Rant #2,177: Yellow Submarine

One of the most delightful, and surprising films of the 1960s re-emerged last week in theaters, and this week, on record.

"Yellow Submarine," the Beatles' cartoon movie, shouldn't have worked, couldn't have worked, but it did, on so many levels that it is considered an animated classic 50 years after its original theatrical run.

Just in short, if I remember the story correctly, the Beatles owed United Artists one more film after "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help," two very, very successful endeavors.

A script was handed in that would have been a musical western, but it was pretty much rejected by all sides, including Paul, John, George and Ringo, who at this point in their lives, were not that much into creating another romp like the other two films were.

But they had to fulfill their contract, and the thought came to mind that a Beatles film could be made, even with minimal participation from the Fab Four, if it was animated.

The Beatles had a cartoon on American television during this period, that wasn't very good, but was very popular. Produced by Filmation Studios and Al Brodax, the show, on ABC, kept the Beatles in mind with the younger viewer in mind, sort of a counterpoint to "The Monkees," which had captured the young kids that the Beatles had left behind.

The studio was chosen, much to the chagrin of many, and then the story gets a bit muddled. A storyline based on the song "Yellow Submarine" would be used--again, one of the Beatles' most popular songs for younger listeners, and probably chosen to snare the kids to see a cartoon in movie theaters--but pulling another rabbit out of the hat, the song would be used as a basis for a psychedelic romp through an imaginary land called Pepperland, where the boys met up with many strange characters, including the Blue Meanies.

Sort of innocence colliding with modern culture at the time ... the Beatles were still not that intrigued, agreed to allow the use of a couple of their minor tunes along with "Yellow Submarine," but their participation would still be minimal, and like the TV cartoon, they would have voice actors mimic their actual voices (the Beatles later agree to appear in a segment as themselves late in the movie).

Anyway, the film was somehow made, and incredibly, it gained almost universal acclaim, and stands as a classic of its genre; sort of a psychedelic kids movie with great music to bolster its kind of thin plot.

I do have an interesting personal story about the film that I am going to tell in abbreviated form here. I was 11 years old when this movie opened, and one of my classes at I.S. 72 in South Jamaica, Queens, New York was art.

The teacher was one of those teachers who either liked you or didn't. Those she liked loved her, those she didn't, well, they just wanted to get through the class and move on to something else.

I was in the latter category, as were my friends. One friend in particular and I were called up to the front of the room one day when our class was working on something or other.

"You boys have no artistic talent at all, and I want you to see "Yellow Submarine" to show you what true art is," she said to us. Yes, she actually said this to us, but again, this was 1968, not 2018, where you could not get away with this type of nonsense.

She also wanted us to write a short paper, summarizing the story and what made it artistic.

We both did just that, but what she said has stuck with me all these years later, and if I saw the teacher today--I believe she is still with us--I would let her know that the way she handled this was all wrong ... maybe we were not artistic, but we were talented. My friend is a doctor, and I am a writer.

Art is in the eye of the beholder, and this art teacher was blind.

Anyway, back to "Yellow Submarine" ...

The film reopened in theaters for a brief theatrical run last week, and while I am sure it might today seem a bit dated, the movie still holds up to a certain degree. No, I did not see it in the theater this time around, but after seeing it on VHS tape and later DVD, and even later, Blu-ray over the past several years, I can attest to the fact that in 1960, it was pretty revolutionary, but in 2018, it is simply an artifact of a different time.

Whatever the case, it is a good film, and along with the short theatrical run, a limited-release single picture disk was also released from the film's soundtrack, featuring the title tune and "Eleanor Rigby," so the single stands as a re-release of the original hit single, but this time, as a picture disk.

It is a nice companion to the film, and I did buy it, and I received it in the mail yesterday. This is all courtesy of my wife, who bought me a store gift card for Father's Day that I used for this purchase.

I guess to sum it all up, if you have not seen "Yellow Submarine," try to find it on tape or DVD or Blu-ray or whatever format you can, and try to look at it through 1968 eyes, even if you weren't around way back then.

It is a nice fantasy movie, which kind of tries to be a "Wizard of Oz" in cartoon form. While it doesn't hit that goal, it is still a really nice film that you can watch with young kids and not have to explain too much, even though some of its themes are really from the psychedelic era.

And the title song ... was that one of the first rock and roll drinking songs or just a nice sing-along?

Ask the Blue Meanies, I guess.