Part 2 : The relationship between Xanadu, Meat Loaf, Yellow Submarine

News: Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.

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Xanadu, Meat Loaf, Yellow Submarine all share something in common.

At the end of part three the connection between the two movies and the singer Meat Loaf will be revealed.

Part 2 of 3

Yellow Submarine (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yellow Submarine is a 1968 animated feature film based on the music of The Beatles. It is also the title for the soundtrack album to the feature film, released as part of The Beatles' music catalogue. The film was directed by Canadian-born animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists and King Features Syndicate. The Beatles themselves appear only in the closing scene of the film, with the Beatles characters in the film voiced by other actors.

Pepperland is a cheerful music-loving paradise under the sea, protected by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which falls under a surprise attack by the music-hating Blue Meanies; the attackers seal the band inside a music-proof bubble, then turn the Pepperlanders into statues and drain the country itself of colour.

Pepperland's elderly Lord Mayor sends Old Fred (whom the mayor calls "Young Fred") off in a yellow submarine to get assistance. Old Fred travels to Liverpool, where he follows the depressed and aimless Ringo and persuades him to help. Ringo collects his "mates" John, George and finally Paul. The five journey back to Pepperland in the yellow submarine, passing through several episodes:
From and to read more: Yellow Submarine (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This psychedelic trip into the minds of the Beatles is certainly memorable, but you have to wonder what this movie would be like without the awesome collection of Beatles tunes punctuating the soundtrack. Not much, I'm afraid. The battle against the Blue Meanies has all the drama of Sesame Street. The meeting of the Nowhere Man has all the drama of the meeting of a walking potato. If you're a Beatlemaniac, make sure you opt for the DVD, with a remastered soundtrack, five languages worth of subtitles, and enough extras to fill the Albert Hall.

To read more: Yellow Submarine Movie Review

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Part 1 of 3


Xanadu is a 1980 musical/romance film directed by Robert Greenwald. It is an unofficial remake of the 1947 film Down to Earth starring Rita Hayworth. The title of the film is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment." by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province where Khan establishes his pleasure garden in the poem.

Xanadu stars Olivia Newton-John (fresh from her role in Grease), Michael Beck, and Gene Kelly, and features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard, and The Tubes.

The critics can harp on about Xanadu all they want, but I found it a blast - here was my favourite singer on great form, she was looking out of this world and singing on a great soundtrack with ELO who performed rather well too. Fantastic - I went and saw this four times at the movies in London's Fulham Road and in Oxford St. It was Olivia heaven - who needs plot ;-) It was a million selling soundtrack album, Olivia was #1 on Billboard in the US with Magic - but the movie didn't draw the same numbers as Grease... However, the movie is a visual treat, with a great animation sequence by Don Bluth where I could start to believe that modern animation could actually cut it and have soul like it used to . Great music, fantastic costumes, Don Bluth on the animation, what else could you need?

Well, I suppose non-Olivia fans needed a plot and maybe some better acting, but that's a whole new story. To see what can be done with the plot you need go no further than the movie Down to Earth (1947) starring Rita Hayward as Terpsichore which was the original, and far better as a movie to be honest. But you're here because you like Olivia and Down to Earth naturally didn't have her in it since Olivia was not to be born for another year after it came out! I agree with Hollywood casting that Olivia makes a perfect goddess, but she doesn't have much luck in movies which feature heavenly figures - her next movie, Two of a Kind, bombed out bigtime at the box-office, but that didn't have the redeeming feature of a topselling soundtrack. Still, Olivia is a singer rather than an actress IMHO - and I have to say that she made an excellent Muse in Xanadu. Here's a little bit more about the movie.

From and to read more:
Olivia Newton-John : Xanadu

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