery Tour is so much fun to watch if you're a Beatles fan, that it serves up one joy after another. John Lennon serving shovels of spaghetti as a waiter in a dream sequence. John and George in a strip club, watching the house band singing a song called "Death Cab for Cutie" — which, incidentally, inspired the name of a much more recent rock band. And the closing production number, "Your Mother Should Know," which has the Beatles in white suits, dancing in unison down a giant staircase.

In addition to the PBS double feature, Magical Mystery Tour is also now available as a deluxe boxed set from Apple. It includes Blu-ray and DVD versions of the original special, a vastly shortened version of the documentary, and lots of extras, including outtakes and complete scenes that were cut out of the program before its 1967 premiere. These extras are every bit as entertaining as Magical Mystery Tour, and one segment is a minor revelation: singer-songwriter Ivor Cutler, seated at an ornate white organ in the middle of the English countryside, performing his composition "I'm Going in a Field." It must have been hypnotically bizarre then. It's hypnotically bizarre now .

It's no secret that I'm almost ridiculous in my enthusiasm for the Beatles. But for me, all this new Magical Mystery Tour material -- the restored TV special, the documentary, the boxed set — is like a perfectly timed holiday gift. The boxed set is expensive — but the Great Performances double feature is free. All you need is ... a TV set.

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Magical Mystery Tour (film)

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Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television special that served as The Beatles ' third film. It debuted on BBC1 in 1967 . It was poorly received by critics and viewers upon its release, but has now garnered a cult following of sorts.

• 2 Production
• 3 Distribution
• 4 Criticism
• 7 Theatrical Re-Release Trailer
• 8 External links

The film was unscripted and shooting proceeded on the basis of a mostly handwritten collection of ideas, sketches, and situations, which Paul McCartney called the "Scrupt". The situation is that of a group of people on a British charabanc bus tour (On board a 1967 Bedford VAL Plaxton Panorama), focusing mostly on Mr. Richard Starkey ( Ringo Starr ) and his recently widowed aunt, Mrs Jessie Starkey (Jessie Robbins). Other group members on the bus include the tour director Jolly Jimmy Johnson (Derek Royle), the tour hostess Miss Wendy Winters (Mandy Weet), Buster Bloodvessel (Ivor Cutler), and the other Beatles.

During the course of the tour, "strange things begin to happen" at the whim of "four or five magicians", four of whom are played by the Beatles themselves and the fifth by long-time road manager Mal Evans .

During the journey, Starkey and his aunt argue considerably. Meanwhile, Mrs. Starkey begins to fall in love with Buster Bloodvessel, who displays eccentric and disturbing behaviour. The tour involves several strange activities, such as an impromptu race in which each tour group member employs a different mode of transportation (some run, a few jump into cars, a group of people have a long bike they pedal). The tour also goes through a long crawl tunnel which leads to a set-up projector theatre, and involves a strange scene where the group walks through what appears to be a British Army recruitment office. The film culminates with the group splitting up to see strip shows.

The film is punctuated by musical interludes which include the Beatles performing " I am the Walrus " wearing animal masks, George Harrison singing " Blue Jay Way " while waiting on Blue Jay Way Road and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performing "Death Cab for Cutie".

At various times, an audience is seen when something funny or unexpected happens; for example, when John asks a little girl, Nicola, if she wants him to blow up a red balloon for her, she exclaims a straightforward "NO", prompting John to pull a face that says "Why do I bother?"

Production [ ]

Despite being the shortest Beatle film, nearly ten hours of footage was shot over a two week period. The core of the film was shot beginning on 11 September, and finishing on 25 September. The following eleven weeks were mostly spent on editing the film from ten hours to 52 minutes. Scenes that were filmed but not included in the final cut were a sequence where ice cream, fruit and lollipops were sold to the Beatles and other coach passengers, John, Paul, George, and Ringo each looking through a telescope, and Happy Nat The Rubber Man chasing women around the Atlantic Hotel's outdoor swimming pool, a sequence directed by John.

The coach used in the film was a 1967 Bedford VAL Plaxton with Panorama bodywork. The vehicle was new to Fox of Hayes in 1967.

Much of the film was shot in and around RAF West Malling, an airfield in Kent that had recently been decommissioned. Many of the interior scenes, such as the final ballroom sequence for " Your Mother Should Know ", were shot in the disused aircraft hangars. The exteriors, such as the "I am the Walrus" sequence, and the marathon race, were filmed on the runways and taxi aprons. RAF Air Training Corps cadets can be seen marching in some scenes, and during "I am the Walrus" an RAF Avro Shackleton is seen orbiting the group.

