- For the song, see Yellow Submarine (song). For the soundtrack, see Yellow Submarine (album).
Yellow Submarine is a 1968 animated film based on the music of The Beatles. It is also the title for the soundtrack album to the film, released as part of the Beatles' music catalogue. This film was produced by United Artists, and originally released to movie theatres by 1968.
| Yellow Submarine Feature-Length Animated Movie | |
|---|---|
| File:TheBeatlesYellowSubmarinealbumcover.jpg | |
| Directed by | George Dunning Dennis Abey (live action sequence) |
| Written by | The Beatles (title song) Lee Minoff(screen story) Al Brodax (screenplay) Jack Mendelsohn Erich Segal |
| Produced by | George Dunning |
| Starring | The Beatles (epilogue) Paul Angelis John Clive Dick Emery Geoffrey Hughes Lance Percival Peter Batten (voices) |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release dates | June 6, 1968 |
Running time | 85 min (USA) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | n/a |
The animated film
Released 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 and the screenplay four writerss including Erich Segal.
In addition to the existing title song "Yellow Submarine," five new songs were commissioned for the movie. These include: "All Together Now" (a soccer-crowd favorite), "It's All Too Much" (a George Harrison piece), "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 low key Harrison track 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, but used as an A-Side (this song was originally included only in the European theatrical release, but restored for the U.S. theatrical reissue in 1999). The film's incidental 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 (aka The White Album) (it would later appear as "A Beginning" on Volume 3 of The Beatles Anthology CD).
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 artwork was in fact overseen by Heinz Edelmann. Edelmann, along with his contemporary Milton Glaser pioneered the psychedelic style that Max would later become famous for, but according to Edelmann and producer Al Brodax, as quoted in the book Inside the Yellow Submarine by Robert Hieronimus, Max had nothing to do with the production of Yellow Submarine. The film itself was directed by British animation producer George Dunning.
As with most motion picture musicals, the music takes precedence over the actual plot, and most of the story is a series of set-pieces designed to present Beatles music set to various images, in a form reminiscent of Walt Disney's Fantasia (and foreshadowing the rise of music videos and MTV fifteen years later). Nonetheless, the movie still presents an entertaining modern-day fairy tale that caters to the ideals of the "love generation". The story takes place in the idyllic paradise called "Pepperland", which is threatened by the evil music-hating Blue Meanies. The Beatles are recruited to save Pepperland from the Meanies, and they succeed through the power of love, music, bright colours, and positive thinking (there are huge stone sculptures of the words "YES", "OK", and "LOVE" littering the landscape of Pepperland).
The Beatles themselves were not enthusiastic in participating in a motion picture at the time, because they were experiencing personal stress (the band was beginning to break apart), and because they had just produced and starred in the disastrous TV special Magical Mystery Tour. Voice actors were hired to imitate the Fab Four's voices in the film. However, the Beatles, impressed after seeing the finished film, did agree to make a cameo appearance in the final scene of the film, just before the closing credits. The cameo was originally intended to feature psychedelic colours, but due to time and budget constraints, it was left in the normal form (the black background was meant to be replaced with hand drawn images).
The movie's style contrasts greatly with the efforts of Walt Disney (hence the "blue meanies" wear Mickey Mouse ears) 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). The dialogue is littered with puns, double-entendres, and Beatles in-jokes, many scripted by Roger McGough. "Blue Meanies" was actually a slang term for the police, although many viewers will have missed this (see List of slang terms for police officers). Addiontally, the Beatles appearance in the film was actually based on their music video "Strawberry Fields Forever", with the exception of Paul 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.
Voices
- John Clive - John
- Geoffrey Hughes - Paul
- Peter Batten - George
- Paul Angelis - Ringo, Chief Blue Meanie
- Dick Emery - Lord Mayor, Nowhere Man, Max
- Lance Percival - Old Fred
- John Lennon - John (singing voice)
- Paul McCartney - Paul (singing voice)
- George Harrison - George (singing voice)
- Ringo Starr - Ringo (singing voice)
The 1999 film and soundtrack re-release
In 1999, UA and Apple digitally restored the film for theatrical and home video re-release. This included cleaning the original film negative and rejuvenating the color.
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).
External links
