Penny Lane - Swedish director Peter Goldmann was recommended to the Beatles by old Hamburg friend Klaus Voormann, and Epstein hired him to direct promotional films for both sides of the new double A-sided single in early 1967. The world got its first glimpse of the group's new look in these 35mm color films, with each of them sporting a moustache and John keeping his round-rimmed glasses from his appearance in Richard Lester's How I Won the War. Though the song is a McCartney composition, John is featured the most walking around London's East End. This is intercut with real footage of Liverpool that Goldmann's crew shot on another day. The boys mount horses and ride them both in the East End and in Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent (as with their skiing in the film Help!, none of them had any previous experience horse-riding). They ride past risers on which Ringo's drumkit with its distinctive Beatles logo sits, eventually dismounting at a round table set with candlesticks and glasses, where some uniformed footmen - assistant Mal Evans among them - bring them their guitars before they overturn the table. At no point do they actually pretend to sing or play the song.
All You Need Is Love - There was no need to produce a video for this song, as it was broadcast live to every corner of the globe on the first-ever worldwide satellite program Our World on July 25th, 1967. It was colorized for the Anthology series in the 1990's, and that version is included in this collection. With a group of famous friends gathered around them (pictured above), the Beatles perform along with a small orchestra and a playback of the basic track of Lennon's anthem. One camera in the control booth shows the tape machine capturing the moment as producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick mix it live for the simultaneous video transmission.
Hello Goodbye - Since the group had just finished directing themselves for their television production Magical Mystery Tour, McCartney figured he could handle the chore of directing the promotional films for the next single, as well. The Saville Theatre, still leased by Epstein's NEMS enterprises, was used to shoot three versions of the group miming to the song. This first one begins with the curtain rising to show the band in their Sgt. Pepper outfits. Lennon does not wear his glasses, which works well in a few quick throwback shots of the boys in their matching collarless 1963 suits waving to the camera. Ringo sits sometimes at a very small and sometimes at a very large drumkit. And several young ladies in grass skirts join the Beatles onstage for the Maori finale.
Lady Madonna - Quickly arranging a promotional film shoot for a song recorded only a few days earlier, the group reported to EMI's Abbey Road Studios on February 11th, 1968. Instead of simply pretending to be shown recording McCartney's number, they actually recorded Lennon's Hey Bulldog. This explains why John is seen sitting at the piano more than Paul, and why the two of them share one microphone when Paul is clearly heard singing lead alone on Lady Madonna. At the end, Paul is seen stepping away from a piano at Chappell Studios with Cilla Black on a different date.
Hey Jude - The Beatles reunited with Michael Lindsey-Hogg for their next promotional videos. On a soundstage at Twickenham Film Studios, backed by an orchestra and surrounded by 300 random people and a group of Apple Scruffs, the band mimed to their latest hit, though Paul did sing into a live microphone. His vocal gymnastics are therefore different during the extended coda, especially when he throws in a few lines from the Band's song The Weight. At the top, David Frost introduced the band after they did an impromptu version of his television theme song. They then launched into a ghastly It's Now or Never as he looked on stone-faced. While this was edited out of the tape before it was distributed worldwide, we get to watch this strangely delicious moment of anarchy on this collection.
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