The mystery tour itself was shot throughout the West Country of England, including Devon and Cornwall, although most of the footage was not used in the finished film. The final striptease sequence was shot at Paul Raymond's Raymond Revuebar in London, and the sequence for " The Fool on the Hill " was shot around Nice, France.

Distribution [ ]

The film was first shown in the United Kingdom as a made-for-television film on the BBC; it was shown in black-and-white on BBC1, then in colour on BBC2 a few days later. The poor critical reaction to the telecast soured American television networks from acquiring the film, while its one-hour running length made it commercially unviable for theatrical release. It wasn't seen in commercial theatres in the US until 1976, when New Line Cinema acquired the rights for limited theatrical and non-theatrical distribution; it wasn't seen on American television until the 1980s in syndication. However, it was shown in 1968 at the Fillmore East in New York City as part of a fundraiser for the Liberation News Service. The critical reception in 1967 had been so poor that no one had properly archived a negative, and these later re-release versions had to be copied from poor-quality prints. By the end of the 1980s, MPI (via rights holder Apple Corps) had released the movie on video, and a DVD release followed many years later. An official rerelease is due out sometime in 2008.

Criticism [ ]

The British public's reaction to the film was scathing. Hunter Davies , the band's biographer, said: "It was the first time in memory that an artist felt obliged to make a public apology for his work." McCartney later spoke to the press, saying: "We don't say it was a good film. It was our first attempt. If we goofed, then we goofed. It was a challenge and it didn't come off. We'll know better next time." However, with the passage of time, McCartney's view of it has changed: "Looking back on it, I thought it was all right. I think we were quite pleased with it."

" Magical Mystery Tour (song) "

" The Fool on the Hill " " Flying " " I am the Walrus " " Blue Jay Way " " Your Mother Should Know " " Hello, Goodbye " (finale played over credits) " Death Cab for Cutie " (written by Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes and performed by their band, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) " All My Loving " (orchestrated, as background music) " She Loves You " (played during the marathon with a carnival-style organ)

Gallery [ ]

Theatrical Re-Release Trailer [ ]

External links [ ].

• Magical Mystery Tour on The Internet Movie Database
• "Beatles tour bus owned by Bournemouth University student"
• 1 Jim McCartney
• 2 The Long One
• 3 The Beatles (animated series)

Magical Mystery Tour (1967 TV Movie)

• User Reviews
• Paul runs around a field, then a beach, then stands on the edge of a cliff. I was worried he was going to fall off, even though I knew he wouldn't, seeing as I saw him live 50 years later (don't give me any of that "Paul is actually dead" conspiracy stuff).
• John Lennon feels like he's literally asleep for much of the runtime.
• George Harrison is being a good boy and remaining neither seen nor heard for long stretches of this movie.
• Ringo is just being regular old Ringo at least.

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Magical Mystery Tour (film)

Magical Mystery Tour is a 1967 British made-for-television musical film written, produced, directed by, and starring the Beatles . It is the third film that starred the band and depicts a group of people on a coach tour (including the band members) who experience strange happenings caused by magicians (also played by the band as well as road manager Mal Evans ). The premise was inspired by Ken Kesey 's Furthur adventures with the Merry Pranksters and the then-popular coach trips from Liverpool to see the Blackpool Lights . Paul McCartney is credited with conceptualising and leading the project.

Comic strip adaptation

Restoration, external links.

Much of Magical Mystery Tour was shot in and around RAF West Malling , a decommissioned military airfield in Kent , and the script was largely improvised. Shooting proceeded on the basis of a mostly handwritten collection of ideas, sketches and situations. The film is interspersed with musical interludes, which include the Beatles performing " I Am the Walrus " wearing animal masks and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performing Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes ' " Death Cab for Cutie ".

The film originally aired on BBC1 , in black-and-white, on Boxing Day , 26 December 1967. A colour transmission followed on BBC2 on 5 January 1968. It received mixed-to-negative reviews, [3] although its accompanying soundtrack was a commercial and critical success. The film received an American theatrical release in 1974 by New Line Cinema , and in select theatres worldwide in 2012 by Apple Films . [4]

The film was an attempt to combine the free-wheeling fun of Ken Kesey 's 1964 cross-country American bus tour aboard Furthur with the Merry Pranksters , [5] and the then-popular coach (bus) trips from Liverpool to see the Blackpool Lights . [6] [7] John Lennon stated that "if stage shows were to be out, we wanted something to replace them. Television was the obvious answer." [8] Most of the band members have said that the initial idea was Paul McCartney 's, although he stated, "I'm not sure whose idea Magical Mystery Tour was. It could have been mine, but I'm not sure whether I want to take the blame for it! We were all agreed on it   – but a lot of the material at that time could have been my idea." [8] According to McCartney, he had been creating home movies and this was a source of inspiration for Magical Mystery Tour . [8]

