The screen is playing constant games with perspective tricks (the submarine slips in and out of scenery like a phantom) and glorious odes to typography. Every minute of Yellow Submarine involves play with artistic styles, out Warhol-ing Warhol and injecting clever nods to great names like Magritte (I'm so woefully undereducated in art traditions that any attempt to be more specific would be ill-advised). largely in title sequences by Saul Bass and others. English TV shows of the time were noted for their sophisticated graphics, a mix of creative typography and abstract imagery that showed up in the U.S. Submarine was developed by English artists steeped in progressive design concepts. Although Japanese animes had their own look, by and large most mainstream animation imitated the look of Walt Disney, even Soviet efforts like The Snow Queen. In 1968 the charming Yellow Submarine was literally an animation road not taken. Upon arriving in Pepperland the Beatles are immediately attacked by the minions of the Blue Meanies, but a concerted musical counterattack turns the tide and saves the day. On the way they pick up the fussy, multi-talented Jeremy Hilary Boob Ph.D, the "Nowhere Man" of the popular song. He flies the Yellow Submarine to Liverpool (it goes just about anywhere), collects all four Beatles, and heads to the rescue. Their grotesque army of monsters freezes the population of Pepperland into pop-art statuary. But the nefarious Blue Meanies invade, as they hate everything musical. The happy domain Pepperland loves to play music and reveres its favorite bandstand group, Sgt. Nothing too demanding, nor straining for effect or significance - just fun, a few jokes, good music and exciting graphic images. The mostly flat 2-D animation reflects Mod Art as well as Op Art trends, placing the Beatle characters at the center of a whimsical fantasy universe. Using one of the most fanciful tunes as its main inspiration, 1968's Yellow Submarine boldly introduced a new look to animated film, for an all-age-bracket audience. Brodax put together a production that would feature several big Beatles hits and also some "new" songs that had not yet been given an album release. Instead of turning out cheap trash, the filmmakers did their best to create a respectable product, at a time when feature animation was all but extinct. The producer and director of those cartoons, Al Brodax and George Duning, also had the option to make a feature animated film with The Beatles, which was probably the last thing the Fab 4 desired. Perhaps it was a deal that grew out of small print in their record contract.? Apparently the Beatles hated the cartoons and wished they could be halted. Maybe there were just that many more commercials. I can't recall how they stretched a two-minute song to five or six. All I really remember is that if "love" was involved in the song (90% of them, then) the object of love in the cartoon was a Teddy Bear or a cute animal from the zoo or something. Beatle characters, obviously voiced by somebody else, ran around in a lot of repeat-cycle animation. I did see a few of the Saturday morning Beatle cartoon shows, which were little more than illustrated Beatle songs. Girls at school told me that they watched The Monkees on TV because there was no way to see The Beatles, not anywhere. I wasn't a hardcore fan but I was just as excited as anyone else when a new album came out the radio would play its tracks 'round the clock. I suppose that readers of show business magazines and perhaps even pop music fan magazines could learn a lot more about them. They showed up infrequently in news blurbs by the time somebody called you to the TV room, they'd be gone. But back in the 1960s we teenaged Beatle fans had access to their records and little more. These days anyone wanting to learn about the Beatles or to see endless fascinating film and videotape from their career(s) need only consult the many documentaries available, or just cruise the web. Written by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, Erich Segal, story by Minoff Original Music The Beatles, George Martin Starring The Beatles (epilogue), Voices: Paul Angelis, John Clive, Dick Emery, Geoffrey Hughes, Lance Percival, Peter Batten.
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