The Beatles’ classic 1968 animated feature film, ‘Yellow Submarine’, has been digitally restored for DVD and Blu-ray release on May 25 (May 29 in North America). The film’s songtrack album will be reissued on CD on the same date.
Currently out of print, the film has been restored in 4K digital resolution for the first time by Paul Rutan Jr. and his team of specialists at Triage Motion Picture Services and Eque Inc. Due to the delicate nature of the hand-drawn original artwork, no automated software was used in the digital clean-up of the film’s restored photochemical elements. This was all done by hand, frame by frame.
Bonus features for the ‘Yellow Submarine’ DVD and Blu-ray include a short making-of documentary titled ‘Mod Odyssey’ (TRT: 7:30), the film’s original theatrical trailer, audio commentary by producer John Coates and art director Heinz Edelmann, several brief interview clips with others involved with the film, storyboard sequences, 29 original pencil drawings and 30 behind-the-scenes photos. Both Digipak packages will include reproductions of animation cels from the film, collectible stickers, and a 16-page booklet with a new essay by ‘Yellow Submarine’ aficionado John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios).
Lasseter writes in his essay, “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.”
Directed by George Dunning, and written by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn and Erich Segal, ‘Yellow Submarine’ began its voyage to the screen when Brodax, who had previously produced nearly 40 episodes of ABC's animated Beatles TV series, approached The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein with a unique vision for a full-length animated feature.
‘Yellow Submarine’, based upon a song by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, is a fantastic tale brimming with peace, love, and hope, propelled by Beatles songs, including “Eleanor Rigby”, “When I'm Sixty-Four”, “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”, “All You Need Is Love”, and “It's All Too Much”. When the film debuted in 1968, it was instantly recognised as a landmark achievement, revolutionising a genre by integrating the freestyle approach of the era with innovative animation techniques.
Inspired by the generation's new trends in art, the film resides with the dazzling Pop Art styles of Andy Warhol, Martin Sharp, Alan Aldridge and Peter Blake. With art direction and production design by Heinz Edelmann, Yellow Submarine is a classic of animated cinema, featuring the creative work of animation directors Robert Balser and Jack Stokes with a team of animators and technical artists.
“I thought from the very beginning that the film should be a series of interconnected shorts” remembers Edelmann. “The style should vary every five minutes or so to keep the interest going until the end.” These styles included melding live-action photography with animation, 3-dimensional sequences and kaleidoscopic “rotoscoping” where film is traced frame by frame into drawings. The entire process took nearly two years, 14 different scripts, 40 animators and 140 technical artists, ultimately producing a groundbreaking triumph of animation.
Once upon a time… or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland, a place where happiness and music reigned supreme. But all that was threatened when the terrible Blue Meanies declared war and sent in their army led by a menacing Flying Glove to destroy all that was good. Enter John, Paul, George and Ringo to save the day! Armed with little more than their humour, songs, and of course, their yellow submarine, The Beatles tackle the rough seas ahead in an effort to bring down the evil forces of bluedom.
Running Time: 89 minutes
Director – George Dunning
Producer – Al Brodax
Screen story – Lee Minoff
Screenplay – Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, and Erich Segal
Art Director – Heinz Edelmann
Animation directors – Robert Balser and Jack Stokes
Production Executive – John Coates
Music Producer and Supervisor – George Martin
Featuring music by The Beatles
Fully restored in 4K and presented in the original aspect ratio of 1:66–1
Audio options:
English 5.1 DTS
German 5.1 DTS
Italian 5.1 DTS
English Dolby Stereo
Original Mono
Audio Commentary – Heinz Edelmann (Art Director) and John Coates (Producer)
Subtitle languages (feature only):
English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish,
Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Finnish, Japanese
Storyboard sequences:
- Sea of Monsters (split screen footage) [TRT: 4:20]
- Battle of the Monsters [118 images]
- Pepperland [64 images]
Interviews:
- Paul Angelis (voice of Ringo and Chief Blue Meanie) [TRT: 1:39]
- John Clive (voice of John) [TRT: 2:03]
- David Livesey (key animator) [TRT: 1:11]
- Millicent McMillan (Heinz Edelmann's assistant) [TRT: 1:12]
- Jack Stokes (animation director) [TRT: 3:42]
- Erich Segal (co-writer) [TRT: 1:38]
Original pencil drawings [29 images]
Behind-the-scenes photos [30 images]
Tracks:
1. Yellow Submarine Feature Film (2012 Restoration) (89')
Extra features:
2. Yellow Submarine Mod Odyssey documentary (2012 Restoration) (7'30")
3. Yellow Submarine Original Theatrical Trailer (2012 Restoration) (3'30")