The script of Magical Mystery Tour was largely improvised. The Beatles gathered together a group of people for the cast and camera crew, and told them to "be on the coach on Monday morning". [8] Ringo Starr recalled: "Paul had a great piece of paper – just a blank piece of white paper with a circle on it. The plan was: 'We start here, and we've got to do something here …' We filled it in as we went along." [8]

The situation is that of a group of people on a British mystery tour [9] in a 1967 coach, focusing mostly on Richard B. Starkey (Ringo Starr) and his recently widowed Auntie Jessie ( Jessie Robins ). Other group members on the bus include the tour director, Jolly Jimmy Johnson ( Derek Royle ); the tour hostess, Miss Wendy Winters (Miranda Forbes, credited as Mandy Weet); the conductor, Buster Bloodvessel ( Ivor Cutler ); and the other Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison ).

During the course of the tour, "strange things begin to happen" at the whim of "four or five magicians", four of whom are played by the Beatles themselves and the fifth by the band's long-time road manager Mal Evans .

During the journey, Starkey and his Aunt Jessie argue continually. Aunt Jessie begins to have daydreams of falling in love with Buster Bloodvessel, who displays increasingly eccentric and disturbing behaviour. The tour involves several strange activities, such as an impromptu race in which each of the passengers employs a different mode of transportation (some run, a few jump into cars, a group of people pedal a long bike, while Starkey ends up beating them all with the bus). In one scene, the tour group walk through what appears to be a British Army recruitment office and are greeted by the army drill sergeant ( Victor Spinetti ). (Paul McCartney appears briefly as "Major McCartney", on whose desk rests a sign reading "I you WAS".) The sergeant, shouting incomprehensibly, appears to instruct the assembled onlookers on how to attack a stuffed cow.

The tour group also crawl into a tiny tent in a field, inside which is a projection theatre. A scene in a restaurant shows a waiter, named Pirandello (also played by Lennon), continuously shoveling spaghetti onto the table in front of Aunt Jessie, while arriving guests step out from a lift and walk across the dining tables. The film continues with the tour's male passengers watching a strip show (Jan Carson of the Raymond Revuebar ). The film ends with the Beatles dressed in white tailcoats , highlighting a glamorous old-style dance crowd scene, accompanied by the song " Your Mother Should Know ".

The film is interspersed with musical interludes, which include the Beatles performing " I Am the Walrus " wearing animal masks, Harrison singing " Blue Jay Way " while waiting on Blue Jay Way Road, and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band performing Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes ' " Death Cab for Cutie " sung by Stanshall.

• John Lennon as John, Magician #1 (Magician with Coffee), Ticket Salesman, The Eggman, Pirandello the Waiter, and The Narrator
• Paul McCartney as Paul, Magician #2 (Brown-Nosed Magician), and Major McCartney
• George Harrison as George and Magician #3 (Magician Looking Through Telescope)
• Ringo Starr as Richard and Magician #4 (Talkative Magician)
• Jessie Robins (as Jessie Robbins) as Auntie Jessie
• Derek Royle as Jolly Jimmy Johnson
• Miranda Forbes (as Mandy Weet) as Miss Wendy Winters
• Ivor Cutler as Buster Bloodvessel
• Mal Evans as Magician #5 (Magician Standing in the Corner) and a Passenger on the Bus
• Victor Spinetti as Sergeant Spinetti
• Neil Aspinall as Man with Hat on the Roadside
• Nat Jackley as Rubber Man
• Nicola Hale as Little Girl
• George Claydon as Photographer
• Maggie Wright as Starlet
• Shirley Evans as Accordionist
• Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as themselves

Shooting proceeded on the basis of a mostly handwritten collection of ideas, sketches and situations, which McCartney called the "Scrupt". Magical Mystery Tour was ultimately the shortest of all Beatles films, although almost ten hours of footage was shot over a two-week period. The core of the film was shot between 11 September and 25 September 1967. [10]

Lennon recalled in a later interview, "We knew most of the scenes we wanted to include, but we bent our ideas to fit the people concerned, once we got to know our cast. If somebody wanted to do something we hadn't planned, they went ahead. If it worked, we kept it in." [8] At one point, Lennon had a dream in which he was a waiter piling spaghetti on a woman's plate, so the sequence was filmed and included in the movie. [11] Some of the older actors, such as Nat Jackley, were not familiar with productions without a script and were disappointed by the lack of one. [8]

Much of Magical Mystery Tour was shot in and around RAF West Malling , a decommissioned military airfield in Kent , [12] [13] as it was not possible to book any London film studio at short notice. [14] Many of the interior scenes, such as the ballroom sequence for "Your Mother Should Know", were filmed in the disused aircraft hangars. The exteriors, such as the "I Am the Walrus" sequence and the impromptu race, were shot on the runways and taxi aprons. RAF Air Training Corps cadets can be seen marching in some scenes, and during "I Am the Walrus" a RAF Avro Shackleton is seen flying above the group. Some scenes were also shot in the nearby town of West Malling. [15]

The mystery tour itself was shot throughout the West Country of England, including Devon and Cornwall , [16] including three days filming women in bikinis at the Atlantic Hotel, Newquay . [17] Most of the footage was not used in the finished film. The striptease sequence was shot at Paul Raymond 's Raymond Revuebar in London's Soho district, and the sequence for " The Fool on the Hill " was shot around Nice , in the south of France.

