The Beatles on Screen by Stephanie Fremaux

Author:Stephanie Fremaux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

“Magical Mystery Tour”

The psychedelic trip begins with a title song that calls out to fans to join the mystery tour, with footage that is of the colorfully painted coach winding down narrow country lanes, and a montage of curious footage hinting at what’s to come over the next fifty-five minutes. Just as the band’s first two films make strong comments on the Beatles’ image, so too does this one. As the Beatles appear clearly in only one shot together (shot nine, 00:20), the band minimize the emphasis on the group as a whole, opting to be shot individually to perhaps represent the four different paths they are taking. Each wears a different outfit and even though all but Paul are in suits, they don’t match. The clothing also reflects something of their new personae—Starr, who preferred the quiet life of the family man, represents his stability with a traditional black, pinstriped suit, while McCartney’s interest in the counterculture is reflected in his brightly colored, rainbow knit sweater vest. The ever retreating Harrison hides behind large sunglasses, hat, and an oversized suit coat, while later in the film he dresses in orange—the color embraced by devotees to Hinduism (note that even his Sgt. Pepper tunic was orange).

However, the title song also projects a rather problematic view of image and persona. The audience will never really be able to know any of the Beatles’ true selves, not just because celebrities’ lives are not their private lives we will never gain access to, but because of the band’s own sense of confusion and lack of clarity that the film as a whole represents. While the title does evoke a kind of personal journey of self-exploration, the Beatles interchange between four main performance types: (1) playing completely fictional characters, (2) as fictional versions of “John,” “Paul,” “George,” and “Ringo” (sometimes as “Richard B. Starkey”), (3) as non-fictional versions of themselves, and (4) as musicians. Aldred (2005, 112) argues that part of psychedelia was to be able to dress up and try on new identities, and the opening sequence presents viewers with a number of examples of this. In shots five (00:14) and thirty-two (1:34), George and Paul play magicians who control the coach trip from far. In shot thirty (1:12) John plays a shop owner and Ringo plays Richard B. Starkey (a slight alteration of his given name), who purchases the coach tickets for him and his fictional Aunt Jessie. There are also brief moments where we see the Beatles as their real selves, chatting to the other actors, unaware of the rolling cameras (shot nineteen, 00:45).

The tropes associated with the psychedelic film cycle are in abundance just in the opening musical sequence, as the film begins with the colorful title card written in cartoon bubbled, rainbow lettering. The sequence utilizes a high number of shots—forty-seven in two and a half minutes—which are edited together with jump cuts. Many of the images are taken from scenes throughout the film in a kind of visual collage and depict the band in various guises.

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