Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ Restored, Returns to Theaters

The Beatles once again set sail across the "Sea of Time" as Yellow Submarine returns to theaters July 8, 50 years after its launch.

The 90-minute animated movie — driven by such classic songs by the Beatles as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "Eleanor Rigby," "When I’m Sixty-Four" and "All You Need Is Love" — has been restored for new generations of Beatles fans as well as original devotees.  

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Directed by George Dunning, with art direction and production design by Heinz Edelmann, Yellow Submarine was hailed as a landmark work of innovative animation upon its release in 1968. Its experimental breakthroughs influenced animators for decades and dramatically pushed boundaries in a field dominated by cloying kiddie tales. Yellow Submarine’s subversion introduced mind games, sarcasm, pop art and technical wizardry. And, of course, the Beatles’ goofy sense of humor.

A snippet from the script:

George: Maybe time’s gone on strike.
Ringo: What for?
George: Shorter hours.

Yellow Submarine wasn’t the band’s first foray into animation. The Beatles, a 39-episode Saturday morning cartoon series, ran on ABC from 1965 to 1967 (and until 1969 in reruns). It was the first TV series to animate living people. The show was a hit, but the Fab Four detested it.

In Yellow Submarine, actors provided the voices of the Beatles, who were initially leery of the project after their earlier cartoon experience. Looking back in 1994, George Harrison said, “It’s a classic film. I’m not sure why we never did our own voices, but the actors probably did it better anyway.” Each Beatle disliked his own vocal impression in Submarine but approved of the others.