Meet the ‘Yellow Submarine’ Beatles

Looks like director Robert Zemeckis has found his fab four actors for that new version of “Yellow Submarine.”

Dean Lennox Kelly (TV’s “Collision”) will be John; Peter Serafinowicz (”Shaun of the Dead”) will play Paul; Cary Elwes (”The Princess Bride”) is doing George; and Adam Campbell (”Date Movie”) has the Ringo part.

The Beatles imitators the Fab Four will be used for musical performances featuring the band, the Hollywood Reporter said. The acting deals for the new “Yellow Submarine” are “in negotiations,” THR reported, trade talk for pretty much done.

Director Zemeckis reportedly has approached both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr about participating in the film, to be shot in 3D using motion-capture.

The director and co-producers Walt DIsney Pictures have rights to the 16 original Beatles recordings, which should bring a windfall for fans: more surround-sound mixes of Beatles songs. Let’s hope the results are at least as good as the 5.1 take on the title song from the “Yellow Submarine Songtrack” project of 1999.

The movie “Yellow Submarine” hasn’t been treated all that well over the years, with the DVD version currently out of print. No major restoration has been undertaken, despite the opportunity to greatly update the sound.

George Dunning, who worked on the Beatles’ Saturday morning cartoon series, directed the original film. It was released in 1968 to the delight of a stoned generation. Any top 10 of psychedelic movies would include the animated feature, which was surprisingly strange and included obvious drug references.

The original “Yellow Submarine” album finally was rereleased last September along with the rest of the Beatles catalog.

Zemeckis, understandably, is taking heat for his decision to fool with the classic Beatles animated film (made in 1968 without much help from the Beatles). (You have to ask: Does anyone really need to see an “improved” Blue Meanie?) The director’s CGI-laden films using the performance-capture process include the Jim Carrey “A Christmas Carol” and “The Polar Express.”

‘The Prisoner’: stoned immaculate on Blu-ray

Before the Beatles got lost with their “Magical Mystery Tour” TV show, they had a more promising psychedelic screen project in mind: a follow-up to “Help” that was on the same wavelength as “The Prisoner.”

George Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison told Wired: “They were going to be in a movie written and directed by Patrick McGoohan in the same vein as ‘The Prisoner,’ because they thought it was one of the best series ever. They were so into his psychedelic weirdness.”

The project never happened, of course, but the Fabs did license “All You Need Is Love” for the McGoohan series’ surreal finale, the only time a Beatles song popped up on a TV show at the time.

“The Prisoner” is back with us these days thanks in part to the AMC miniseries that updates the ’60s psych-spy series. While the new six-episode series has its moments — provided mainly by No. 2 actor Ian McKellen — the big event is the Blu-ray release of the original 17-episode series, from A&E. “The Prisoner: The Complete Series” delivers what is probably the best-quality presentation of the series, ever.

The series was hands down the most psychedelically influenced TV series of the era, with frequent detours into mind-expanding plot points and imagery. To this day, it is the strangest series ever broadcast by CBS. The show shared studio space with Kubrick’s “2001,” another mind-blower, with the show even lifting some space shots from the master.

“Twin Peaks” certainly showed the influence of “The Prisoner,” as do the movies of David Cronenberg, who cast creator McGoohan in one of his projects.

“The Prisoner’s” influence on musicians continues to this day. Wikipedia lists at least 20 instances of tributes to the show, starting with the 18-minute song “McGoohan’s Blues” by English seeker Roy Harper. The Clash’s “The Prisoner” was about the series. XTC and Supergrass are among the bands that shot “Prisoner”-driven music videos, on location in Portmeirion.

Extras on the Blu-ray set include crew commentaries, in which some of the key players discuss dropping acid on the set. CBS refused to air one of the episodes because of its depiction of hallucinogenic drugs.

On Blu-ray, the op art/pop art imagery of “The Prisoner” leaps from the screen. Colors are bold and vivid, yet not oversaturated. The clarity is remarkable, almost too good — the actors’ perspiration and skin blemishes are borderline distracting (the kind of thing industry folks fretted about in the early days of HD).

Audio is OK, whether you choose the 5.1 track (with its once-over-lightly mix) or the 2.0 mono. The audio does have bouts of that tinniness associated with pop soundtracks of the day.

‘Easy Rider’: high times in high definition

Dennis Hopper does the talking as “Easy Rider” comes to high-definition via Sony.

The “Easy Rider” Blu-ray features a feature-length commentary by the director-actor; a featurette about Hopper and partner Peter Fonda (Capt. America); as well as some BD-Live enabled content. There’s also a 32-page graphic booklet.

