Yellow Submarine (1968)

The Beatles agree to accompany Captain Fred in his Yellow Submarine and go to Pepperland to free it from the music hating Blue Meanies.

Director:

George Dunning

Writers:

Lee Minoff (original story), John Lennon (based upon a song by)

Stars:

Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
The Beatles	...	The Beatles (singing voice) (as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)
Paul Angelis	...	Ringo / Chief Blue Meanie / George / Narrator (voice)
John Clive	...	John (voice)
Dick Emery	...	Jeremy Hilary Boob, Ph.D. - Nowhere Man / Lord Mayor / Max (voice)
Geoffrey Hughes	...	Paul (voice) (as Geoff Hughes)
Lance Percival	...	Old Fred (voice)

Storyline

When the music hating Blue Meanies take over Pepperland and freeze everyone within it, including the protectors, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Captain Fred and his Yellow Submarine recruit The Beatles to help save Pepperland. Along the way, they fall through the Sea of Time, Sea of Nothing, Sea of Holes and more. They meet Jeremy Hillary Boob Ph.D. and take him with them along the adventure. When at Pepperland, the Beatles "rally the land to rebellion" and take down the Blue Meanies, the four-headed Meanie dog and the Dreadful Flying Glove (with the songs "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band", "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Hey Bulldog", "All You Need is Love"). In the end, we see all four live-action Beatles singing "All Together Now".

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Plot Keywords:

the beatles | villain | cult favorite | scream | color | 

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Taglines:

The forces of good! The forces of evil!

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 November 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Beatles' Yellow Submarine

Filming Locations:

Studios of TVC London, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£250,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$107,105, 8 July 2018, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$992,305, 30 September 2018

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apple Corps, King Features Production, TVC London

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

DTS (re-release) Dolby Digital (re-release) Mono (original release) (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film made its primetime television premiere on October 29, 1972 (Sunday) on CBS Network and was rerun again on CBS Network on July 5, 1974 (Friday) and July 4, 1975 (Friday) before going into syndicated runs. The tradition of broadcasting around Independence Day was a perfect family film with it's brilliant colors and music. It was the perfect lead in as by the time it was finished, it was late enough and dark enough outdoors for the 4th of July firework celebrations to begin.

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Goofs

Just before Ringo pulls a lever, he says that he is a "born lever-puller," a joke on the Beatles being from Liverpool. However, the proper term for a citizen of Liverpool is Liverpudlian.

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Quotes

Ringo: Hey, I wonder what'll happen if I pull this lever.
Old Fred: Oh, you mustn't do that now.
Ringo: Can't help it. I'm a born "Liver-pooler."

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Crazy Credits

The lyric "All Together Now" is shown in several different languages while the song plays at the end.

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Alternate Versions

The American version had a brief (less than one second) scene of Old Fred and the Mayor dancing together happily, bringing closure to the initial scenes of the movie. This footage was not included in the redone American version.

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Connections

Referenced in Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side (2009)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Still Innovative, Unbelievably Colorful

Over 35 years later, this is still an innovative animated film: colorful, clever and different. In fact, you'd have to look hard to find a more colorful film ever made.

The Beatles characters are fun, spouting a number of good puns and inside jokes concerning lyrics from some of their past songs. The bad guys here, the "Blue Meanies," are also fun to watch and really different from anything you've seen.

This is wild stuff which can appeal to adults even more than kids. The only improvement I would have made would have been to shorten it a bit. Even at a fairly short 90 minutes, some could have been trimmed.

The DVD is fine, except for the last 30 minutes when it gets grainy. However, the 5.1 surround sound more than makes up for that, affording the viewer to hear all these famous Beatles songs in a better format that surrounds you as a CD could never do.