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Pop & Hiss

Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ film, soundtrack to be reissued in May

By Randy Lewis
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The Beatles’ 1968 film “Yellow Submarine” returns to circulation in May with a new high-resolution edition coming on DVD and Blu-ray discs along with a reissue of the soundtrack album on CD.

According to a release Tuesday, the restoration for the 4K digital resolution was done completely by hand, frame by frame, without the use of any automated software because of the delicacy of the original hand-drawn animated artwork. The new editions will arrive May 29 in North America, a day after they are released in the rest of the world. ‘Yellow Submarine’ has been out of circulation in a home video edition for several years.

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The DVD and Blu-ray releases will come with bonus features, including a brief “making of” documentary, audio commentary by producer John Coates and art director Heinz Edelmann, the original theatrical trailer, interviews with several participants involved in making the film, reproductions of pencil drawings and behind-the-scenes photos.

They also will include a new essay from Pixar Animation founder John Lasseter, who writes, “As a fan of animation and as a filmmaker, I tip my hat to the artists of ‘Yellow Submarine,’ whose revolutionary work helped pave the way for the fantastically diverse world of animation that we all enjoy today.”

View the trailer here:

“Yellow Submarine” was the brainchild of animator Al Brodax, who had created “The Beatles” animated TV series, which originally ran for two seasons on ABC and another two seasons in reruns. Brodax wrote the script with Lee Minoff, Jack Mendolsohn and Erich Segal, and it was directed by George Dunning. It introduced a psychedelic pop-art sensibility into animated feature films, which were then largely the domain of Walt Disney’s studio.

Walt Disney Pictures had been exploring a remake to be directed by Robert Zemeckis, but abandoned the project about this time last year.

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-- Randy Lewis

Animated image of the Beatles in ‘Yellow Submarine.’ Credit: Subafilms Ltd.

Pop & Hiss
Randy Lewis

Randy Lewis covered pop music for the Los Angeles Times from 1981 to 2020, working in that time as a reporter, music critic and editor for the Calendar section. He has interviewed most of the members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He’s also written first-person accounts of performing the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev on clarinet and singing Mozart’s Requiem with world-class professionals. In addition, he enjoys belting out “Wooly Bully” in dive bars with his band, the Rounders.

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