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Yellow Submarine is a 1968 animated feature film based on the music of the Beatles. It is also the title for the soundtrack album to the feature film, released as part of the Beatles' music catalogue. The film was directed by Canadian-born animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists and King Features Syndicate. The Beatles themselves appear only in the closing scene of the film.
PlotSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Pepperland is a cheerful music-loving paradise located "80,000 leagues under the sea", and is named after and protected by Sergeant Pepper of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band fame. It is attacked by the music-hating Blue Meanies who seal the Band inside a musicproof sphere, then turn the Pepperlanders into statues and drain the country itself of colour.
Reunited with Old Fred and the submarine, they imitate Sgt. Pepper's band, and "rally the land to rebellion". Jeremy is rescued, colour and flowers rebloom, the original Sgt. Pepper's band is released, and Pepperland is restored. In the end, the heroes make peace with the Meanies, and everyone lives happily ever after. Afterward, the real Beatles, who have returned home, playfully show off their souvenirs. However, John spots "newer and bluer" Meanies in the vacinity and cheerfully comments there's only one thing left to do: sing. The quartet obliges with a reprise of "All Together Now" which ends with various translations of the song's title appearing in sequence on the screen. ProductionReleased at the height of the psychedelic pop culture period of the 1960s, the movie Yellow Submarine was a box-office hit, drawing in crowds both for its lush, wildly creative images, and its soundtrack of Beatles songs. The original story was written by Lee Minoff, based on the song by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and the screenplay penned by four collaborators including Erich Segal.
The dialogue is littered with puns, double entendres, and Beatles in-jokes, many scripted by Roger McGough. "Blue Meanies" is sometimes used as a slang term for the police, although many viewers will have missed this (see List of slang terms for police officers). The term "Blue Meanies" is actually a metaphor for bad people in government and corporate, who force their wills on good people (Pepperlanders), and carelessly deplete and ruin the natural environment, resources, colour and landscape[citation needed]. They are carefree about their destructive ways and will do whatever necessary to crush those (The Beatles) who oppose them. (In the DVD commentary track, Production Supervisor John Coates adds an additional perspective, stating that "blue" was a pun on "Jew," reflecting not on any anti-Semitism on the part of the filmmakers but rather a commentary on what had been typical casting of Jews as villains. There is also a scene where a Blue Meanie questions some disguised Beatles, asking, "Are you Bluish? You don't look Bluish...") Additionally, the Beatles' appearance in the film was actually based on their music video "Strawberry Fields Forever", with the exception of Paul being without his mustache. The film also includes several references to songs not included in the soundtrack, including "A Day in the Life" where the lyrics are referenced in the 'Sea of Holes' scene, as well as the orchestral breaks earlier in the movie, also from "A Day in the Life". AnimationThe movie's style contrasts greatly with the efforts of Disney Feature Animation and other animated films previously released by Hollywood up until the time. The film uses a style of limited animation that deliberately defies reality and paints a landscape that could never exist in the real world; something that appealed greatly to the escapists of the 1960s (see also Fantastic Planet). George Dunning, who also worked on the Beatles cartoon series, was the overall director for the film, supervising over 200 artists for 11 months. He took personal charge of the 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' sequence. The animation of Yellow Submarine has sometimes falsely been attributed to the famous psychedelic pop art artist of the era Peter Max; the film's art director was in fact Heinz Edelmann. Edelmann, along with his contemporary Milton Glaser, pioneered the psychedelic style for which Max would later become famous, but according to Edelmann and producer Al Brodax, as quoted in the book Inside the Yellow Submarine by Robert Hieronimus and Laura Cortner (2002) (ISBN 0-87349-360-5), Max had nothing to do with the production of Yellow Submarine. Notable animators who worked on the film included Paul Driessen. Image:Yellow submarine.jpg A Yellow Submarine Toy MusicIn addition to the existing title song "Yellow Submarine," five new songs were commissioned for the movie: "All Together Now", (a football-crowd favorite); "It's All Too Much", (a George Harrison composition); "Baby You're a Rich Man", a song that made its public debut as the "All You Need Is Love" single B-side; "Only a Northern Song", a Harrison song originally recorded during sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (the partial inspiration for this film); and "Hey Bulldog", a John Lennon piano romp echoing of "Lady Madonna", which was recorded at the same time (this song was originally included only in the European theatrical release, but restored for the US theatrical reissue in 1999). The film's instrumental music was an orchestral score composed and arranged by George Martin. One of the film's cues, heard after the main title credits, was originally recorded as the introduction to "Don't Pass Me By", Ringo's composition for The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album); it was later released as "A Beginning" on the Anthology 3 album. The Beatles' participationThe Beatles themselves were not enthusiastic in participating in a motion picture at the time. They had not enjoyed the production of their second feature film Help!, and had just produced and starred in the disastrous TV special Magical Mystery Tour. They did, however, see an animated film as a favorable way to complete their commitment to United Artists for a third film. Voice actors were hired to imitate the Fab Four's voices in the film. However, the Beatles were impressed after seeing a rough cut of the film, and agreed to make a live-action cameo appearance in the final scene. The cameo was originally intended to feature a post-production psychedelic background, but due to time and budget constraints a blank background remained in the final film. Voices
Songs in Yellow SubmarineThe original soundtrack album consisted of Beatles tracks and some orchestral pieces by George Martin on the second side:
The album was later re-worked and by 1999 consisted of:
The orchestral pieces were also used in the short NASA Apollo 9 mission film, which they made for every mission. Release historyImage:VHS yellow submarine.jpg VHS cover
Original theatrical releaseThe movie was originally distributed worldwide by United Artists in two versions. The version shown in Europe included an extra musical number, "Hey, Bulldog!", heard in the final third of the movie. For the U.S. version, the number was replaced with alternate animation due to time constraints in preparing the film for domestic distribution. Of all the Beatles films released by UA, this is the only one UA retained the rights to, leading up to its purchase by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1981 (by this time MGM had merged with UA). In 2005, Sony Pictures Entertainment led a consortium that purchased MGM and UA, and thus SPE now handles theatrical distribution for MGM, while 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is responsible for home video distribution, although the most recent home video release is now out of print. Initial home video releasesWith the dawn of the home video era came an opportunity to release Yellow Submarine on VHS and LaserDisc. However, it was held up for some years due to music rights issues that UA had to clear in order for the film to be issued on video by what was then MGM/UA Home Video in 1986. This was presented in its U.S. theatrical release (sans the "Hey, Bulldog!" number), with a simulated stereo mix of the film's original mono soundtrack. After a couple of years, the video was pulled from release, and for many years mint copies of the initial home video pressing were considered collector's items. The 1999 film and soundtrack re-releaseIn 1999, United Artists and Apple Records digitally restored the audio of the film for theatrical and home video re-release. Though the visuals were not digitally restored, a new transfer was done after cleaning the original film negative and rejuvenating the color. A soundtrack album for this version was also released, which featured the first extensive digital stereo remixes of Beatles material. The film was also re-edited to its original European theatrical release version, with the "Hey, Bulldog!" number restored, whereas the U.S. version deleted this song and replaced it with alternate animation. The DVD that was released also featured a "soundtrack only" version, in which the dialogue is removed, leaving only the music and the songs. As already mentioned, it is currently out of print (it is up to UA and Fox to decide when it will be released again, pending new licensing fee issues). Used copies are being sold for a premium on the Internet and new copies, although hard to find, are available through collectors. Trivia
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