The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (DVD, 1997)

The Magical Mystery Tour is basically a 50 minute music video released by the Beatles at Christmas time in 1967. A half dozen or so excellent songs, including "The Fool on the Hill" and "I am the Walrus" are padded out with some moments of silliness and perhaps bad judgement on the part of the Beatles. One almost hopes that Graham Chapman (of Monty Python fame) will come out in his British General uniform and put a stop to a couple of the skits by announcing that they are too silly. Alas, it is not to be. My fondness for this DVD comes from the music and perhaps a few comical moments with Ringo or John, that is all. As far as the disc itself, the picture and sound are pretty good, although not as good as the clips that turned up in the Beatles Anthology a few years back. Anyone else wanting to own a copy of Magical Mystery Tour should be warned about an Australian import version that is floating around out there. It is claimed on the cover of that particular DVD that the picture and sound have been digitally remastered. If that is the case, then they must have used an old scratchy 8mm home movie as the master copy. I bought that particular version, watched the first five minutes, and promptly threw it in the rubbish. The MPI disc, which I am reviewing here, has the best picture and sound quality. I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.

For any avid Beatles fan, you may enjoy the shear quirkiness of their humor. As silly as anything the Beatles ever filmed, this particular movie seems underdeveloped. Not only does it feel whipped together from LSD trips and John Lennon's dreams (or nightmares rather), the entire concept is poorly constructed and very cheaply executed. But that isn't the reason we watch these is it? We watch these films to gain further insight into the minds and psyches of those whom we respect far beyond the music they created. If you are not a Beatles fanatic, don't bother. Buy "A Hard Days Night", easily their most accessible film, seeing as that it is basically the first "music video" ever. Next try "Help", it is superior to any other Beatles' quirky humor films.

If you really want to round out your Beatles movie collection, this is a must have but probably the worst of all Beatles films. The film quality and acting is poor but the music is incredible. Enjoy

I really like the music in this movie. The movie itself made no sense. I think they released the cutting room floor contents and misplaced the actual movie somewhere. It might have made more sense if I had been doing the same recreational drugs that the Beatles themsleves were doing at the time.

Good BEATLES collectable on DVD. Have the original release on VHS format from years back, but wanted to optain it on DVD. Footage is somewhat "grainy" but that's to be expected.