MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR [Blu-ray]

I always regarded Magical Mystery Tour (MMT) as a stop-gap between Pepper and the White Album. Yes, it was a TV movie shown over Christmas 1967 on the BBC (then in black & white), but many thought it was aimed at kids - what had happened to the serious rockers from Sgt. Pepper's Band? Even though they didn't screen the movie, the Americans subsequently compiled the soundtrack with singles (Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane plus B-sides) that hadn't previously appeared on an LP, and it is now officially part of The Beatles canon of albums. For many in the UK, MMT was forgotten by the time the White Album was released. So why afford MMT a gorgeous boxset when you could buy the movie on stand-alone DVD/Blu-Ray discs? I think that Apple saw it as a low-key method of testing the market for marketing the band's music in a new way: presenting it in a deluxe format which placed their legacy in a new historical context. Look at how that approach has been perfected in the subsequent Pepper/White Album Deluxe boxsets - it all started here with the MMT deluxe boxset. All the ingredients are here: it's packaged in a beautiful 10" x 10" robust glossy outer box, containing a DVD and Blu-Ray of the restored movie (remastered by Giles Martin in 5.1 surround sound and PCM stereo), with lots of extras; well-written essays in a nicely-produced glossy soft-back book; plus (for me the real jewel in this set) a beautiful facsimile of the unique MMT 'double EP' soundtrack. EPs (Extended Play) were a popular format in the early to mid 60s, that usually carried 3 tracks on a vinyl disc which was the same size as a single. But around 1967-8 the record buying public started buying LPs in sufficient numbers to make EPs economically unviable - so the MMT EP not only represents the last gasp of the format, but it is uniquely a double EP - another first by The Beatles. Of course, it helps if you have a record player - but even if don't, it's a rather splendid artefact to own. The book is nicely produced, and doesn't duck the fact that the film was reviled by most the the critics of the time. It even includes extracts from the 1968 BBC audience survey, which were mostly negative in their assessment of the movie. In truth, the film (lovingly restored in stunning clarity) remains a strange but fascinating blind alley for the group, trying to keep busy after the death of their manager, Brian Epstein. But, as Paul McCartney has stoically maintained during the intervening decades, it's the only opportunity you'll ever get to see John Lennon singing the majestic 'I Am the Walrus'. And damn it, he's right. All of which means that I'm rather glad I grabbed a copy at this late hour - it now sits proudly between my Pepper and White Album Deluxe boxsets. Maybe it wasn't such a stop-gap after all...

Excellent DVD of the worlds greatest group reflecting the 60s period. The soundtrack is great although alot of the acting is a bit naff.

Amazon, you need to do something about the reviews which refer to an earlier (bootleg?) release of this film as they have no relevance to this sumptuous box set. It's beautifully packaged in a large, 10" square box with the original UK EP artwork glossily reproduced on it's front. Inside, a ribbon marker holds in the double 7" vinyl repro, a card holder with both blu-ray and DVD versions inside. Plus a nice slightly larger glossy book and what looks like a bookmark or cinema ticket. The mono EP sounds great and is a foretaste for the vinyl remasters coming this year and next. It comes in the same package as the 1967 vinyl complete with book and blue lyric sheet. Each DVD has a different aspect ration but the same content and extras. Picture quality on both is outstanding, and Paul's commentary, is amusing. Some of the extras - Traffic, Ivor Cutler's song - would have worked well within the film I feel. The rest are all historically interesting for Fab's devotees. And the film itself? It divides opinions. For me, it's a precursor not only of Python, but of the likes of Reeves and Mortimer years later. You also can see the trajectory towards other unfairly maligned surreal rock epics such as future "Richard Starkey, MBE" vehicle 200 Motels, or The Monkees' Head. You can also see the influence of underground film makers such as Kenneth Anger (there's even an obscure Aleister Crowley reference [again] in the Magicians scene, whch Anger would appreciate). And then there's the music! As Paul says on his commentary, MMT has the only performance of Walrus on film. If you love The Beatles, this is a wonderful trip...

I am a massive Beatles fan and have been for 35 years since I was 13. Had the video and had the DVD that was available but now it is re-mastered and updated it is perfect. Not everybody's taste and never has been but it holds it's own in Beatles history, musically it's hard to fault, but a mess of a film to a lot of the public. To me it's the Beatles with a bus load of friends and fanatics having fun, more of a home movie session made by a group of four musicians with time to kill, ridiculous plots and dream sequences to elaborate changes in the story. The fact is where else will you see John Lennon singing I Am The Walrus and Paul in that coat singing The Fool On The Hill, nowhere??!!! On the whole it has a great soundtrack updated to HD5.1 which makes a great difference if, like me you have a DTS sound system, the film has been restored beautifully and the extras in the box set are well made and up to Apples high standards. For me it was well worth the money and I look forward to the same being done to Let It Be, always being promised but never released. Surely this must be on the cards as it's the only film left needing a revamp!! A great purchase and worth the money!!!!

