Oct 11th 

Magical Mystery Tour*

(GB TVM 1967)                     

BBC/Apple. 50m.

Almost plotless musical odyssey linking some surreal sketches and music by the Beatles on board a coach tour.
Quite Goon Show style in its approach (but with less discipline or humour), with hints of the Psychadelic as well as the Monty Python eras that were to follow, this self-indulgent Beatles fantasia was certainly a curio for Christmas TV audiences of the time, erratic and sometimes amateurishly filmed, as are some of the numbers, with one or two gems that still entertain. Musically speaking some of the most inventive, experimental music they ever attempted.

Written by: The Beatles, from an idea by Mal Evans, Paul McCartney.
Producers: The Beatles, Dennis O'Dell.
Directors: The Beatles, Bernard Knowles.
Starring: Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Jessie Robins, Ivor Cutler, Derek Royle, Miranda Forbes, Victor Spinetti, George Claydon.
Photography: Ringo Starr.
Music: The Beatles, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
Editing: Roy Benson.

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (1967). The success of the Beatles had become so great that   the audience were prepared to welcome whatever they did, no matter how odd.