The coach used in the film, a Plaxton -bodied Bedford VAL, carried the registration number URO 913E. The vehicle was new to coach company Fox of Hayes in 1967. The Hard Rock Cafe acquired the coach in 1988, and the vehicle is now completely refurbished . [18] In the race sequence, Starr himself drives the bus around the airfield racetrack. During the filming, an ever greater number of cars followed the colourful, hand-lettered bus hoping to see what its passengers were up to, until a running traffic jam developed. The spectacle ended after Lennon angrily tore the lettering off the sides of the bus.

The eleven weeks that followed shooting were mostly spent on editing the film from ten hours to 52 minutes. [ citation needed ] Scenes that were filmed but not included in the final cut include:

• A sequence where ice cream, fruit and lollipops were sold to the Beatles and other coach passengers;
• Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr each looking through a telescope;
• Happy Nat the Rubber Man ( Nat Jackley , especially recruited for his 'funny walks', which the Beatles had long been drawn to) chasing women around the Atlantic Hotel's outdoor swimming pool, a sequence which Lennon directed; [19]
• Mr. Bloodvessel ( Ivor Cutler ) performing "I'm Going in a Field"; and
• The band Traffic performing their song " Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush ".

For the psychedelic visual sequence during the song " Flying ", some of the flying footage from Stanley Kubrick 's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove was re-used. As told by editor Roy Benson in the BBC Radio Documentary "Celluloid Beatles", the film lacked footage to cover the sequence for the song " Flying ". Benson had access to the aerial footage filmed for the Dr. Strangelove B52 sequences, which was stored at Shepperton Studios . The use of the footage prompted Kubrick to call Benson to complain. [20]

Magical Mystery Tour was viewed negatively by not only critics, but also by many Beatles fans for, as Ultimate Rock Classic journalist Dave Swanson described it, "its stream-of-consciousness style." [21] In addition, it was broadcast in the UK on 26 December on BBC1 , which at the time only broadcast in black and white for technical reasons . [22] [23] [21] George Martin , the band's producer, later said: "When it came out originally on British television, it was a colour film but shown in black and white, because they didn't have colour on BBC1 in those days. So it looked awful and was a disaster." [24] Lennon later said: "What the BBC – stupid idiots – did, they showed it in black and white first. Can you imagine, around Christmas? And then they [the critics] reviewed it in black and white. It's like reviewing a mono version of a stereo record." [25] It was the Beatles' first critical failure. [26] [21] The film had a repeated showing on 5 January 1968, this time broadcast in colour, on BBC2 , [27] but there were only about 200,000 colour TV receivers in the UK at the time. [28] As a result of the unfavourable reviews, networks in the US declined to show the film there. [22] [29] Beatles aide Peter Brown blamed McCartney for its failure. Brown said that during a private screening for NEMS management staff, the reaction had been "unanimous ... it was awful", yet McCartney was convinced that the film would be warmly received, and ignored Brown's advice to scrap the project and save the band from embarrassment. [30]

On 27 December, McCartney appeared on ITV 's The David Frost Programme to defend the film. [31] He was introduced by David Frost as the "man most responsible" for Magical Mystery Tour . [29] Hunter Davies , the Beatles' official biographer at the time, said: "It was the first time in memory that any artist felt obliged to make a public apology for his work." [32] McCartney later spoke to the press, saying: "We don't say it was a good film. It was our first attempt. If we goofed, then we goofed. It was a challenge and it didn't come off. We'll know better next time." [33] He also said, "I mean, you couldn't call the Queen's speech a gas, either, could you?" [34] Writing in 1981, sociomusicologist Simon Frith said that the film was symptomatic of the transformation of "pop" into "rock", the latter being concerned with art and self-expression over mass entertainment. He described Magical Mystery Tour as "a willfully inexplicable TV special which put most of the audience to sleep" and added: "The Beatles were no longer in control of their time. Whereas they had once been able to seize on any idea and 'Beatlefy' it, make it common currency, they were now running vainly after a trend that was determined to leave the common audience behind." [35]

Magical Mystery Tour had its first US presentation at the Fillmore East in New York City on 11 August 1968, shown at 8 and 10 pm, as part of a fundraiser for the Liberation News Service . It was not seen in commercial theatres in the US until 1974, when New Line Cinema acquired the rights for limited theatrical and non-theatrical distribution.

