Up Periscope Yellow: The Making of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine »

Written by the film's producer and co-writer, this is a memoir of the making of the psychedelic-era Beatles animated movie Yellow Submarine. He describes his interactions with the Beatles; creative conflicts between producers, animators, and others working on the film; and, generally, offers a window into the creative process that produced the film. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Publishers Weekly

Judging from the fan fury that greeted the use of the Beatles' "Revolution" in a Nike commercial 15 years or so ago, and given the high artistic esteem they are held in, it's easy to think the Fab Four exist somewhere outside of commerce, where popular music is untouched by financial concerns. But Yellow Submarine's producer and co-writer Brodax, in his telling of the story behind the production of the psychedelic animated film (and the Saturday morning schlocktoon that preceded it), reminds readers that the world's biggest rock stars were definitely big enough to fuel a variety of different merchandising and moneymaking projects. As Brodax reveals, Yellow Submarine had scheme written all over it. Conceived as a relatively painless way to satisfy the band's three-movie contract with United Artists, the film's animation was begun even before the production team had a script. That was only the first of many hurdles; there was also an unreliable, make-their-own-schedule animation team, the finicky and stoned-flighty Beatles and the London pub where most of the production meetings took place. But somehow, it all came together to create a cherished animated film that is greater than the sum of its parts. Given that so much of Brodax's narrative describes one meeting or another, his style is an engaging mix of self-conscious Brooklynese and a Carnaby Street Austin Powers-esque slang ("Smashing, absolutely, altogether smashing!"), which carries the story along with authority and at a breezy clip. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.