The previous DVD version of “Easy Rider” came out five years ago, in a 35th Anniversary Deluxe set. That version came with the DVD and a bonus soundtrack CD. The Blu-ray, appropriately, is tagged as a 40th-year edition.

“Easy Rider” is a movie that’s very much of its time — the youth of 1969 were just delighted to see long hair, drugs and nudity presented as good things in a dramatic motion picture — but no matter how the film plays today, the music hasn’t aged a bit. And this time the soundtrack comes in lossless audio.

We’re talking “If Six Was Nine” from Hendrix, “The Pusher” and “Born to Be Wild” from Steppenwolf, “The Weight” (the Band’s version) and a couple of Roger McGuinn numbers, including the dramatic finale, “The Ballad of Easy Rider.”

The Electric Prunes’ “Kyrie Ellison” adds somber weirdness to the New Orleans acid-trip scenes. Then there are the novelty songs “Don’t Bogart That Joint” and “If You Want to Be a Bird,” appealing to the Merry Pranksters among us.

Several of the songs remain in heavy rotation on FM radio, but there’s something special about flashing back to their framing in the biker movie.

Don’t blow it, man: check out “Easy Rider” in high-definition and let us know what you think.

‘Yellow Submarine’ resurfaces at Disney

Pepperland is being invaded again, this time by the mouse-eared meanies of Disney.

Director Robert Zemeckis (”Back to the Future”) will helm a new 3D version of the psychedelic animated Beatles classic “Yellow Submarine.” Daily Variety, which broke the 3D “Yellow Submarine” story, says a Broadway show and Cirque du Soleil production are part of the scheme.

Rights to the original 16 Beatles songs were “key to the deal,” Variety said (stating the incredibly obvious), but the reporter didn’t indicate if the music had been secured. Leaks to trade papers usually go out with the approval of the deal participants, however.

At best, we get a CG update and some great Beatles songs mixed for movie theater surround. At worst, we’re in for another “Sgt. Pepper’s” movie experience — remember that Bee Gees-Peter Frampton nightmare? And does anyone really need to see an “improved” Blue Meanie?

To be fair the Fabs didn’t have all that much to do with the original feature-length cartoon aside from the music. The Beatles did appear at the end in live action but actors did their cartoon voices, kinda dopey-like.

George Dunning, who worked on the Beatles’ Saturday morning cartoon series, directed the original film. It was released in 1968 to the delight of a stoned generation. Any top 10 of psychedelic movies would include the animated feature, which was surprisingly strange and included obvious drug references.

The Beatles said they enjoyed the film.

The movie “Yellow Submarine” hasn’t been treated all that well over the years, with the DVD version currently out of print. No major restoration has been undertaken, despite the opportunity to greatly update the sound. (The “Yellow Submarine” DVD goes for about $25 on Amazon, new and “like new” from third-party sellers.)

A “Yellow Submarine” Blu-ray can be considered overdue, like so many things associated with the Fabs.

The song “Yellow Submarine” is a showstopper number in the Cirque du Soleil production of “Love,” the killer remix a tease of what could be done … with the original movie.

The Beatles’ catalog is coming out in a few weeks, along with the Beatles Rock Band game.

Meanwhile, Tech Crunch just floated the idea that the long-awaited Beatles deal with iTunes could be announced on 9/09/09 as well.

There are two collections of the albums: “The Beatles Stereo Box Set” and “The Beatles Mono Box Set”. Individual titles are coming to market as well.

Disney hopes to release the Zemeckis “Yellow Submarine” in time for the 2012 summer Olympics, Variety said.

The news comes a month after the original movie’s art director, Heinz Edelmann, died in Germany.

‘Woodstock’ DVD unveils the unseen

“Woodstock,” the DVD: Four hours of peace and music, along with a righteous stash of unseen performances.

(Updated) Warner released Blu-ray and DVD editions of the remastered hippie classic “Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music” on June 9, a month and a half earlier than previously announced. The rerelease comes in honor of of the mudfest’s 40th anniversary (Aug. 15-18, 1969).

About time. While “Monterey Pop” thrived on DVD (Criterion), “Woodstock” has been stuck in the video muck since 1999.

Warner says the mother of all concert films was restored and “remastered from original elements and scanned at 2K with audio 5.1 mix supervised by director Michael Wadleigh.” This extended director’s cut dates back to 1994.

“The concert original chief engineer Eddie Kramer, who was on-site for the festival, is overseeing the audio mix of all of the recently found added footage.” Audio specs are Dolby TrueHD 5.1 for the DVD and DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 for the Blu-ray. Images have been scanned at 2K.

