All This and World War II

This documentary was released in 1976 and I was never able to watch it because the film flopped at the box office and never made it to my small hometown. To my surprise, I accidentally found it streaming on YouTube. It's never been released on any media VHS, laser disc, or DVD. I had almost given up entirely on finding it. If historical documentaries, old 1940s WWII movies, & Beatles songs are your thing, please give it a look. Thank goodness for YouTube. And of course, this won't be everyone's cup of tea. I always watch historical WWII footage, hoping to get a glimpse of my late father in action. I was so excited to see some scenes of the American military and their jeeps with their girls' names painted on them, hoping to glimpse my dad's Jeep with my mother's name. Sadly, I did not. But our family has a wonderful photo to cherish.

I remember when this movie came out, and begging my parents to drive me to the theatre to see it. I willl admit, you have to be a fan of the Beatles and into WW2 history to really get into this movie. I am not lying when I tell you that I'm staring at the album soundtrack right now on my shelf in front of me. I could never figure out why they have never released this movie out on video, being that so many 'stinkers' are thrown on the shelves every year. I will admit, when I went to see it (over 20 years ago), there were few people in the audience at the theatre. But the way that the music is in sync with the film footage was really great, but I'm relying on a twenty year old plus memory of the film.

About a gazillion copies of the soundtrack (on CD and vinyl) are being sold via Amazon.com and eBay, but the film?

Well, here are 4 possible sources to acquire this movie (at your own risk). Since I cannot post direct online links, you will have to do the searches for yourself on Google and YouTube.

1. Subterranean Cinema (do search on Google with "All This And World War II DVD")

IMDb will not allow this web address to be posted. You must e-mail the site's proprietor for information on obtaining a DVD copy, which is listed at the site.

2. The Video Beat (do search on Google with "All This And World II DVD")

(apparently selling a DVD or VHS copy for $29 plus s/h, with the following bonus features:

JOHN LENNON : MAN OF THE DECADE

1969 U.K. TV special. Dec-30-69. Rare ATV special that examined three influential men of the 1960s; John F. Kennedy, Ho Chi Minh and John Lennon. When esteemed sociologist and anthropologist Dr. Desmond Morris was asked whom he felt was the man of the decade, he chose John Lennon. Dr. Morris presents the John Lennon segment which included analysis of John Lennon's contribution to the 1960s, Beatles footage (selected by Lennon) and interviews with John as he strolled through the grounds of Tittenhurst Park. Topics discussed by Lennon include youth culture, Vietnam, peace, love, LSD, the establishment, Woodstock, and more.

BEATLES COVER GROUPS 1960s

From U.S. TV. The girls from TV show Petticoat Junction call themselves "The Lady Bugs" and perform "I Saw Her Standing There." From TV show Shivaree "The Mermaids" perform Twist and Shout." From an unknown Chinese movie a group of mop-top Orientals perform a very weird version of "I Saw Her Standing There." )

3. Shocking Videos (the website name is actually "revengeismydestiny") has advertised a DVD copy for $14.95 plus s/h (do search on Google with "All This And World II DVD"). It is listed in their "Hot 100" section of cult movie offerings on DVD.

4. The ENTIRE film has been posted on YouTube, with a catch: the soundtrack has been re-dubbed with the music of Beatallica, a comedy speed-metal group that covers/rewrites Beatles songs in the style of Metallica...in 9 parts. Just do a YouTube search using the exact words "Beatallica - All This And World War II."

So the above four options are the closest ways that you'll ever have to view/own this film at home (so far...). I haven't seen the original version of "ATAWWII," so I cannot add any reviews or star ratings yet...

Mind-imploding cinematic disaster from Twentieth-Century Fox pairs archival World War II footage and Fox films from (primarily) the same period along with "choice" Beatles covers. It's sort of like THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! gone terribly wrong. Did people think that this film would have some sort of educational purpose? Maybe a Fox executive thought this would fill in the void for Beatles fans desperate for the band to reunite? Some of the stock footage is quite interesting, like Japanese-American owned businesses disguising their ethnicity and footage of James Stewart enlisting. So too is a look at some of the fictitious films Fox made in response to the war (in one clip, a woman hears news of Pearl Harbor on the radio and says, "Oh, it must be Orson Welles!"). But most of the music is pretty awful, and cuing "The Fool on the Hill" and "Nowhere Man" with Hitler and Mussolini respectively can't take the place of a scholarly exploration of the subject.

I saw this oddity once upon a time at one of Toronto's oddest little theatres, The Screening Room, which no longer exists. The room is still there, over the Kingsway Cinema, but it doesn't operate as a theatre anymore.

This would have been in 1979 or 1980, and they were showing a double bill of blasphemous Beatles films, this one and the Bee Gees' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1978). We knew the Bee Gees would be an embarrassment, but we had greater hopes for this film. (And the Bee Gees were free if you bought a ticket for the other one, as I recall.)

It was certainly a relief to learn that the Allies won World War II but otherwise... The combination of sacrosanct Beatles tunes and wartime stock footage didn't sound like such a good idea, and when you actually saw it, it turned out to be even more ridiculous than you would have guessed. The only image I still recall 20 years on is one of the "famous" ones, "Get Back" being sung over German tank footage run in reverse. As the philosopher said, "It's a fine line between clever and stupid."

But it was better than the Bee Gees!