MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR [DVD]

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 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...

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!!!!

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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