McCartney later said of the film: "Looking back on it, I thought it was all right. I think we were quite pleased with it." He also commented in The Beatles Anthology DVD that the film features the band's only video performance of "I Am the Walrus". [ full citation needed ] In a 1993 interview, Harrison said the negative response from the press was "understandable too because it wasn't a brilliant scripted thing that was executed well. It was like a little home movie, really. An elaborate home movie." [36] As of 2019, the film carries a 64% approval rating at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , based on 14 reviews from professional critics, with an average rating of 5.3/10. [37]

In The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test , Tom Wolfe comments on the similarity between Magical Mystery Tour and the exploits of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters . In 1978, the film was parodied by the Rutles in their Tragical History Tour , "a self-indulgent TV movie about four Oxford history professors on a tour around Rutland tea-shops". [ citation needed ] In his Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years , Michael Palin said that the Monty Python team had considered showing the film, which by then had become commercially forgotten, as a curtain-raiser to their own 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail . They received permission from all four Beatles to view the film again, and did so at the Apple offices on 10 January 1975. Although the Pythons were interested, the idea did not go ahead. [38]

Following the January 1968 colour screening, the film was not televised in the UK until 21 December 1979, when it opened BBC2's "The Beatles at Christmas" season. [39] Its next UK broadcast took place on 1 November 1993 as part of MTV Europe 's "Beatles Day". [40]

A comic strip adaptation of the film's plot was drawn by British caricaturist Bob Gibson and printed in the sleeve of the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack album. [41]

The critical reception in 1967 had been so poor that no one had bothered to properly archive a negative, and later re-release versions had to be copied from poor-quality prints. [ citation needed ] By the end of the 1980s, MPI Media Group , through rights holder Apple Corps , had released the movie on video, and a DVD release followed many years later. [ citation needed ] It was also released in the VHS format. [42]

A digitally restored version of the film was broadcast in the UK on BBC Two and BBC HD on 6 October 2012, following an Arena documentary on its making. [3] Both were shown in the United States as part of Great Performances on PBS ten weeks later on 14 December. [43] [44]

On 22 August 2012, Apple Corps (via Apple Films ) announced a re-release of the film on DVD and Blu-ray along with a limited theatrical release, remastered with 5.1 surround sound . The DVD/Blu-ray was released on 8 October worldwide, with the exception of North America (9 October). [45] The new release included an audio commentary from McCartney and special features including interviews (from former Beatles and others involved with the project) and never-before-seen footage. Also released is a deluxe edition "collectors box" featuring the film on both DVD and Blu-ray, in addition to a 60-page book, and a reproduction of the original mono UK double 7" vinyl EP .

The 2012 remastered Magical Mystery Tour DVD entered the Billboard Top Music Video chart at number 1 for the week ending 27 October 2012. [46]

The songs in order of their use in the movie, written by Lennon-McCartney unless otherwise indicated:

• " Magical Mystery Tour "
• " The Fool on the Hill "
• " She Loves You " (played on a fairground organ , part of the general medley of background music during the impromptu race)
• " Flying " (Lennon/McCartney/ George Harrison / Richard Starkey )
• " All My Loving " (background music, orchestrated in the style of the "Pas de deux" section from Tchaikovsky 's The Nutcracker ballet) [47]
• " I Am the Walrus "
• "Jessie's Dream" (an instrumental, not released on any official audio recording)
• " Blue Jay Way " (Harrison)
• " Death Cab for Cutie " (performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) (Vivian Stanshall/Neil Innes)
• " Your Mother Should Know "
• " Magical Mystery Tour (Reprise) " (credited as "part of the full Magical Mystery Tour", but this is not the case)
• " Hello, Goodbye " (part, finale played over end credits)

Related Research Articles

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960, comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.

The Rutles were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series Rutland Weekend Television , later toured and recorded, releasing two studio albums and garnering two UK chart hits. The band toured again from 2002 until Innes's death in 2019.

Magical Mystery Tour is a record by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. It includes the soundtrack to the 1967 television film of the same name. The EP was issued in the UK on 8 December 1967 on the Parlophone label, while the Capitol Records LP release in the US and Canada occurred on 27 November and features an additional five songs that were originally released as singles that year. In 1976, Parlophone released the eleven-track LP in the UK.

" I Am the Walrus " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 television film Magical Mystery Tour . Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released as the B-side to the single "Hello, Goodbye" and on the Magical Mystery Tour EP and album. In the film, the song underscores a segment in which the band mime to the recording at a deserted airfield.

