Magical Mystery Tour

Although a great album,MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR was definitely not among The Beatles best works as far as movies are concerned, albeit a made for tv movie. The story does not seem to go in any particular direction and there is nothing tying any of the segments together. This movie which was first shown in black & white was a flop in England and only did a little better when shown in colour.

With that said, it is still worth a look just because it is the ONLY place you will get see a performance of I AM THE WALRUS. The other music video type segments include FOOL ON THE HILL, George Harrison's BLUE JAY WAY, YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW and FLYING. In conclusion, it is a must have for the die hard Beatle fan but, don't expect a HELP! or A HARD DAYS NIGHT kind of performance. Just sit back, enjoy the music and don't even try to figure out the rest.

I was but a mere babe in arms when this film originally played on BBC Television in 1967 (and was trashed by both critics & audiences), so I didn't actually see it until years later, when I attended a Beatles convention, where it was screened with a batch of other Beatle related films. All I can say is...YOWZA! I guess I can see why our British cousins detested it. It was originally slated for a cinematic release, but was brought up by BBC for screening as a Xmas holiday feature (it was actually screened on the 26th of December,1967...and in black & white,no less). It fared so badly that NBC, who had American TV rights for screening it,backed out (no big surprise). It did turn up some years later in the early to mid 1970's, on the midnight movie circuit, playing to mostly stoned out potheads. I guess looking at it some years later, I would say that it is a period piece (check out the costumes that they wore back then). Maybe if I saw it, tripping balls, I would probably appreciate it all the more. Seeing it stone cold sober, it's a pretty lame attempt at a Beatles movie (although I admit, I do like some of the music in it).

'Magical Mystery Tour' presents the best band ever in the world (guess who) at their most creative period. During the phase that started from November 1966 with recording of Strawberry Fields Forever to spring 1968 with recordings of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack that one band did most of their best material ever. The six songs presented in the 'Magical Mystery Tour' are however alone better than what the group did with the movie.

At times the movie is even hilarious but perhaps too permissive adaptation of some scenes makes the overall atmosphere a bit too lame to be wholly enjoyable. It is sad that people will usually just remember the lame scenes only and forget funny ones. Therefore the overall impression will become negative to many viewers.

My score of this film is actually a combination of two separate categories: people who don't consider themselves as a Beatles fans they will get nothing more than just few cute tunes and for them this is a 4/10 movie. For Beatles fans this is about 7/10 for they will find many scenes and references certainly as entertaining as ever. Still even the fans can't be subjugated to enjoy everything and therefore not full score for even them.

This psychadealic story was, without no doubt, a milestone. It's always nice to see John, Paul, George and Ringo acting in a movie, especially when they play the role of wizards. The story is of no importance, but just watch the special effects (like in the song 'Blue Jay Way') and the funny scenes. I can imagine that non-Beatles-fans can find this a very bad movie, but if you have any respect for the fab four of likes their music ('I am the walrus','Fool on the hill','Inner light','Your mother should now')this is a must.

(P.S.: I enjoyed the 'coming-down-the-stairs-scene' a lot at the end of the movie)

When this was first released in the '60s, it was critically panned and was called the Beatles' first flop. I really never listen to critics anyway, and thought that while the story was pretty goofy, the camera use was pretty innovative for the time, and, after all, it's another chance to see the Beatles playing their songs. Movies like this make me wonder why MTV thinks they invented the music video. "I Am The Walrus" piece has kind of an odd suspense in the way it is filmed.