Magical Mystery Tour

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

Magical Mystery Tour
Directed by	Bernard Knowles The Beatles
Produced by	John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Gavrik Losey Dennis O'Dell
Written by	John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr
Starring	John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Jessie Robins Vivian Stanshall Mal Evans Ivor Cutler Derek Royle Victor Spinetti
Music by	The Beatles
Cinematography	Daniel Lacambre
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	26 December 1967 (UK release)
Running time	55 min.
Language	English
Preceded by	Help!
Followed by	Yellow Submarine

Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television film starring The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) that initially aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967. Upon its initial showing, the film was poorly received by critics and audiences.

Production

Despite being the shortest Beatles 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. ^[1] 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 include:

• 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
• Happy Nat The Rubber Man (Nat Jackley) chasing women around the Atlantic Hotel's outdoor swimming pool, a sequence directed by John. ^[2]

Much of the film was shot in and around RAF West Malling, an airfield in Kent that had recently been decommissioned.^[3] 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,^[4] 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. The visual sequence for the instrumental "Flying" uses aerial footage on tinted film originally intended for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Plot

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 (in a Bedford VAL Panorama) tour, focusing mostly on Mr. Richard 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 (Mandy Weet), conductor 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, Ringo and his Auntie Jessie argue considerably. During the tour, Aunt Jessie begins to have daydreams of falling 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, while Ringo ends up beating them all with the bus). The entire tour group also crawls into a tiny tent in a field, inside which is a projection theatre. There is a strange scene where the group walks through what appears to be a British Army recruitment office. The film culminates with the men of the tour group watching a strip show.

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 Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes's "Death Cab for Cutie" (sung by Vivian Stanshall himself).

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 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; it was not broadcast 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 was issued on 30 September 2008.^[5]

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."^[6] 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".

The documentary The Compleat Beatles (narrated by Malcolm McDowell) gave this description: "Largely a project of Paul's, the idea was to travel the English countryside in a bus filled with friends, actors and circus freaks, and to film whatever happened. Unfortunately, nothing did".

Songs

1. "Magical Mystery Tour"
2. "The Fool on the Hill"
3. "Flying"
4. "I Am the Walrus"
5. "Blue Jay Way"
6. "Your Mother Should Know"
7. "Hello Goodbye" (finale played over end credits)
8. "Death Cab For Cutie" (written by Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes and performed by their band, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
9. "All My Loving" (orchestrated, as background music)
10. "She Loves You" (played during the marathon with a carnival-style organ)

Release history on VHS and DVD

Videography

USA

UK

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• Magical Mystery Tour at the Internet Movie Database
• The Reel Beatles

v • d • e The Beatles John Lennon · Paul McCartney · George Harrison · Ringo Starr Pete Best · Stuart Sutcliffe Studio albums Please Please Me · With The Beatles · A Hard Day's Night · Beatles for Sale · Help! · Rubber Soul · Revolver · Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band · The Beatles · Yellow Submarine · Abbey Road · Let It Be U.S. albums Introducing... The Beatles · Meet The Beatles! · The Beatles' Second Album · Something New · The Beatles' Story · Beatles '65 · The Early Beatles · Beatles VI · Yesterday and Today EPs Long Tall Sally · Magical Mystery Tour Post-breakup albums Live at the BBC · Anthology 1 · Anthology 2 · Anthology 3 · Let It Be… Naked · Love · Solo albums Compilations 1962–1966 · 1967–1970 · Past Masters · Yellow Submarine Songtrack · 1 Filmography A Hard Day's Night · Help! · Magical Mystery Tour · Yellow Submarine · Let It Be Videography The Beatles at Shea Stadium · The Beatles Anthology · The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit · All Together Now Tours 1965 European tour · 1965 North American tour Discography Songs · Bootlegs · Outtakes Related people Allan Williams · Brian Epstein · Allen Klein · Derek Taylor · Lee Eastman · Neil Aspinall · Peter Brown · Mal Evans · Alistair Taylor · Apple Records · Dick James · George Martin · Geoff Emerick · Norman Smith · Ken Scott · Phil Spector · Jeff Lynne · Chris Thomas · Giles Martin · Dave Dexter, Jr. · Eric Clapton · Klaus Voormann · Harry Nilsson · Cynthia Lennon · Yoko Ono · Linda McCartney · Pattie Boyd · Jane Asher · Maureen Starkey · Olivia Harrison · Billy Preston · Rory Storm · Tony Sheridan · Horst Fascher · Andy White · Jimmy Nicol · Astrid Kirchherr · Magic Alex · Tony Barrow · Ken Mansfield · Peter Shotton · The Beatles' wives Related articles Beatlemania · Paul is dead · Record sales · Love · Lennon/McCartney · Fifth Beatle · The Beatles (TV series) · British Invasion · The Ed Sullivan Show · Abbey Road Studios · Apple Corps · Northern Songs · Harrisongs · Startling Music · The Beatles Anthology · The Rutles · Artists who have covered The Beatles · Songs covered by The Beatles · Beatles-Platz · Jeff Lynne and The Beatles · The Beatles: Rock Band · List of The Beatles concerts · The Compleat Beatles · Rubber Soul Project The Beatles portal