Back in 67 anything seemed possible with The Beatles they started the year with possibly the greatest double a side ever Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, a live worldwide broadcast with All You need Is Love and sandwiched in between an album that blew everyone away and which is still reguarded as 1 of the most defining moments of the rock era Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band so why not make their own film the world was after all their oyster, what followed has divided opinion ever since at the time the press hated it most adults its fair to say were baffled by it even fans were divided but the 1 thing they cant be knocked for was the music on offer, maybe Blue Jay Way isnt Georges finest moment as a Beatle but the eerie feel of the organ and his vocal makes it intresting enough, Flying is a little gem and the bit of film that accompanys it needs to be seen in glorios colour cos dont forget back then the majority of the UK had black and white tellies, Pauls 3 contibutions are amazing, the title track remains 1 of my fave Beatle tunes the mellancholly Fool On The Hill with the brilliant flutes in the background is a great little tune and the music hall tinged Your Mother Should Know is typical McCartney very very catchy in fact that scene with the dancers could be 1 of the highlights in the film, as for Johns contribution so much has been written about I Am The Walrus its the song that blew me away when i first heard it as an 8 year old over 35 years ago and it still has an affect on me now its safe to say that it will always be my number 1 fave song the scene of it in the film is well worth the purchase in its own right, if youre lookin for a storyline move on, if youre lookin for 4 legends experimenting with film and throwing in some great songs then pull up a chair this may just be what youre looking for.

Now I am a biased Beatles follower and over the years I have heard all the whys and wherefores of this film they made following the highly successful Sgt Pepper album. For many critics out there at the time it was first viewed on the BBC...it was panned, The Beatles had made a dreadful mistake and the BBC an error of judgement by putting it on our screens and over the Christmas period as well. What was apparent to many was that the critics lacked a sense of humour, after all the Fab Four had stopped touring, they had disappeared into the studio and lost their way...John was still being ridiculed for saying that they were more popular than Jesus and that they'd never again make any good music after Sgt Pepper. Just what did these critics really know? Magical Mystery Tour is in reality the Beatles showing just how much they were influenced by that great institution...The Goons. Many times they had been heard to state that they loved the Goon Show and just as their music had been influenced by Elvis, Bill Haley and even Soul Artists of all kinds...this film they put together shows me just how much influence their sense of humour was from the likes of the Goons, the Navy Lark and even the then blossoming Carry On Gang...its all in there if you just look and make comparisons. Also they simply placed in some good music with songs such as: Fool on the Hill; Blue Jay Way; Your Mother Should Know and I Am the Walrus. There is even a spot for The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It simply a group of people going on a mystery tour and letting their imaginations going with them, its harmless, its clean cut fun. The simple fact is this...If you're a Beatles fan, you'll want this set...if you're not, then you are wasting your time reading this - for after all the bus is ten miles out on the Dewsbury Road...

A great film with a great group and soundtrack

Why this has not been remastered and rereleased before is a mystery in itself. I bought the Magical Mystery Tour (Box Set) [Blu-ray & DVD] [2012 ] version and I am really happy that I did. I remember seeing this on our gainy black & white TV when it was originally broadcast (boxing day 1967 when I was nine years old) and really enjoying it, despite the obvious lack of colour but because it seemed to be a bit chaotic and weird. There was never any question as to the quality of the songs but the received wisdom at the time was that the film was a dreadful mistake, which only goes to show what idiots critics are. In the late 1970's Magical Mystery Tour was shown as part of a run of Beatles films at christmas time I think. This was one of the turning points where I began to stop listening to my older friends for guidance on what was cool and what was not. They all agreed pompously, that this film was terrible because it was the uncool Paul McCartney who was mostly behind it. I knew then that they were just being carried along on a wave of sycophancy and were jsut too lazy to really watch it. I am so pleased that this movie is being reappraised on its rerelease. It is wonderful to have the double 7" EP again, it takes me back puting them on the turntable. I note the issue in a previous review about the different construction of the cover, it no longer has the flaps over the disc spaces. The additional documentary footage about the making of the movie is brilliant, giving a real insight into a very strange, but of its time, movie.

Konieczne do kolekcji dla fanów The Beatles.

Ras. Conforme à mon attente. Film loufoque mais dans le pur style anglais de l'époque. Faut quand même être fan des Beatles pour regarder ce film.

Hay buen humor, disparatadas situaciones pero alegres, sonrisas, canciones de Beatles que suenan muy bien en la opción DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 producido por Giles Martin el hijo de George, campiña inglesa, playas, y hasta un genial strip-tease. Es pura diversión dentro de un sueño absurdo y encantadoramente positivo. Hay escenas relmente hilarantes y la interpretación de los Beatles es deliciosa, la escena de John con la niña es emotiva y preciosa. Los demás participantes aportan mucha diversión y buen hacer a una historia de un viaje en bus irreal pero revitalizadora como un buen sueño. La peli dura 53 minutos. Y luego viene un extra de la misma duración con comentarios de Paul McCartney en los que me lo pasé casi mejor que viendo la película. De siempre se dijo por una parte mayoritaria de la Crítica inglesa de la época que esta película era un fiasco enorme de los Beatles; tengo que decir que para nada comparto esa opinión, y que verla es pasarte casi una hora con una sonrisa de felicidad en la cara. Hay otra edición más completa que incluye DVD , 2 EPs y amplio libreto para los más sibaritas. A mí el presupuesto no me alcanza para tanto aparte de no tener reproductor de vinilos. Este Blu ray me parece buena adquisición por menos dinero. Pero esto va en función de lo que dispongas y de lo muy fan que seas del coleccionismo de los 4 de Liverpool. La entrega en un día. Y todo perfecto.

Item essencial para um fã de musica

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