"Magical Mystery Tour Revisited" (BBC Arena)
documentary, England
Add
Date
Artist
Sources
Set 1
Set 2
Set 3
CommentBoxing Day evening, 1967. After enjoying This Is Petula Clark at ten past eight on BBC1, at 8.35pm the nation settles in for Magical Mystery Tour, a new TV movie by the unstoppable authors of Strawberry Fields Forever and Sgt Pepper, who previously appeared in the wholesomely enjoyable films Help! and
A Hard Day's Night.
Fifty minutes later, Britain is pretty angry. The fallout lasts for weeks. Magical Mystery Tour is seen as a baffling, murky meander, made by musicians arrogantly thinking they can make up a film as they go along and get away with it. Even today, it's routinely cited as The Beatles' only major creative
failure.
Is that impression fair? Tonight, a new Arena documentary re-assesses the film, complete with previously unseen out-takes.
A Hard Day's Night.
Fifty minutes later, Britain is pretty angry. The fallout lasts for weeks. Magical Mystery Tour is seen as a baffling, murky meander, made by musicians arrogantly thinking they can make up a film as they go along and get away with it. Even today, it's routinely cited as The Beatles' only major creative
failure.
Is that impression fair? Tonight, a new Arena documentary re-assesses the film, complete with previously unseen out-takes.
Bold dates can be downloaded from the Internet Archive
Italic dates have been a featured show
Add Show
Venues in England