Led by Canadian producer George Dunning, the film as I understand it, was given out in 12 to 13 minute parcels to various animators, such as Ron Campbell, who also worked on the Beatles Saturday morning cartoon show. In that respect it is a series of vignettes, heavily hippie, pop art, and drug influenced, loosely retro fit around well-known Beatles’ lyrics. I was going to try to offer a synopsis, but the plot is pretty nonsensical. The print has been hand-and digitally-restored and is top notch. Watching the entire film again, I was really amazed at the animation. I remember it being hard to follow, lots of hard to process accents and squeaky dialog.
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen it all the way through. I must admit, it had been a LONG time since I had seen this movie. This was the very definition of a contractual obligation film, made to fulfill their three film deal with United Artists. Hell, they were even too apathetic about the project to do the voiceovers for themselves, the four Beatles characters. They considered the soundtrack as a ‘dustbin’ for songs that weren’t up to snuff, especially George’s, and they had almost no input on the movie.
#SUBMARINE CARTOON MOVIE MOVIE#
So, the animated Yellow Submarine movie is a Beatles movie with almost zero Beatles involvement. By this point in their careers, The Beatles had soured on making movies, they were unhappy with the Help! project, and for the first time, were savaged in the press for the rudderless Magical Mystery Tour. The movie itself has a unique position in the Beatles’ canon. In a prior blog, I wrote extensively about the Yellow Submarine soundtrack at /zubmarine. On April 25, they pulled a surprise: a YouTube viewing of their 1968 animated film, Yellow Submarine, adding sing-along captioning in the style of the film’s graphics. The Beatles still manage to remain vital and relevant fifty years after they broke up.