Magical Mystery Tour [Blu-ray]

I often feel The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" film has been treated rather unfairly by critics in the past. Of course, you might sense a hint of bias on my part because I'm such an enormous fan of the Beatles, but I genuinely think the film has a lot to offer if approached the right way.The film was made for television in September 1967 and shown on BBC1 on Boxing Day evening that year. It was meant to be a colour extravaganza but the BBC broadcast it in black and white so even the 200,000 or so people with colour TV receivers in Britain at the time would not have been able to watch it as it was intended to be presented. Therefore, the aerial views shot over Iceland that were used for the "Flying" instrumental sequence would have been lost on initial viewers. Even so, that wouldn't have been enough for critics and viewers alike to pan the production. I suppose it was pretty far out and not at all what people were expecting, especially for festive period viewing from the biggest band in the world with whom they associated the stuff of "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" when it came to Beatles' films.The Beatles (particularly Paul) had been experimenting with making home movies and from this grew the idea for making "Magical Mystery Tour". The group's manager, Brian Epstein had just died and, as the story goes, Paul came up with the project as a means to keep the band actively involved with one another at a time when Epstein's death could have splintered them. They had stopped touring and had only recently released an album ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band") and single ("All You Need Is Love"), so the idea of doing a television film was, perhaps, the best direction.Some fans and music critics like to blame Paul for the Beatles' failings after Brian died. Indeed, John Lennon did so himself later on, accusing Paul of keeping the band going for his (Paul's) own sake. Perhaps there's some truth in that but I don't think Paul was being entirely selfish. The Beatles were still a band and, therefore, still had a job to do. Paul was always prolific when it came to writing music and coming up with ideas and I think he was just excited and keen to run these by the group and commit them to tape. John might have later complained about Paul always being the one to call the other three band members up and saying it was time to make another record, but if he hadn't then the other three would have just sat around being unproductive. Thus, Paul became the driving force in the band's later years and was almost forced to take charge after Brian died just so as to get things done. Paul often gets the blame for "Magical Mystery Tour" but don't forget George, Ringo and John all happily went along with it and made their own contributions. If they didn't like it they could have always vetoed the idea.I first saw "Magical Mystery Tour" in 1992 when I bought a copy of it on VHS video tape from the local supermarket in Withington. My dad bought my mum a Betamax video recorder for Christmas in 1984 and by '92 it had breathed its last. He replaced it with a VHS video player but when we installed it we found, for some odd reason, that it would only play video tapes in black and white. I find it pleasingly ironic that my very first viewing of "Magical Mystery Tour" was colourless, just like the people who originally tuned in to watch it on the television 25 years earlier. Dad took the video recorder back to the store to get a replacement and I was then able to rewatch "Magical Mystery Tour" in colour. Unlike the viewers' anticipating its original broadcast in 1967, I had the benefit of watching the film for the first time knowing that it had not been well-received and had been saddled with a bad reputation for all these years. In other words, my expectations were allowed not to be high but I was still extremely excited to see 53 minutes of footage of the Beatles that I had never seen before but had only heard about. I could, and still can, understand how people would have been disappointed with the nonsensical aspect of it all, especially as there was no plot. The film consisted of segments, often very surreal ones, which had seemingly been `thrown' together. Indeed, most of it was improvised. Having said that, I love the "marathon" chase around the airfield in Kent and I think Victor Spinetti's incomprehensible army drill sergeant is brilliantly hilarious and the best of his three performances in the Beatles' films. Just as funny are the scenes between Ringo and his Aunt Jessie, played by Jessie Robins and I love the nighttime sharabang scenes where everyone's drinking and singing songs to an accordion accompaniment. Derek Royle and Ivor Cutler are terrific as Jolly Jimmy and Buster Bloodvessel respectively, and I wish the John Lennon-directed "Nat's Dream" scene of Nat Jackley as Happy Nat The Rubber Man chasing women around the Atlantic Hotel's outdoor swimming pool has been kept in the movie as it's a great little sequence, I think. It is included as a deleted scene on this 2012 DVD release of the film.The one thing I haven't yet mentioned about "Magical Mystery Tour" is perhaps the most important thing of all - the music. The six new Beatles' tracks featured in the film that formed the "Magical Mystery Tour" double EP are all wonderful and the film serves as a means of providing six little "music videos" for each of them. I've never been very keen on Paul's "Fool on the Hill", I have to admit, but I can appreciate its merit and why it's one of his most popular songs. The footage of him in France that was shot for the song's inclusion in the film is beautiful. Likewise, George's "Blue Jay Way" isn't a big favourite of mine but there's some wonderful, psychedelic projection art used by and for the camera to play over the song. Paul has said in retrospect that one example he uses in defending "Magical Mystery Tour" is the section with "I Am The Walrus", citing it to be the only chance to see John Lennon in fully psychedelic regalia performing the song with backup visuals of policemen and `eggheads'. It truly is a striking glimpse into John Lennon's beautifully baffling imagination from the summer of love period.It's strange how the Beatles' first failing should follow directly from what is widely believed to be their greatest achievement, the "Sgt. Pepper" album. Paul has said that "Magical Mystery Tour" was made more as an "art" film than a "proper", conventional film. I don't think people in 1967 were ready for something like that, particularly from the Beatles, but I enjoy watching it from time to time. I think it has to be said that it would have been better had a plot been thought through for it and a script written but, as I've mentioned, there are plenty of delightful little moments to make it entertaining enough.

