Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television film starring The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) that initially aired on BBC1 on December 26, 1967. Upon its initial showing, the film was poorly received by critics and audiences.
Production
Despite being the shortest Beatles film, nearly ten hours of footage was shot over a two week period. The core of the film was shot beginning on 11 September and finishing on 25 September. The following eleven weeks were mostly spent on editing the film from ten hours to 52 minutes. Scenes that were filmed but not included in the final cut include:
- A sequence where ice cream, fruit, and lollipops were sold to The Beatles and other coach passengers
- John, Paul, George, and Ringo each looking through a telescope
- Happy Nat The Rubber Man (Nat Jackley) chasing women around the Atlantic Hotel’s outdoor swimming pool, a sequence directed by John.
Much of the film was shot in and around RAF West Malling, an airfield in Kent that had recently been decommissioned. Many of the interior scenes, such as the final ballroom sequence for “Your Mother Should Know”, were shot in the disused aircraft hangars. The exteriors, such as the “I Am the Walrus” sequence, and the marathon race, were filmed on the runways and taxi aprons. RAF Air Training Corps cadets can be seen marching in some scenes, and during “I Am the Walrus” an RAF Avro Shackleton is seen orbiting the group.
The mystery tour itself was shot throughout the West Country of England, including Devon and Cornwall, although most of the footage was not used in the finished film. The final striptease sequence was shot at Paul Raymond’s Raymond Revuebar in London, and the sequence for “The Fool on the Hill” was shot around Nice, France. The visual sequence for the instrumental “Flying” uses aerial footage on tinted film originally intended for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Songs
- “Magical Mystery Tour”
- “The Fool on the Hill”
- “Flying”
- “I Am the Walrus”
- “Blue Jay Way”
- “Your Mother Should Know”
- “Hello Goodbye” (finale played over end credits)
- “Death Cab For Cutie” (written by Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes and performed by their band, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
- “All My Loving” (orchestrated, as background music)
- “She Loves You” (played during the marathon with a carnival-style organ)