The Beatles DVD-YELLOW SUBMARINE -ALL REGION NEW/SEALED

 Plot

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.

Pepperland's Lord Mayor sends Old Fred (called "Young Fred" by the even older Mayor) off in a yellow submarine in order to get help. Travelling to Liverpool, Fred begs for help from the depressed and aimless Ringo, who agrees and rounds up his three mates: Paul, John and George. The five of them journey back to Pepperland in the submarine, passing through:

• the Sea Of Time - where they go forward and backward in time and sing "When I'm Sixty-Four",
• the Sea Of Science - where they sing "Only a Northern Song",
• the Sea Of Monsters - where the dreaded "vacuum flask" beast sucks up the entire landscape and then itself,
• the Sea of Nothing - where they pick up a rather helpful "nowhere man" named Jeremy Hilary Boob, Ph.D. and sing the song of the same name,
• the foothills of the "Headlands" or Sea of Heads - where they get separated from the submarine and John sings "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds",
• and finally the Sea of Holes - where Jeremy is kidnapped by the Blue Meanies. When Ringo jumps on to a green hole (which turns into the Sea of Green), they arrive in Pepperland.

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 Blue Meanies and everyone lives happily ever after.

Afterwards, the real Beatles, who have returned home, playfully show off their souvenirs. However, John spots "newer and bluer" Blue Meanies in the vicinity 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.

 Production

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, based on the song by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and the screenplay penned by four collaborators including Erich Segal. The recurring line "It's all in the mind" is taken from The Goon Show.

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 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 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. 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 moustache. 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".

 Animation

The 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.

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) , Max had nothing to do with the production of Yellow Submarine.

Notable animators who worked on the film included Paul Driessen, Cam Ford, Anne Jolliffe, Tony Cuthbert, Geoff Collins, Jim Hiltz, Ron Campbell and Hester Coblenz.

In addition to the existing title song "Yellow Submarine," five new songs were commissioned for the movie: "All Together Now", (a football-crowd favourite); "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' participation

The 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 favourable 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.

Songs in Yellow Submarine

"Yellow Submarine"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Hey Bulldog"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Eleanor Rigby"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Love You To"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by George Harrison
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"All Together Now"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Think For Yourself"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by George Harrison
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"With A Little Help From My Friends"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Baby You're A Rich Man"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"All You Need Is Love"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"When I'm Sixty-Four"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Nowhere Man"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"It's All Too Much"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by George Harrison
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records

"Only a Northern Song"
Performed by The Beatles
Written by George Harrison
Published by Apple Records
Courtesy of Apple Records