Previously
unseen footage of The Beatles sharing fish and chips while filming their 1967
film Magical Mystery Tour has been posted online.
Arts website The Space
is hosting the footage, discovered during the making of a new documentary about
the film from BBC Two's Arena.
It shows The Beatles taking a break from the Magical
Mystery Tour coach at a fish bar in Taunton, Somerset.
The film was first broadcast by the BBC on Boxing Day
1967.
It was not a hit, confusing the festive audience, and
was savaged by critics in reviews that branded it "rubbish".
The film will
be shown on 6 October on BBC Two for the first time in more than 33 years.
It will follow
a new documentary, Arena: The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, looking at the
film's "artistic merit and cultural significance".
Arena has
placed the previously unseen footage, which it said was reclaimed from the
"cutting room floor", into a new short film made in association with
The Beatles' record label Apple.
'Dumbstruck nation'
Featuring John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, it was shot en route
to Newquay, Cornwall, the final destination of the Magical Mystery Tour.
The video is
available to watch online on The Space, the arts website developed by the Arts
Council and the BBC.
It is part of a
spin-off project from award-winning documentary series Arena, called The Arena
Hotel.
The project
will see the show open up its archive of 600 films to audiences in a
"virtual hotel" environment.
"Few
people have seen Magical Mystery Tour in its entirety and the material in the
chip shop has never been shown anywhere," explained Arena editor Anthony
Wall.
"It
captures perfectly the fabulous world of The Beatles at this time.
"They're
happily rubbing shoulders and sharing a simple meal with the other passengers
on the coach, and at the same time creating an extraordinarily avant garde
film, which of course would soon be broadcast by the BBC to a dumbstruck
nation."
This week marks
50 years since The Beatles had their first hit record with their single Love Me
Do.
Released on 5
October 1962, it went to number 17 in the charts.
Arena: The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour is on BBC Two
on 6 October at 21:45 BST.
Source:
BBC
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