What happened to the Yellow Submarine DVD?

It doesn't seem to be available anymore. Is it in the vaults only to be released at a certain time like Disney movies?

 

Out-of-print is the way I understand it.

Wouldn't surprise me if there were the old legal issues behind the scenes rearing their ugly heads once again.

 

What happened to Yellow Submarine? It went underwater.

 

Not likely.If there were legal problems,it never would have come out in the first place.This is The Beatles we're talking about....

 

If I'm not mistaken, there were legal problems (rights issues) with this particular release in the past. Both the VHS and LaserDisc were unavailable for many years after a brief, initial release by MGM.

Not that I care mind you, but does this thread more appropriately belong in the Visual Arts section?

 

Nobody ever said exactly what happened, but there was the usual rights issue that couldn't be resolved, so the title quietly went out of print.

 

Not really that hard to find though.
Name one catalog that is as ****ed up as The Beatles. The regular UK albums may never get rereleased and the DVDs we have are either not very well done or OOP. I think Yellow Submarine looks and sounds great, but we all know AHDN could look and sound better. Help! and Let It Be might be rereleased at some point. Who knows? What a bunch of BS!

 

It will probably be back for Xmas 2008 as a 40th anniversary reissue....I'm guessing.

 

Although widescreen, this was not a anamorphic transfer.
And, yes, this should be in VA, unless there's a question on the soundtrack. ;-)

 

I've seen no stories anywhere to suggest there was a "rights issue" or lawsuit of any kind regarding the 1999 DVD. My guess is that the new deal between Apple and MGM/UA was only for five years, and after it expired, the DVD went out of print. It may not have been profitable enough to renew the distribution deal with Apple.

Derek

 

Thread moved.

Yes, MGM has it 'out of production'. Basically means it's out of print, but enough copies went around for everyone to buy, and some stores still have it. MGM did not pull it off the shelves to my knowledge. They just let it fade.

 

I agree. In the case of the DVD, it appears the license agreement simply ran its 5 year course. But, as a followup to my earlier post and according to IMDb , there were rights issues with at least the laserdisc version of Yellow Submarine.

From the Notes section:

This version doesn't include the "Hey Bulldog" sequence. Audio channels are reversed. MGM/UA lost the distribution rights because the Beatles sued them on the grounds that their rights did not include home video.​

 

For an OOP Beatles product, it sure is cheap on eBay.

 

Interesting. So the DVD was not the complete work?

 

The dvd is the original UK version with Hey Bulldog. The LD doesnt have Hey Bulldog, but instead some other sequence.

 

I don't expect it to stay that way once people realize that it's out of print. The 1999 pressing of the laserdisc was the last new title I ever purchased. Can't imagine there's too many copies of it floating around since it was difficult to find when it was brand new. The original laserdisc released in 1987 does not have the "Hey Bulldog" sequence. The '99 pressing shown below does have it.

 

I think you'll find that the 'cheap' Yellow Submarine DVDs are bootlegs. The legit release is going for a premium.

Glad I bought mine when I did. My daughter and I enjoy watching it together.

 

The Kinks, for starters.

By the way, I think "A Hard Day's Night" (2002 Miramax edition) looks amazing...it only sounds like doody.

 

Maybe I can trade my DVD for the Taco CD.


http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?p=1887790#post1887790

 

You never know. You just might get lucky!

 

My source was a listing in the news section of an issue of Beatlefan from some time in 2004.

 

The DVD is indeed the European theatrical version. The US had a different edit, and according to the restoration team, the whole original negative was covered in dirt and scratches, so it's hard to say what had happened to the "Hey Bulldog" sequence. I'll see if I can find some more specific info on it... Here's a quote from Bruce Markoe the UA guy who got it reissued...

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'I've never discovered the official reason why the Hey Bulldog sequence was cut out of the movie' said Bruce Markoe, 'All I know is that the only country it was orignally seen in was the UK when the film was first realeased theatrically. After that the decision was made by United Artists to remove the song. They didn't just pull the song out, they also added some new animation to bridge where they had cut it out.

'But when we were doing the renovation we found a clean UK version with the original animation and the original Hey Bulldog song, so we were able to take that and piece and edit back together in the way that was the original director's cut of the movie.'
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Derek






Derek

 

I'll do some additional checking, but the only court case I can find reference to is the 1994 Subafilms Ltd vs MGM-Pathe Communications case. It did go to the Appeals court, so I'm guessing that the 2004 article you saw was in regard to the Appeals Court finding.

Derek

 

A few books have been written on the matter. One story said the US 1968 print had Hey Bulldog excised because it upset the flow of the film and decided it was not needed. When the London premiere took place, they realized that Hey Bulldog was gone and needed to put it back in for the Beatles, so they hurriedly tacked it into the US cut. The re-release restores the actual sequence and not the hack job of the UK version.

Another reason for OOP and Apple not re-licensing it? I read an article that said when they were doing a digital master, they also created a hi-def version when they cut the DVD standard version, so look for a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray version to come out eventually.