Neil James Innes was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the pioneering comedy rock group Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Python troupe on their BBC television series and films, and is often called the "seventh Python" along with performer Carol Cleveland. He co-created the Rutles, a Beatles parody/pastiche project, with Python Eric Idle, and wrote the band's songs. He also wrote and voiced the 1980s ITV children's cartoon adventures of The Raggy Dolls .

Apple Records is a British record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger and Billy Preston. In practice, the roster had become dominated by the mid-1970s with releases of the former Beatles as solo artists. Allen Klein managed the label from 1969 to 1973, then it was managed by Neil Aspinall on behalf of the Beatles and their heirs. Aspinall retired in 2007 and was replaced by Jeff Jones.

Apple Corps Limited is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in London in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. The name is a pun for its pronunciation "apple core". Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year. Other divisions included Apple Electronics, Apple Films, Apple Publishing and Apple Retail, whose most notable venture was the short-lived Apple Boutique, on the corner of Baker Street and Paddington Street in central London. Apple's headquarters in the late 1960s was at the upper floors of 94 Baker Street, after that at 95 Wigmore Street, and subsequently at 3 Savile Row. The last of these addresses was also known as the Apple Building, which was home to the Apple studio.

All You Need Is Cash is a 1978 television film that traces the career of a fictitious English rock group called the Rutles. As TV Guide described it, the group's resemblance to the Beatles is "purely – and satirically – intentional".

" Hello, Goodbye " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed by John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus", it was issued as a non-album single in November 1967, the group's first release since the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. The single was commercially successful around the world, topping charts in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Canada, Australia and several other countries.

Rodney Desborough Slater is a member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, playing saxophones and other musical instruments.

" Death Cab for Cutie " is a song composed by Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes and performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It was included on their 1967 album Gorilla .

Imagine: John Lennon is a soundtrack album of popular music compiled for the 1988 documentary film Imagine: John Lennon from songs written or co-written by John Lennon. Originally released that year as a double album, it now remains available on one CD.

" The Fool on the Hill " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 EP and album Magical Mystery Tour . It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The lyrics describe the titular "fool", a solitary figure who is not understood by others, but is actually wise. McCartney said the idea for the song was inspired by the Dutch design collective the Fool, who derived their name from the tarot card of the same name, and possibly by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

" Flying " is an instrumental recorded by the English rock band The Beatles which first appeared on the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour release. It is one of the few songs credited to all four members of the band: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

" Your Mother Should Know " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1967 EP and LP, Magical Mystery Tour . It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Titled after a line in the 1961 film A Taste of Honey , its lyrical premise centres on the history of hit songs across generations. McCartney said he wrote it as a plea for generational understanding and respect for a mother's life experience. In the Magical Mystery Tour television film, the song serves as a big production number in the style of a 1930s Hollywood musical. Some commentators view the sequence as cultural satire, as the Beatles are seen dancing and dressed in white evening tails.

" Magical Mystery Tour " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles and the title track to the December 1967 television film of the same name. It was released on the band's Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack record, which was a double EP in Britain and most markets but an album in America, where Capitol Records supplemented the new songs with tracks issued on the Beatles' 1967 singles. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they are commonly regarded as the most influential band of all time. Between 1964 and 1970, they appeared in five major motion pictures, beginning with A Hard Day's Night (1964) and ending with Let It Be (1970). From late 1965 to 1969, the group also appeared in several promotional films for their singles, which have been credited with anticipating music videos and the rise of MTV in the 1980s.

Larry Smith , often known as "Legs" Larry Smith is an English drummer of the satirical comedy jazz group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

The Beatles Anthology is a documentary television series on the career of the Beatles. It was broadcast on UK television in six parts on ITV between 26 November and 31 December 1995, while in the United States it was seen as three feature-length episodes on ABC between 19 and 23 November 1995. It was released in greatly expanded form as an eight-volume VHS set and an eight-disc LaserDisc set on 5 September 1996. The series was re-released on DVD in 2003, with an 81-minute special-features disc.

The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, the Bonzos came to public attention through appearances in the Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour and the 1968 ITV comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set.

