Cheap The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (DVD) (Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison) (Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour

Interesting, but Not Entertaining
In 1967, Paul McCartney came up with an idea for a follow up to Sgt. Pepper; a TV special, written and directed by the Beatles themselves, where they would board a bus with a bunch of crazies and film whatever happened. Now, on album, the Beatle's are unsurpassed, but they knew little to nothing about making their own film and it shows. This is a weird, improvised movie that despite a great soundtrack seems a lot longer than it is. The nonmusical sequences are sloppy, with everyone talking at once and no one sure where they are going next. The musical sequences range from good to bad. George's "Blue Jay Way" is the best musical sequence, despite being one of the weaker songs, and John's "I am the Walrus", gives you images that are as strange as the song. The worst has to be "Your Mother Should Know", where the Beatles shuffle around in a big Busby Berkeley like production that only emphasizes what an amateurish project MMT is. This shouldn't dissuade you from buying the soundtrack, which is very good, especially as it has several songs not in the movie. Sadly, the CD does not include the booklet that came with the original LP. In it were stills from the movie as well as a comic book adaptation that was far more entertaining than the movie itself! A previous review summed it up nicely, for completes only.

---

On (off) balance not THAT bad
Of the many reviews of this film, those approaching it from the perspective of Music Videos tied together with comic interludes exhibit the best approach. Recall, in the UK the music was originally issued as a double EP (only the five songs in the film). Those who comment on songs being left on the cutting room floor are confusing themselves due to the UK LP having a second side of previously only available as singles material.

However, if the Beatles invented MTV (as George opined in Anthology), they did so by accident. Consider, many of the AMAZON reviewers have complained that "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," and "Hello Goodbye" were 'cut' from the film -- but they have it all backwards. Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane were released prior to the release of Sgt Pepper, and so also their repsective promotional films. "Hello Goodbye," the song and the film were recorded and released after Magical Mystery Tour, if I'm not mistaken -- the Sgt Pepper gear an embarrassing attempt to buy back some good will with the fans and press. And these songs were include only on the US version of the LP (as noted above)

Also, the selection of songs themselves are not quite up to par. "Blue Jay Way" drags on too long (Don't be long, don't belong..." ad infinitum), "Your Mother Should Know" just isn't the kind of show topping finale for which one would hope, and "Flying" simply rumbles on, in a nice but going nowhere sort of way. Indeed, only "I am the Walrus" and "Fool on the Hill" stand out -- the Title track being okay, but certainly not proto-MTV video quality.

All in all, it's a nice film and quite off-balance, and nowhere near as bad as many have painted it (expectations way too high on this one); however, it's also nowhere near as good, nor as interesting as many have suggested. As Beatles products go, it's worth a viewing, and perhaps a purchase (if properly warned, disposed, and prepared). One would hope that it will be re-issued in a restored edition with much additional footage to give the unitiated a better perspective (and maybe the 'cutting room floor' songs, eh?).

---

A good movie
When I first saw this movie I liked it. Even though I wasnt taking drugs and smoking pot. So what if the beatles made a movie about a trip across England that made no sense. I LOVE THE BEATLES evan if they came up to me and beat me up I would still love them. So dont say your a huge beatle fan and you hate this movie.