Yellow Submarine

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 magical Pepperland is invaded by the terrible Blue Meanies, who have declared war on all that is good- especially music.

The Blue Meanies send in their army, led by a menacing Flying Glove, to destroy all that is good. At the request of a befuddled emissary from Pepperland, the lads from Liverpool take a ride in their yellow submarine to aid the besieged residents in their battle.

Enter John, Paul, George and Ringo to save the day! Armed with little more than their humor, 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.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Chief Blue Meanie, Max, Jeremy Hilary Boob, Ph.D, Lord Mayor, Old Fred the Conductor, Blue Meanies, Apple Bonkers

This film premiered in England in July 1968 at the Pavillion in London. It was first shown in the U.S. on November 13, 1968 in Westwood. When the film debuted, it was instantly recognized as a landmark achievement, revolutionizing a genre by integrating the freestyle approach of the era with innovative animation techniques.

Peter Max designed the distinctive look of the animation, and the real-life Beatles themselves appear in a brief sequence at the film's end.

Includes the songs "Yellow Submarine," "Just A Northern Song," "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "Eleanor Rigby," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Nowhere Man," "A Day in the Life" and others, as well as several orchestral numbers by noted Beatle producer George Martin.

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 The Beatles TV series, approached The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein with a unique vision for a full-length animated feature.

Yellow Submarine began its voyage to the screen when writer Al Brodax, who had previously produced nearly 40 episodes of ABC's animated The Beatles TV series, approached Beatles manager Brian Epstein with a unique vision for a full-length animated feature.

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, three-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. 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 recognized as a landmark achievement, revolutionizing 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, three-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.

Special Award For Full-Length Animation, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 1968.
Nominee, Hugo Award, Best Dramatic Presentation, 1969.
Special Award For a Feature-Length Animation, National Society of Film Critics Awards, 1969.
Nominee, Grammy Award, Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show, 1970