• ↑ Harris, John (25 September 2012). "Fab furore: Is it time to re-evaluate the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour?" . The Guardian . Retrieved 22 November 2019 .
• 1 2 "Arena – The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, 1. Magical Mystery Tour Revisited" Bbc.co.uk, Broadcast 6 October 2012.
• ↑ "In Theatres" . Magicalmysterytour.com . Retrieved 3 February 2018 .
• ↑ "Magical Mystery Tour" . Beatlesbible.com . 16 March 2008 . Retrieved 3 February 2018 .
• ↑ "Blackpool Lights coach trip from Liverpool, Widnes and Birkenhead" . Fivestartravel.co.uk . Retrieved 3 February 2018 .
• ↑ George Harrison in Chapter 7.4 of The Beatles Anthology
• 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Beatles 2000 , p.   272.
• ↑ "A pleasure excursion to an unspecified destination" as per "Entry: mystery tour" , Oxford Dictionaries
• ↑ Lewisohn 1992 , p.   267.
• ↑ Beatles Anthology . Dir. Bob Smeaton. 1995.
• ↑ "The Beatles' bubbly" , BBC, 25 January 2007.
• ↑ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office Magical Mystery Tour Article" . Kentfilmoffice.co.uk . Retrieved 24 November 2021 .
• ↑ "Magical reminder of the Beatles in Kent" . 18 September 2017.
• ↑ "Plaque marks magical musical link to Fab Four" . 23 November 2015.
• ↑ "Beatles 'mystery' film discovered" , BBC. 19 April 2005.
• ↑ "Beatles fans celebrate Fab Four visit" . www.newquayvoice.co.uk . 20 September 2017 . Retrieved 4 April 2021 .
• ↑ Raul (2010). "Info about the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour bus" . Feelnumb.com . Retrieved 28 January 2013 .
• ↑ Lewisohn 1992 , p.   264.
• ↑ Sugar, John (Producer) (14 September 2013). "Celluloid Beatles" . BBC Radio 4 Documentaries . BBC . Radio 4 . Retrieved 22 August 2018 .
• 1 2 3 Swanson, Dave (26 December 2015). "How 'Magical Mystery Tour' Became The Beatles First Misstep" . Ultimate Rock Classic . Retrieved 18 May 2024 .
• 1 2 Everett 1999 , p.   132.
• ↑ Greene 2016 , pp.   38–39.
• ↑ The Beatles 2000 , p.   274.
• ↑ "John Lennon 1980 Interview" . YouTube . Retrieved 26 December 2020 . [ dead YouTube link ]
• ↑ MacDonald 1998 , p.   224.
• ↑ Miles 2001 , p.   291.
• ↑ BBC. "The 1960s – Television" . BBC. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014 . Retrieved 6 October 2012 .
• 1 2 Greene 2016 , p.   39.
• ↑ Brown & Gaines 2002 , pp.   254–55.
• ↑ Miles 2001 , p.   288.
• ↑ "Take a Ride Through The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour" . CBS Local Media . Retrieved 22 September 2012 .
• ↑ Beatles Database 1967 . BeatleBoy pages. Geocities.com.
• ↑ Davis, Andy: The Beatles Files , page 127. CLB, 1998.
• ↑ Frith, Simon (1981). "1967: The Year It All Came Together". The History of Rock . Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
• ↑ Genzlinger, Neil (13 December 2012). "The Beatles' Seat-of-the-Pants Movie" . The New York Times .
• ↑ "Magical Mystery Tour (1967)" . Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 21 March 2019 .
• ↑ Palin, Michael. Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years . NY: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006.
• ↑ Badman 2001 , p.   240.
• ↑ Badman 2001 , p.   512.
• ↑ "Bob Gibson" . Lambiek.net . Retrieved 16 January 2018 .
• ↑ The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (1990, HiFi Stereo, VHS) , retrieved 14 February 2021
• ↑ " Magical Mystery Tour Revisited on THIRTEEN's Great Performances Friday, December 14 at 9 p.m. on PBS," WNET press release
• ↑ " The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour airs on THIRTEEN's Great Performances Friday, December 14 at 10 p.m. on PBS," WNET press release
• ↑ "Roll up! Roll up! The Beatles invite you to make a reservation for the Magical Mystery Tour" . Apple Corps. 22 August 2012 . Retrieved 25 August 2012 .
• ↑ Billboard magazine Top Music Video chart, week ending 27 October 2012.
• ↑ "Nutcracker" , Seattle Weekly , 10 November 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
• ↑ "Beatles videos" . Rarebeatles.com . Retrieved 3 February 2018 .

Bibliography

• "At the Apple's Core: The Beatles from the Inside" by Dennis O'Dell, p.   68. ISBN   978-0720611168
• Agel, Jerome, ed. (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. New York: New American Library. ISBN   0-451-07139-5 .
• Badman, Keith (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001 . London: Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0-7119-8307-6 .
• The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology . San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN   0-8118-2684-8 .
• Brown, Peter ; Gaines, Steven (2002) [1983]. The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles . New York, NY: New American Library. ISBN   978-0-4512-0735-7 .
• Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology . New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-512941-0 .
• Greene, Doyle (2016). Rock, Counterculture and the Avant-Garde, 1966–1970: How the Beatles, Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground Defined an Era . Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN   978-1-4766-6214-5 .
• Lewisohn, Mark (1992). The Complete Beatles Chronicle: The Definitive Day-by-Day Guide to the Beatles' Entire Career . London: Hamlyn. ISBN   0-600-61001-2 .
• MacDonald, Ian (1998). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties . London: Pimlico. ISBN   978-0-7126-6697-8 .
• Miles, Barry (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years . London: Omnibus Press. ISBN   0-7119-8308-9 .
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The Beatles, ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ – Film Review

