Roll Up Roll Up For The Magical Mystery Tour!

LONDON, Aug. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Songs you'll never forget, the film you've never seen, and a story that's never been heard.  In 1967, in the wake of the extraordinary impact of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album and the One World satellite broadcast of All You Need Is Love, The Beatles devised, wrote, and directed their third film, Magical Mystery Tour, a dreamlike story of a coach day trip to the seaside. Apple Films has fully restored the long out-of-print, classic feature film for October 8^th release worldwide (October 9^th in North America) on DVD and Blu-ray with a remixed soundtrack (5.1 and stereo) and special features. For the first time ever, there will be a limited theatrical release in certain territories from September 27^th.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120822/LA60811)

Magical Mystery Tour will be available in DVD and Blu-ray packages, and in a special 10"x10" boxed deluxe edition. The deluxe edition includes both the DVD and Blu-ray, as well as a 60-page book with background information, photographs and documentation from the production, and a faithful reproduction of the mono double 7" vinyl EP of the film's six new Beatles songs, originally issued in the UK to complement the film's 1967 release. 

The restoration of Magical Mystery Tour has been overseen by Paul Rutan Jr. of Eque Inc., the same company that handled the much acclaimed restoration of Yellow Submarine. The soundtrack work was done at Abbey Road Studios by Giles Martin and Sam Okell.

All of the packages contain a host of special features, packed with unseen footage. There are newly-filmed interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and other members of the film's cast and crew, as well as a director's audio commentary recorded by Paul.

In September 1967, The Beatles loaded a film crew onto a bus, along with friends, family and cast, and headed west on the A30 out of London to make their third film, this time conceived and directed by The Beatles themselves.

"Paul said, 'Look, I've got this idea,' and we said 'Great!' and all he had was this circle and a little dot on the top – that's where we started," explains Ringo. "It wasn't the kind of thing where you could say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to see is the product of our imaginations and believe me, at this point they are quite vivid'," says Paul. The film follows a loose narrative and showcased six new songs: "Magical Mystery Tour," "The Fool On The Hill," "I Am The Walrus," "Flying," "Blue Jay Way," and "Your Mother Should Know."

Magical Mystery Tour features a fabulous supporting cast of character actors and performers, including Ivor Cutler, Victor Spinetti, Jessie Robins, Nat Jackley, Derek Royle, and the inimitable Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Although the 53-minute film was shot in glorious color, it premiered on UK television in black and white. Broadcast by BBC1 at 8:35pm on Boxing Day, the film immediately attracted widespread controversy as middle England and the establishment media erupted with indignation. "How dare they?" they cried, "They're not film directors!  Who do they think they are?" they howled. Where were the four loveable moptops of Help! and A Hard Day's Night? Those Beatles were out of control!

Partly as an upshot of this adverse reaction, the film never had a US broadcast and very limited distribution in the rest of the world.

Operating at the time as the world's de facto "cultural mission control," The Beatles were already influencing filmmakers, artists, and musicians, while also drawing inspiration from their contemporaries.

Apple Films and EMI have partnered with Omniverse Vision, the leading distributor of music events to cinemas worldwide, to bring exclusive showings of Magical Mystery Tour to the big screen for the first time.  Screenings will take place in selected cinemas from September 27^th in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Italy, Japan, and other countries worldwide.  Once confirmed, full listings will be available at www.thebeatles.com. In addition, The British Film Institute has announced a special screening of Magical Mystery Tour at BFI Southbank on October 2^nd. Tickets are now available from the BFI website.

www.thebeatles.com

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR SPECIAL FEATURES

Director's Commentary – by Paul McCartney

"The Making of Magical Mystery Tour" [19:05]
- Features interviews with Paul and Ringo, along with other cast members and crew.  Includes unseen footage.

"Ringo the Actor" [2:30]
- Ringo Starr reflecting on his role in the film.

"Meet the Supporting Cast" [11:27]
- A feature on the background and careers of Nat Jackley, Jessie Robins, Ivor Cutler, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Victor Spinetti, George Claydon, and Derek Royle.

"Your Mother Should Know" [2:35]
"Blue Jay Way" [3:53]
"The Fool On The Hill" [3:05]
- Three new edits of these performances, all featuring footage not seen in the original film.

"Hello Goodbye," as featured on "Top of the Pops" - 1967 [3:24]
- The Beatles allowed the BBC to film them in the edit suite where they were working on Magical Mystery Tour.  This was then turned into a promo by the BBC, who shot their own additional footage.  It was then broadcast on "Top of the Pops" to mark the "Hello Goodbye" single going to No. 1 in December 1967.

"Nat's Dream" [2:50]
- A scene directed by John featuring Nat Jackley and not included in the original film.

Ivor Cutler – "I'm Going In A Field" [2:35]
- Ivor performs "I'm Going In A Field," in a field.  This scene was not included in the original film.

Traffic – "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" [1:53]
- The filming of Traffic acting out their 1967 hit single "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" was commissioned by The Beatles for possible inclusion in Magical Mystery Tour, but was not included in the final edit.

TECHNICAL SPECS

Aspect ratio – 1.33:1
Frame rate – 1080i 59.94

Audio Options
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Dolby Digital 5.1
PCM stereo for Blu-ray
Dolby Digital for DVD

Subtitle language options for feature, extras, and commentary: 
English; Francais; Deutsch; Espanol; Italiano; Portugues; Nederlande; Svenska; Norsk; Dansk; Suomi

SOURCE Apple Films / EMI