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All This and World War II
1976 film by Susan Winslow From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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All This and World War II is a 1976 musical documentary film directed by Susan Winslow. It juxtaposes Beatles songs covered by a variety of musicians with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films.
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Cast
The film features clips from contemporary newsreels. Scenes from Four Jills in a Jeep, Guadalcanal Diary, The Longest Day, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Patton, A Bell for Adano, Great Guns, and other 20th Century Fox war films are also used. A scene from Casablanca, a Warner Bros. Pictures film, was used.[1][2][3]
Footage of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Humphrey Bogart, Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Clark Gable, Laurel and Hardy, Adolf Hitler, Bob Hope, Charles Lindbergh, Douglas MacArthur, Benito Mussolini, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and James Stewart is used in the film.[1][2][3]
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Production
Russ Regan came up with the film after having dreams of Hitler in Berchtesgaden set to The Fool on the Hill, the Liberation of Paris set to Michelle, and the attack on Pearl Harbor set to Here Comes the Sun.[2][3] Frankie Laine stated that he covered Maxwell's Silver Hammer solely because Reizner was his friend and that there "not much else to say".[4]
Lou Reizner was the musical director of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but left the project while retaining the rights to three performances by the Bee Gees. Reizner made the soundtrack for All This and World War II with Wil Malone.[2] The backing sound was provided by the London Symphony Orchestra.[5]
Sanford Lieberson asked Terry Gilliam to direct the film, but Gilliam declined the offer.[6] Susan Winslow, a 24-year old researcher for the film, was promoted to director due to her selection of footage;[2][3][7] it was the only film she directed.[1] Colin J. Berwick edited the film.[8] It took three years to produce the film and researchers went through one million feet of film.[5] The budget was around $650,000.[2][3]
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Release
All This and World War II was distributed by 20th Century Fox and given a PG rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. It premiered at the Cinerama Dome, in Los Angeles on November 11, 1976.[3] It was shown out-of-competition at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
It was rumored that Fox had all of the prints of the film destroyed. The film has never been officially released on home video.[1] In 2016, Tony Palmer re-edited the film, inserted different archival footage, and used different music to make The Beatles and WWII.[9][10]
Reception
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All This and World War II received mostly negative reviews from critics and was withdrawn from theaters by 20th Century Fox.[1][11] It was a financial failure at the box office.[12]
New York Daily News wrote that the film's PG rating must have stood for "Positively Ghastly". It has since occasionally been shown at film festivals and on cable TV in the US.[13]
Kevin Thomas, writing for the Los Angeles Times, described the film as tasteless and offensive.[14] Ruth Batchelor, writing for the Los Angeles Free Press, criticized the musical selection, stated that the overall film was tacky, and that those over 40 would resent the film while those under 30 would not understand it.[8] Joe Baltake described it as a "pointless documentary" in his review for the Philadelphia Daily News.[15] The editing was compared to that of a 6th grade history book by Jerry Stein's review in The Cincinnati Post.[16] Film critic Shane Burridge noted that the film almost entirely removes the deaths and atrocities of World War II.[1]
George Anderson gave the film a B rating in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as he felt it was an effective amalgamation of music and film footage.[17] Phil Hall, writing for Film Threat, stated that it was "the most brilliantly reckless movie" he had ever seen and that it was tasteless, sassy, absurd, and avant-garde.[1]
Michael Fremer watched the film in a Boston theater while high on LSD. He initially loved the film and invited prominent radio personalities and music and film critics to attend a showing. 10 minutes into the showing he realized that the film was terrible and criticized the poor quality of the Beatles covers.[18]
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Soundtrack
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Riva Records released the soundtrack in the United Kingdom before the film was released. Riva initially considered an advertising campaign before Christmas, but chose not to as the film would not be released in the United Kingdom until February.[23] The album was released on 25 October 1976, and the film was released on 11 November 1976.[24] Nicholas Schaffner noted that the advertising campaign for the record was as questionable as the film due to an ad depicting Hitler listening to the album.[25]
The album reached number 23 on the UK Albums Chart, with a total of seven weeks on that listing,[13] and number 48 on the Billboard Top 200.[26][27] It also made number 14 on the Australian album charts, number 17 on the Dutch album charts and number 37 on the New Zealand album charts.[28] The soundtrack is notable for featuring the solo recording debut of Peter Gabriel, formerly of Genesis, singing "Strawberry Fields Forever". The album was nominated for NARM Awards "Best Selling Movie Soundtrack".[29]
A live concert featuring many of the artists who appeared on the soundtrack and album was planned for London's Olympia. However, the idea was abandoned due to difficulties in getting a date that all or most of the artists could make.[30]
The LP was also released in 1979 with the title The Songs of John Lennon & Paul McCartney Performed by the World's Greatest Rock Artists,[31][32] and two of the tracks ("Let It Be" performed by Leo Sayer and "Because" performed by Lynsey de Paul) were released on the Beatles cover version CD album With A Little Help that was issued in Europe in 1991.[33]
The album was finally released on CD in 2006 on the Hip-O Select label[34] and again in 2015 as a limited-issue release on the Culture Factory label, complete with the original gatefold sleeve.[35] In 2016, a box set featuring the DVD of the film and the soundtrack on two CD's was released by Gonzo Multimedia with the title The Beatles and World War II.[36]
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Single releases
- Elton John’s rendition of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", when previously released as a single in 1974, became a US and Canadian number one hit.[1][37]
- Rod Stewart's version of "Get Back" was subsequently released and became a UK hit single (number 11).[21]
- Ambrosia's cover of Magical Mystery Tour reached number 39 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[38]
Track listing
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All tracks are written by Lennon–McCartney.
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Personnel
- Barry Gibb – vocals
- Robin Gibb – vocals
- Maurice Gibb – vocals
- Nicky Hopkins – piano
- Les Hurdle – bass
- Barry Morgan – drums
- Ronnie Verrell – drums
- Wil Malone – orchestral arrangement
- Harry Rabinowitz – conductor
- David Measham – conductor
Charts
See also
- List of artists who have covered the Beatles
- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, a 1975 documentary from the same producer that utilized a similar concept, but with contemporary music for the period
- The Atomic Cafe, a darkly satirical 1982 Cold War documentary similar in content
References
Works cited
External links
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