Magical Mystery Tour

John Lennon told Paul McCartney about a dream he had where he used a shovel to serve spaghetti to a woman. Paul suggested they film that, and John agreed.

After its premiere on BBC1 on December 26, 1967, Sir Ringo Starr apparently rang up the BBC complaining that the movie got poor ratings because it was broadcast in black-and-white. A few days later, it was broadcast in color on BBC2. It still bombed.

After completing "Help! (1965)," The Beatles wanted to make a live-action adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, with John Lennon as Gollum, Sir Paul McCartney as Frodo, Sir Ringo Starr as Sam, and George Harrison as Gandalf. They approached Stanley Kubrick to direct the movie. He declined, saying it was too complex to be properly adapted for the screen. J.R.R. Tolkien, who owned the movie rights, cancelled the adaptation because he didn't like the idea of The Beatles making a movie based on his work.

"Mystery tours", overnight bus rides to unknown destinations, were popular in England as low-budget weekend getaways. Most of this movie was shot in a rented bus filled with friends, acquaintances, Beatles office staff, a camera crew, and a handful of experienced actors, rambling around the English countryside one holiday weekend. Everyone was encouraged to invent his or her own character, let whatever was going to happen happen, and the results would be magical. Unfortunately, most of the passengers "acted" like anyone else travelling on a bus tour. John Lennon and George Harrison spent most of the trip sleeping or avoiding the cameras. The bus, with a hand-lettered "Magical Mystery Tour" sign, attracted curious on-lookers who began following in droves. Suggestions to film the chaos mounting outside were shot down. Lennon ultimately ordered the bus to stop, got out, and tore the lettering off the sides. He later derided the whole program as "The most expensive home movie ever made."

Sir Paul McCartney dreamed up most of the movie while flying home to the U.K. from a board meeting for the Monterey Pop Festival.