The Movie: Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
What Is It?: 45
years on from Beatlemania’s initial intensity, Magical Mystery Tour plays surprisingly well. It is, as the critics
charged, indulgent, but that can be forgiven at a tight little 53 minutes well
divided by six Beatle tunes. There’s no story to speak of, and the tour isn’t
particularly magical or mysterious, but it’s hard to get bored, what with
Victor Spinetti’s babbling sergeant, The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band’s uproarious
performance of “Death Cab for Cutie”, John Lennon’s (disgustingly overcooked) spaghetti serving, Jessie Robins’s
scene-stealing bickering with Nephew Ringo, and the precious opportunity to
spend some time with the Fabs in their Sgt.
Pepper’s-era psychedelic splendor.
Why Today?: On
this day in 1967, The Beatles began
filming the “I Am the Walrus” and “Blue Jay Way” sequences.
