My experience of Magical Mystery Tour dates from the first black and white showing on BBC TV. Earlier in the year an experimental telecast was broadcast called "One World"on the Beeb. Countries from around the globe submitted a short feature. It was monumentally boring. I remember something about pine forests from one place! But the BBC item corrected all that. Their contribution was the Beatles giving "All you Need is Love" its first airing. It totally eclipsed all the other offerings on view. Maybe as a favour to the Beatles for giving them this "feather in their cap" the Beeb decided to commission MMT for a Christmas time showing. The commissioning officer has gone on record to say how pleased he was with the Beatles offering. It was family friendly, had great songs,no swearing, and the viewing figures were astronomical. I must admit that seeing it in black and white was perhaps not the best introduction to this movie. "Flying" should have been retitled "50 shades of grey" for grainy monochrome but, hey, it was whole slew of great new songs from my favourite pop band.I was a complete Sgt Pepper freak. Sure it was uneven but when it was good,it was very,very good. Forward some years later and I experienced a Liverpool Magical Mystery Tour of my own. It was during a festival of comedy and we took a boat from the Liverpool landing stage, Frank Sidebottom was "piloting"-he of the polystyrene head fame-(see new film "Frank" for further details)and various eccentric characters were wandering around on the upper deck. Once we arrived at our destination we were whisked off ion a similar coach to that seen in Magical Mystery and ended up in New Brighton Funfair situated on the far bank of the River Mersey. There amidst the sideshows and nets hung up with multicoloured baubles we discovered the "mystery". We were being treated to a set by Liverpool band "The Farm" who were riding high with their hit "All Together Now". Had this been filmed the resulting documentary would have been very similar to that of Magical Mystery Tour.At the time the format of the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack was as weird as the film itself. (UK only) It was on two singles encased in a full coloured booklet outlining the story. The two discs played at 33 rpm instead of the usual 45 rpm. In this way, they managed to fit the entire song selection on two discs. To this day it remains a firm favourite. I must have played these discs a hundred times in all innocence until on one play the ending of the introductory song hammered home. It said "DYING TO TAKE YOU AWAY. TAKE YOU TODAY". To me it seemed so slyly inserted into the mix that I felt that I was onto something. The bus tour was actually a metaphor for the soul passing over and was somehow linked into George's Eastern mysticism on "Blue Jay Way".Thanks Steve Nyland for your review reminding me of this "revelation". Of course it is easy to put a false construct on Beatles output, but it does seem as if the passengers pass through circles of hell full of screaming army officers,baying vicars and sinister policemen not to mention that demonic waiter before they reach their destination. The Beatles descend a (heavenly?)staircase and Paul sings "Your Mother Should Know". An elderly relative of mine heard me playing this song and exclaimed "It sounds so sad". I explained Paul's mother had died. Much has been made of John's song "Julia" on the White album but here is Paul singing a jollier version of a Mother song on a previous album. Everyone seems to be happy and having a really good time, Is this where our souls are going to end up? The Beatles are well known for pioneering the music video. At the time people were used to and were expecting a linear story line and were not as "hip" to music video films. Today with our more sophisticated viewing of videos and MTV it just seems like a great long form music video that includes all the latest batch of new songs from the Fab Four way back then. Taken in this context, you will probably enjoy the film. Just a few thoughts to concur with your review,Steve.. Thanks Steve in New York. Greetings from Steve in Liverpool an Oldie Beatles Fan

Context is everything, and I cannot think of a worse way of watching this film than how it was first presented; on Christmas Day evening, with a disapproving dad and bewildered uncles and aunties, on a small black and white telly. While much of Sgt Pepper raised a glass to the older generation, and was both out there and inclusive, Magical Mystery Tour takes the brakes off to deliver a total freak-out, and it really should end up like the finale of The Italian Job, with the coach dangling off a cliff. 'Hang on lads,' Macca might shout. 'I've got an idea!' A recent showing on BBC2 may have helped with the documentary preceding it, with both Ringo and Macca on good form, along with lowered expectations, but I really enjoyed this film. It's not too long - only about an hour - with some fine Beatle songs in it. Much of it isn't really dreamlike, but more an odd nightmare, but it did put me in mind of a David Lynch film, in particular Mulholland Drive. It's true there isn't much 'magic' in it, it seems to seek to alienate, or disturb. I'm thinking of the dream sequence where a grinning Lennon - at his most Michael Caine-like - heaps spaghetti onto a fat woman's plate.I am the Walrus looks rubbish on youtube, but in the context of this film looks quite quirky and polished, the Beatles' animal outfits anticipating the Soft Bulletin and Coldplay. Same with Fool on the Hill, a bit rubbish on youtube but in the film seems to be inspired from the Bergman classic The Seventh Seal.A lot of the humour seems less out there since Python and Vic and Bob came along.I know this isn't meant to be the best Beatle film, but honestly I've had worse times watching the others. I can't always get away from the fact that a lot of A Hard Day's Night is aimed at young teenage girls, or that the fabs are stoned throughout Help!, which has a goofy, lethargic, let's spoof Bond plot. Yellow Sub can be a protracted bore and of course Let it Be is no one's idea of fun. In some ways Magical Mystery Tour is the less dated of the lot, but it's also a bit of a time capsule. I'm glad it exists, and while Paul may have instigated it, it's the last time John Lennon looked truly happy to be a Beatle.

Look, I'll admit it. I hate Paul MaCartney, and even the Beatles stuff he did is now unlistenable to me because I hear his now florid narcissism in the whole of the Beatles catalogue in which he was involved. This is the man who wrote 'When I'm Sixty-Four' when he was fifteen. Rock'n'Roll! And Magical Mystery Tour is Paul's baby.While it's the nearest we'll get to seeing the late 60's Beatles performing live, and there are occasional glimpses of the sheer likability of John, George and Ringo which they all managed to share in 'Help' and 'Hard Day's Night', it's quite evident from MMT that Paul's self-regard was now becoming out of control.So if you're a MaCartney fan, you'll love MMT as much Paul loves himself: if you're a Beatles fan, it'll give you the frisson of seeing how the Fab Four fitted so well into the British media scene of the 60's, and how their money made possible a lot of artistic self-indulgence. If you've never really been that convinced that the Beatles were as good as EMI or MPL Communications' press offices might have you believe, you'll see MMT for what it was: a big budget being thrown at a few small ideas.

I'm an old Beatles fan, and I saw this when I was a teenager. The enjoyment I recall cannot be disentangled from the time and place. I enjoyed it back then, and watching it now is a sort of nostalgia rush.Certain aspects of it are great: There's a raw, improvisational energy to it that will strike many as artless, but works pretty well for me. Some of the dream/subconscious spew sequences approach Fellini or Brunuel for their purity of creative expression.And, of course, Magical Mystery Tour was one of the Beatles' best albums, and all the songs are showcased here.And how nice it is to see the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band, led by Stanshall, doing their thing!