Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

The Beatles charter a special bus for a surreal mystery tour.

Directors:

George Harrison (as The Beatles), John Lennon (as The Beatles)

Stars:

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison

Cast

Complete credited cast:
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band	...	(as Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band)
Jan Carson	...	Stripper
George Claydon	...	Photographer
Ivor Cutler	...	Mr. Bloodvessel
Shirley Evans	...	Accordionist
Nat Jackley	...	Rubber Man
Nicola Hale	...	Little Girl (as Nichola)
Jessie Robins	...	Ringo's Aunt (as Jessie Robbins)
Derek Royle	...	Jolly Jimmy
Victor Spinetti	...	Army Sergeant
Miranda Forbes	...	Hostess Wendy Winters (as Mandy Weet)
Maggie Wright	...	Starlet

Storyline

The Beatles first movie since Help! (1965) was largely Sir Paul McCartney's project. The story follows a bus load of eccentric characters on a magic journey through the English countryside. Rather than a unified narrative, it becomes a series of psychedelic clips promoting various songs including "The Fool on the Hill", "Blue Jay Way", "Your Mother Should Know", "I Am the Walrus", and "Magical Mystery Tour". The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band are seen in a strip club playing "Death Cab for Cutie".

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Plot Keywords:

hare krishna | running after a bus | instrumental music | dwarf | man wears eyeglasses | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 December 1967 (UK)

Also Known As:

Lumottu Beatles-matka

Filming Locations:

Atlantic Hotel, Newquay, Cornwall, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apple Corps, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

55 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Stereo (1988 re-release)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A rough shooting script was written before filming began. About seventy percent of the bus exchanges are improvised, but everything filmed outside the bus was performed (more or less) as written.

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Goofs

Throughout the bus tour, George Harrison wears a fedora-type hat with a wide band. When the passengers file into the cabaret and take their seats, he wears a wool/tweed driving cap.

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Quotes

Buster Bloodvessel: I am your friendly Courier. Mister Bloodvessel is my name. Buster Bloodvessel.

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Crazy Credits

Made in England by The Beatles

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Alternate Versions

When the movie was first shown by the BBC in 1967, the beach scene involving Jessie Robins and Ivor Cutler, lasting nearly two minutes, was cut for unknown reasons. Yet when it was re-shown in the 70s, the scene was included.

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Connections

Spoofed in 'Weird Al' Yankovic: The Videos (1996)

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Soundtracks

Infernal Galop
(uncredited)
Composed by Jacques Offenbach

User Reviews

Underrated, but still not very good

'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.