Rating: 
Summary: Simply brilliant!
Review: Up Periscope Yellow is simply brilliant. A must read for most anybody. Its smashing review from Publishers Weekly is most deserved. In a kind of stream-of-consciousness style, Brodax weaves the story of the making of this classic motion picture. There is high drama (Brits v/s Yanks-suits v/s artists) The sudden proximity in a very condensed period of time of artists from all over the world...England, Spain, Australia, Canada, America. It addresses the anxiety of walking a production tightrope; limited funds, limited time. It's funny, dramatic, most of all authentic. The reader, via the author, gets to know the Beatles off stage, during their many impromptu visits to the studio, at home, at lunch, in the local pub...etc. The book is also a must read for any film student aspiring to become a producer. It's an extraordinary visit behind the creation of the film. Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: Stormy Seas
Review: With the recent DVD release of the renovated and digitally remastered Beatles' animated epic YELLOW SUBMARINE, a whole new generation has come to discover the delights of this 1960's flower power masterpiece. And with the legendary "Hey Bulldog" sequence - deleted from all but the original British prints - reinstated in all its bizarre glory, Beatles fans can at last experience the full version of this psychedelic animated odyssey as it was originally meant to be seen.
As one of the animators on YELLOW SUBMARINE, I would say that the year I spent working on the film was perhaps the single most exciting period of my nearly 50 year career in the animation business; made even more memorable by the fact that I became engaged during production to Diana, my wife of 35 years, who worked on the "LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS" sequence .
And now, over 30 years after the film was first released, two new books (INSIDE THE YELLOW SUBMARINE and UP PERISCOPE YELLOW) have been published; each describing for the first time the whole astonishing behind-the-scenes story of how the film was made. The struggle to produce anything resembling a final script while production surged inexorably on past the writers towards an impossible deadline, the creative arguments, the personality clashes, the budgetary nightmares, the physical kidnapping of the film - with the whole thing being propelled by the sheer exhilaration of knowing that we were all taking part in an astonishing revolution in animated films - all these elements are well recounted in both books.
Whilst INSIDE THE YELLOW SUBMARINE tells the story of the production from the point of view of the directors and the creative team, Al Brodax's new book, UP PERISCOPE YELLOW tells it from the producer's perspective. As might be expected, the accounts differ markedly. Conflict between movie directors and producers is as old as Hollywood itself, but its roots go far back past the Renaissance, when artists and their patrons continually argued over differing visions of art and its monetary worth. Animating frantically below decks, the artists on YELLOW SUBMARINE were seldom party to the ongoing dramas up on the bridge; but our favourite pub, the nearby Dog and Duck, was an extremely efficient rumour mill. All of us were well aware that the odyssey of the YELLOW SUBMARINE, thrilling though it was, was by no means smooth sailing!
It is rare that the story of the making of a film as ground-breaking as YELLOW SUBMARINE has been told from the point of view of both the directors and the producer, so we are extremely fortunate that each side has now published its memoirs - even if it is more than three decades after the event! Al Brodax's UP PERISCOPE YELLOW is exceptionally well written, telling his version in a fast-moving, stream-of-consciousness style which vividly portrays the producer's role as the meat in the sandwich between the hard-nosed studio deal-makers and the creative spirits of the film industry. My main criticism is that it could have been improved with more pictures and, most important of all, an index.
The debate about who said what and who did what on YELLOW SUBMARINE seems set to continue for quite some time. But there is one undeniable fact in all of this - if Al Brodax hadn't stuck his neck out as producer and taken a chance on producing an animated feature all those years ago, the phenomenon that was the YELLOW SUBMARINE would never have set sail on its fantastic voyage. For that we all owe him a vote of thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific book.Author shows side of Beatles yet to be seen!
Review: Wonderful, stunning book, a great read. Publisher's Weekly was right on, "the author writes with AUTHORITY at a breezy clip" Glorious to sepnd time with the Beatles 'off stage' Paul's home, lunches and just schmoozing with John and George. Enjoying Ringo, his intelligent very dry wit. And the thrilling 'take' on the political bobbing and weaving it took to mount the production in the first instance.
This talented international band of artists and co-writer Erich Segal produced an iconic animated motion picture and must be delighted by Brodax's rendering of its story.The other New York City writer who damned the book so vehemently could very well be one of the many writers who didn't make the cut. His knowledge seems so 'inside', so detailed, his rage so Homeric. Get over it! Catch the Triplets of Belleville. Get some sleep.
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