Going into the last quarter of 1967, the Beatles couldn’t get any bigger. Their masterwork, ‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ,’ pretty much changed the way pop music was made, sounded and consumed. They had transcended the rock ‘n’ roll ghetto, entering the final phase of a career that glided past pop music’s boundaries and into a wide-open realm of exploration and experimentation.

They were on top of the world, and nobody wanted, or could, tell them no. Which is how and why their third movie, ‘Magical Mystery Tour,’ came to be over two weeks in September of 1967. Conceived as a daylong travelogue, in which the Fab Four accompany a busload of family and friends to the sea, the 53-minute film was a kaleidoscopic-colored, and mostly improvised, trip into the overeager egos of the Beatles.

Each member gets his spotlight: John Lennon romping on the hillside during a musical interlude featuring ‘I Am the Walrus’; Paul McCartney (the driving force behind the project) ruminating on ‘The Fool on the Hill; George Harrison tripping out to ‘Blue Jay Way’; and Ringo Starr bickering with his aunt (played by an actress) for the duration of the tour.

But most of the movie is filled out by that tedious bus ride. Just to show you how desperate the filmmakers were for material, somebody plays an accordion and everyone else sings along. There's also bizarre sketches featuring the quartet dressed as magicians and a dreamlike love-story vignette that doesn’t include any of the Beatles.

‘Magical Mystery Tour’ originally aired on British television on Dec. 26, 1967, and bombed, proving that the Beatles were fallible after all. It’s easy to see why: The movie is a mess – incoherent, unfunny and an example of ego and authority running rampant and unchecked. It only comes to life during the musical numbers, especially the great ‘I Am the Walrus’ sequence, a music video before there was such a thing.

The restored DVD and Blu-ray includes a stellar soundtrack remix, ensuring that the movie’s watchable moments sound terrific. Extras include interviews with McCartney, Starr and some of the cast and crew, as well as commentary by McCartney, who readily admits that ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ isn’t one of the Beatles’ best moments. We couldn’t agree more.

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• Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.44 x 6.74 x 5.34 inches; 1.1 ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ 8549059
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Multiple Formats, Blu-ray
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 53 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ October 9, 2012
• Actors ‏ : ‎ The Beatles
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ Italian, French, German, English, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Danish
• Language ‏ : ‎ Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Capitol
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008RTE09S
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Filming: Magical Mystery Tour

The first full day of filming for The Beatles’ television film Magical Mystery Tour took place in the south west of England.

The coach had arrived in Teignmouth in Devon on the previous night, and the party stayed at the Royal Hotel. Following breakfast on this day, the coach set off once again and headed for the Dartmoor village of Widecombe.

The annual village fair was being held in Widecombe, and it was decided that filming should take place there. However, the driver Alf Manders took a shortcut in order to beat traffic queues, and the coach became stuck on a narrow bridge.

The coach had to be reversed for half a mile, and tempers frayed on board. Footage was made of on-board arguments, though none was used. In the end The Beatles decided to abandon the trip to the fair, disappointing some local fans who had heard about their impending arrival.

The mystery trip continued instead to Plymouth on the A38. The party had lunch in the Grand Hotel, situated on the famous Plymouth Hoe, where The Beatles posed for photographers from national newspapers.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney were also interviewed by BBC TV reporter Hugh Scully. The interview was shown as the lead item on the local news programme Spotlight South West on the following day from 5.55pm.

The party then boarded the coach once more, and continued along the A38. Stops were made at Liskeard and Bodmin – where filming took place outside West End Dairy in Higher Bore Street and on Paull Road. For the latter scene, the courier Jolly Jimmy Johnson, played by Derek Royle, boarded the coach and welcomed everybody. The sequence was used at the beginning of the film.

The final destination for the day was the Atlantic Hotel on Dane Road, Newquay. The Beatles had intended to stay for just one night, but eventually decided to use it as a base for three nights. They slept in four holiday flats.

Also on this day...

Want more? Visit the Beatles history section .

Latest Comments

The Jolly Jimmy Johnson scene wasn’t filmed on Paull [sic] Road, a dead-end road, but just along the road from the dairy also on High Bore Street.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.4713197,-4.7305131,3a,75y,251.82h,83.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZ46bHgGlwKsf2-64os9Axg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656