Director: George Dunning. Animation Directors: Robert Balser and Jack Stokes. Live-action Directors: Dennis Abey and Al Brodax
Screenplay: Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, Erich Segal and Roger McGough (uncredited) from a story by Lee Minoff, based on the song Yellow Submarine by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Starring: Paul Angelis, John Clive, Dick Emery, Geoff Hughes, Lance Percival, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison
Running Time: 87 minutes
Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Comedy, Musical
The colourful, magical world of Pepperland lies deep beneath the sea. A cheerful, music-loving paradise, it's very existence enrages the music-hating Blue Meanies who live in the mountains just outside Pepperland and decide to take it over, paralysing the inhabitants and draining them and their land of colour, joy and hope, as well as forbidding all music and encasing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in a music-proof bubble. Just before his capture, Pepperland's Mayor sends Old Frank (Percival) to the surface to get help. Arriving in Liverpool, Old Frank recruits the help of the Beatles, and they set off on a surreal, music-filled journey save Pepperland.
This is still an astonishing film, colourful, joyfully strange and psychedelic, and filled with many classic Beatles songs. The story is pretty basic, but it's not about the story, it's about the music and the visuals. The script however is very funny and smart, full of jokes, puns and clever wordplay. The film is packed with invention throughout, from the cast of weird and wonderful characters and creatures, including the strange but lovable Nowhere Man, to the imaginative background design, utilising a variety of animation styles and techniques. Although this is technically a Beatles film, the Fab Four themselves had very little to do with it, aside from contributing the songs, they do not voice their animated characters, although they do appear as themselves in a brief live-action sequence at the end of the film.
If you're a fan of the Beatles, of course you won't want to miss it, but it is also a colourful, imaginative, hilarious, joyful and surprisingly sweet adventure for young and old alike. It really hasn't dated much either. Cleaned up and restored for it's 50th anniversary, it still feels as fresh and fun as ever.
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