Never-before-seen lost footage of Beatles’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ found
New footage of The Beatles shooting their 1967 cult classic “Magical Mystery Tour” movie has been unearthed.
The clips show the Fab Four and their wives on-set in between takes, children hanging around and an airplane flying overhead.
It also contains snippets from the magicians’ sequence and shows the group organizing the ballroom spectacular, which was used as the finale of the film.
The behind-the-scenes shots were captured by a man who visited the set in West Malling with his young daughter.
Memorabilia specialist company Tracks Limited, based in Lancaster, UK, acquired the film from a woman in Essex whose father shot the footage and finally decided to part with the film.
Tracks Limited plans to auction off the footage and the rights on its website. It is estimated to be valued between $3,500 and $6,000.
“Nothing has turned up in about 20 years so it is a rare find,” Paul Wane from Tracks Limited told the South West News Service.
The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” movie was the fourth of five films made by the band and the only one to be slammed by critics.
However, the music from the film was an immediate success. The album stayed at the top of the US charts for eight weeks straight and was nominated for a Grammy in 1969.
“What’s happening with memorabilia associated with the top bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, is that a lot of the stuff that people have kept is because they have kept it for a reason, there are memories attached,” Wane explained.
“But also, people are becoming increasingly aware of the value.”
The “Magical Mystery Tour” helped to pave the way for psychedelic music as The Beatles continued to expand and experiment with their music. The idea for the film was inspired by Ken Kesey’s psychedelic Merry Pranksters bus tours across the US and the bus tours to Blackpool in the UK.
Sir Paul McCartney roped in the rest of the band and crew to make the film spontaneously without a real script.
“It was just a mad idea. We said to everyone, be on the coach on Monday morning. I told them all we’re going to make it up as we go along but don’t worry, it’ll be alright,” McCartney recounted.
To shoot the film, they hired the Royal Air Force station in West Malling, Kent, for a week in September of 1967, where they filmed the sequences for “Blue Jay Way,” “I Am the Walrus” and “Your Mother Should Know.”
It was broadcast in black and white on BBC television later that year on Boxing Day, and then in color several days later after Ringo Starr allegedly called the BBC to complain that the poor ratings were due to the colorful movie being shown in black and white.
The fantastical film went on to become a cult classic and inspire countless music video producers.