“Newly discovered” performances included in the set come from the Who, Joe Cocker, Canned Heat, Joan Baez and Country Joe and the Fish, adding up to about two hours. There will be 18 bonus performances from 13 acts:

Grateful Dead: “Turn on Your Love Light”*
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Born on the Bayou,” “I Put a Spell on You,” “Keep on Chooglin’ ”*
Johnny Winter: “Mean Town Blues”*
Mountain: “Beside the Sea” and “Southbound Train”*
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: “Morning Sunrise”*
Canned Heat: “I’m Her Man,” “On the Road Again”
Santana: “Evil Ways”
The Who: “My Generation,” “We’re Not Going To Take It”
Jefferson Airplane: “3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds”
Joe Cocker: “Something’s Coming On”
Joan Baez: “One Day at a Time”
Country Joe McDonald: “Flying High”
Sha Na Na: “Teen Angel”

* = not in original film — Sorry, no Janis Joplin.

Among the many extras are the new documentaries “The Museum at Bethelwoods: The Story of the Sixties & Woodstock,” “Woodstock: Untold Stories,” “Woodstock: From Festival to Feature.” The bonus material is full of “reflections and perspectives from musicians, celebrities, influencers and other giants in the entertainment industry,” Warner said. No doubt we’ll be hearing from Martin Scorsese, who worked a camera for “Woodstock.”

The Blu-ray will include a “Customize Your Own Woodstock Playlist” feature and a “live community screening.”

Warner plans several editions: a DVD Ultimate Collector’s Edition, a limited numbered Blu-ray and a stripped-down double-disc DVD that doesn’t have the bonus performances.

“Monterey Pop” has seen a great deal of effort put into its DVD box set and CDs in recent years, but Woodstock pretty much just sat there in the DVD era. It’ll continue to sit, as the film has some kind of moratorium in effect until the new set’s release.

Woodstock has its share of dog performances, but these are among the highlights in the movie: Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner,” Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice,” Ten Years After’s blistering “I’m Going Home,” Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music/Music Lover/I Want to Take You Higher” and Richie Havens’ “Freedom.”

Fans of the man with the guitar should check out the excellent Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock.

Criterion’s “The Complete Monterey Pop Festival” packed in a generous collection of previously ignored performers in its extras, setting the standard for this sort of thing.

Warner’s 1997 release of “Woodstock” was largely viewed as a bummer, so this release comes to us overdue and quite welcome.

An interesting DVD release from that neck of the woods is “Woodstock 1999,” well worth a rental to see some of today’s top rockers in their early years.

I was not at Woodstock. Here is my excuse: I was headed to the festival with my two pals, until my parents got super-pissed about something and grounded me for the rest of the summer. … Everyone from the ’60s has a Woodstock story, it seems.

‘Privilege’: Orwell meets Britpop

Outlaw filmmaker Peter Watkins looked into the heart of ’60s British pop music and found darkness.

For his 1967 movie “Privilege,” Watkins turned to he Nazi documentary “Triumph of the Will” — a hypnotic stream of spectacle and fervor — as a primary influence, most obviously in the nightmarish scene in which the pop star convinces a stadium full of rogue youth to convert to religion.

“We … will … conform,” they chant as the band offers a goose-stepper’s salute. Heavy and twisted.

“Privilege” starred Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones as a rock star co-opted by state and church for purposes of controlling potentially violent youth. The curious film had been largely unseen for almost four decades, and now resurfaces on a New York Films DVD.

Watkins shot the film as a bogus documentary, based largely on a Canadian short about the singer Paul Anka (”Lonely Boy” — it’s included here as an extra).

Of the “Privilege” pop puppet, the evil manager declares: “He belongs to the world, and therefore has no right to himself.” The words come almost directly from Anka’s handler in the Canadian docu.

“Privilege” has lost some of its absurdist edge because, as it predicts, today’s music stars are holistically commoditized and so frequently raped by the media. Back then, the idea of a rocker becoming a brand and fronting a large chain of discos and stores — “to spread happiness” to the masses — seemed ridiculous.

Actor/singer Jones and his onscreen girlfriend Jean Shrimpton took heat at the time for their flat, emotionless performances, which probably play better today. The supermodel Shrimpton managed to swallow every other line, but looked damned fine doing it in a druggy-hottie way.

The movie suffered numerous distribution indignities that kept it from public view until a 2005 retrospective of the director’s work. Watkins’ highbrow rant in the booklet suggests that Universal kept the movie locked away for political purposes. (Lew Wasserman … it’s a stretch).

Images look surprisingly fresh. The soundtrack lacks punch in the musical scenes, but the songs pretty much suck anyway.

There is no making-of docu, unfortunately. The Anka documentary, however, provides big value: It’s an engrossing study of teen celebrity, rabid fandom and life in the trenches of showbiz.

– Glenn Abel

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