Great Performances: The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour

Image: The Beatles perform "I Am The Walrus” for the film Magical Mystery Tour.

Image credit: Courtesy of Apple Films, Ltd.

Fans of British rock sensations The Beatles will not want to miss Wednesday, March 13, 2013 on WXXI-TV/HD (DT21.1/cable 1011 and 11) for a special line-up of films all about this famous group! The fun begins at 8 p.m. with Great Performances: Magical Mystery Tour Revisited, a documentary featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage about The Beatles’ 1967 film. Fittingly, Great Performances: Magical Mystery Tour airs at 9:30 p.m., a showcase for the Fab Four’s idiosyncratic sense of humor.

Magical Mystery Tour Revisited, airing at 8 p.m. explores the making of a lesser-known film starring The Beatles. Produced at the peak of Beatlemania in 1967, Magical Mystery Tour is the least known of the various films starring The Beatles. It was never theatrically released or nationally broadcast on U.S. television, receiving only sporadic TV syndication in the 1980s. This documentary chronicles the behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film and provides context for “the summer of love” era that set the scene for its production. This program rebroadcasts at 11 p.m. that same evening.

Watch Magical Mystery Tour Revisited Preview on PBS. See more from Great Performances.

Please note that the date and time presented in this preview differs from our local broadcast schedule.

Released in 1967, Magical Mystery Tour, airing at 9:30 p.m., was arguably ahead of its time, with a mostly improvised and loosely plotted script based around a surreal dreamlike coach trip to an unknown destination. The film is a showcase for six classic tracks including like “I Am the Walrus,” “The Fool on the Hill” and “Your Mother Should Know” and features John, Paul, George and Ringo as themselves. On the coach, they’re joined for a series of episodic misadventures by a cast of eccentric characters, including Auntie Jessie, tour director Jolly Jimmy Johnson, tour hostess Miss Wendy Winters and conductor Buster Bloodvessel. This program rebroadcasts at 12 a.m. that same evening.