Pirate Paul - Pirates Of The Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales

"Know Any Shanties, Paul?" Paul in character.

So, by now, all of you should have seen the above picture and are raring to go and see our Paul in his first appearance on the big screen since his mega blockbuster Give My Regards To Broad Street in 1984. It totally was a blockbuster. Anyone who tells you different needs to watch this scene..

It is reported that Paul only has a small cameo in the film, appearing as a Jail Guard for only a minute. This will be sad news to fans looking for Paul to have a bigger part and according to reports, the cameo was filmed when Dead Men Tell No Tales was in post-production and had to be quickly edited and inserted into the film to meet the deadline.

How did Paul come to be in the film? Well, Johnny Depp, who plays Captain Jack Sparrow in all the films, shot Paul a text asking him. After some back and forth, Paul finally said yes to the Pirates life.

This might be the start of Paul appearing in future films of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. What other big films could Paul appear in? Could we perhaps see him in the next Bond film? He's already done a theme for one, why not play a villain in Bond 25? You never know...

The film is released on May 26th in the USA.

Video: The Beatles Visit Smedley's Fish & Chip Shop.

Shot on 15th September 1967 at James and Amy Smedley's Fish & Chip shop in Taunton, Devon, England. The Beatles and the rest of the cast of the film pile into the shop and munch their way through Fish & Chip lunch. Only a small part of this footage actually made it into the film (The shots of Nat Jackley and Jessie Robbins eating chips) The rest of the footage is wonderful to see as the Beatles eat their fish and chips and drink bottles of Tizer and Corona Orange Pop (Corona is a brand that doesn't exist any more but Tizer is still going strong!)

James & Amy Smedley were the grandparents of "little" Nicola, who was the little girl who John was speaking to in one memorable scene of the film. Amy was a passenger on the bus and when she casually mentioned to the Beatles that she owned a Fish & Chip shop, the bus made sure to make a stop there.


                          

Is 'Let It Be' Finally Coming to DVD & Blu-Ray?

Let It Be: The Film was given a cinematic release in 1970 but has since been largely buried.

It might be a forlorn hope but today, the Beatles official YouTube account released a series of clips from the film. The film, sources say, has been remastered and cleaned up, could it be finally time for it to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray?

Why won't Apple release it? Well, various reasons have been given over the years as to why the film has never seen an official video release but the one major factor is that the Beatles themselves weren't/aren't too fond of the film anyway due to it not being a particularly happy time and the film caught that unhappiness for posterity. When the film was released, none of the band attended the premieres around the world. Also, some of the stuff in the out-takes is still considered controversial and still had the potential to raise old issues that are long forgotten in the Beatle camp.

The film was originally conceived of as a sort of "The Beatles 'Get Back' to their roots" project by Paul McCartney after the recording sessions for the White Album didn't go smoothly and resulted in some friction. Paul had an idea of shooting a TV Documentary of the band rehearsing and then giving a live performance of the new songs that would be recorded for album release. A pretty straightforward idea and a good one but John, George and even Ringo's hearts weren't in it.


                       


The TV broadcast idea was dropped and the project became a feature film with the Beatles rehearsing at Twickenham Studios on a sound stage with Paul coming up with ideas as they went along: A tour was brought up by Paul which the others torpedoed swiftly, even Ringo put his foot down saying he wasn't going abroad. Then, with the original idea for a concert still in effect, Paul floated ideas for a venue for it. Locations such as the Roundhouse in London were suggested and then more unusual ones like a disused flour mill and a cruise ship were discussed.

                   
                       
 
With filming and discussions becoming disjointed, the Beatles started squabbling again, resulting in George abruptly announcing he was leaving the band and he would see them round the clubs. Filming quickly relocated to 3 Savile Row, Apple HQ, where George was coaxed back. The film took a turn for the better with the Beatles appearing to get along better and an idea was had to end the film with a concert on the roof of 3 Savile Row.

           

The Rooftop Concert marked the last time the Beatles performed live as a group and has gone down in history better than the film did. The film itself, as Paul notes in the Anthology, actually showed how the break-up of a group works and that's what ended up happening on film. A sad time for the Beatles and their fans which understandably neither Paul nor Ringo probably want to re-live with a release of the film, no matter how much of the arguments and bitterness are edited out.

But for fans like me, and maybe you too, it's history. The fall of the Roman Empire, the break-up of the Beatles. It's history and extremely interesting history at that so hopefully Apple will Let It Be and release the film!