We can all agree that the movie itself is either a hot or cold response as you either take it for what it is, or you just don't find much to like about it. But I'd like to talk about the package you are buying more than the movie you'll watch (on DVD or BluRay).The first round of DVDs released early on in the dawn of DVDs were very good. Even Magical Mystery Tour looked and sounded great. But, it was just another way to watch your favorite Beatles movies. VHS/Beta/Laserdisc/CED formats all covered most of their films. They even issued video CDs of their movies. I even bought a Quicktime movie version of A Hard Day's Night back in the day. That day wasn't so long ago but it seems it now - 1993? But with each subsequent format came subsequent releases on said format. DVD was just the latest format back in the late 1990s. Video compression schemes' quality varied company to company and has been constantly improving since the advent of DVD. But a DVD can only hold 10mbps of information within it's "stream" of digital content. So no matter how well you could compress the video, it could only ever be "so good". BluRay, which is a high definition format, changes the game yet again. It forces every movie release to be improved upon to the best possible quality possible. As a result, even the DVD release looks better than the 1999 version of this movie on DVD because the master was of the highest quality.Sound-wise, 5.1 or stereo doesn't change much, for this movie. But it does offer you choices of audio so you can't go wrong audio-wise. I recall the "official" VHS release of MMT and the first remixing of the soundtrack (at least the songs) done by George Martin specifically for the release. It sounded better than ever! So no surprise this release sounds great. VHS as you may recall delivered very high end Hi-Fidelity Stereo sound. But for those who prefer a good 5.1 surround sound, you won't be disappointed. It delivers! It delivers in DTS and Dolby Digital as well on the BluRay as well as a stereo PCM track. (PCM - Pulse Code Modulation) offers the listener the highest possible audio reproduction for the home shy of having the master tapes.As for the Printed items, again it delivers. Like I said before, this movie has been delivered on several formats several times each before. From bootlegs to official releases the content of the film has been available for quite some time. So to just release the movie isn't such a big deal to me which is why this set was so attractive to me. To have the reprint of the booklet that came with the LP back in the day as well as an expanded version of information and rare "behind the scenes photos" makes this set a nice addition to your Beatles collection. Even if you have the miniature version of the booklet which was contained in the 2009 stereo & mono remasters or the 1993 EP Box Set, this is a great way to see it large again like in the LP.I already came across a perfect copy of the original vinyl EP years ago at my favorite record store. So really, that didn't do much for me, but most people do not have this so its inclusion is a real treat! For those in the states (or who didn't have access to imports from England) this was how Brits got this new music. So its inclusion is really a part of the package - film & music - that England got to judge this movie and its music from. They didn't get to also have the whole second side of an album with classics like Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever and All You Need Is Love. In the UK, Strawberry Fields & Penny Lane were released a year prior to MMT. In the states we got spoiled as we had the album with a whole collection of great non-soundtrack songs and since we didn't see the film on TV, we imagined for years what the movie had to be like from the music. So this helps put it into historical perspective as a set. (I won't be playing my vinyl though. I haven't played my original EP either).Since all things can be improved upon, the only thing they could have done better was to do what they did for the 2007 re-release of HELP! with a deluxe book and two discs. I love that release with the fun replica objects and hand-written lyrics etc they placed within the book. (Something you can't get from a Kindle version). But this film isn't long enough to warrant 2 discs. The special features and the movie are each 53 minutes long. But the special features are new! They include new interviews and scenes which were cut from this film. So for those of you who feel they didn't really edit this movie well, check out the stuff that didn't make it! lol But again, HELP! was HELP! and this is totally different kind of movie - Free Form and rather non-linear. It tries to be linear in parts to appease the masses, but really, it wanders from idea to idea, much like a Monty Python sketch show. lol But it's nitpicking as there really isn't anything wrong with what the did do here with this release. I just like that style of books.As for Bonus stuff and extras, the real stand out extra is the commentary by Sir Paul himself (who was more of the director than anyone else for this project). His insight, though defensive of the film, adds a new layer of how to watch this film and what to watch for when viewing it subsequent times. It helps give perspective and sets the stage, so to speak, for viewing this film in context of how it was made and why they made the choices they did.Let's face it, you're not even considering this set if you aren't a Beatles fan. Not at the price! So anyone who isn't already a fan is going to look for the stand alone DVD at the lowest price, if they are even curious. So for a Beatles fan, this is a must! It's just the way they should have honored their work. Put it into perspective and tell the story the way the Beatles want to tell it. Critics have already had their chance.I now hope A Hard Day's Night get the same respect and treatment as Yellow Submarine, Mystery Tour & HELP! have. If the Beatles were actually more hands on with the animated feature, Yellow Sub, I'd expect more than just a few nice reprints included in that package. But they did that release right as well. And I can't wait until Let It Be gets the first class treatment it deserves!

Faut aimer les beatles

Item essencial para um fã de musica

Edición especial para coleccionistas y fans del grupo. Bien presentado y con extras incluidos.

I am in the process of converting all my Elvis, Beatles, JFK, Peter Kay etc DVD’s to MP4, but this MMT disc was showing a fault and wouldn’t convert, so needed to replace it, so from new, it’s now on my PC as an MP4 and will go into my archives along with all my others, no more DVD players, recorders and wires all over, plug USB drive into the smart TV and play what you like.

Konieczne do kolekcji dla fanów The Beatles.