If there are meaningful, or at least not appallingly literal-minded, connections to be made between World War II and the music of the Beatles, All This and World War II never finds them. Accompanying the song: footage of swastika banners, German soldiers marching in formation, and a climactic appearance from a smiling Adolf Hitler, by implication the organizer of the “mystery tour” that was World War II. A clip of Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) skeptically receiving the news of Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace in our time” declaration in the 1939 film City in Darkness gives way to acover of “Magical Mystery Tour” by ’70s soft-rock giants Ambrosia.
Though bad from start to finish, the film’s worst moments come early. Put bluntly, All This and World War II is one of the most appalling miscalculations I’ve ever seen, a bad idea stretched to a torturous 83-minute running time. (I won’t name it, but it’s easy to find and not hard to get lost in.) It also required a lot of patience to watch from beginning to end. So what is it? As one of those record store browsers, I’d been curious for years-an interest also stirred by a Dissolve piece by our friend Noel Murray -and curiosity finally got the better of me after hearing Elton John’s (pretty terrific) 1974 version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” on the radio.* This required a trip to a site that hosts otherwise unavailable rare films. Its soundtrack includes contributions from Elton John, Peter Gabriel, The Bee Gees, Tina Turner, The Four Seasons, The Brothers Johnson, Jeff Lynne and many others-some of them previously recorded but many cut especially for the film-but is essentially only encountered by those thumbing through old LPs who pause and wonder, “Wait: What is this ?” It’s rarely screened and has never been (legitimately) released on any home video format. While it seems like nearly every offshoot of the Beatles enjoys some kind of following, All This and World War II has languished in obscurity with little call for the vault containing it to be opened.
0 kommentar(er)
