posted by Lewis Carroll, 6/20/17
PART ONE
Malcolm McDowell starred in several films that may have synchronicities or hold purposeful clues to the Paul is Dead mystery. Probably not the least of which was Stanley Kubrick's epic psychological thriller based on the Anthony Burgess novel, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, with its depictions of what we PID theorists would suspect are scenes about Tavistock mind control. In the following analysis, in parts, we will have a look at McDowell's appearance in the 1968 classic IF... and will see 'if' (pardon the pun) we can find anything, any allegorical clues, that would raise our eyebrows, those of us who are familiar with other clues originating with the Beatles themselves and their associates regarding Paul being dead... in the spirit of, "Here's another clue for you all..."
Of course, when we're looking for PID clues, the word "if" reminds us of the famous 28IF license plate on the Abbey Road cover, so we are already familiar with "if" being part of PID theory.
I will give duration time numbers for you to follow along with, if you find the movie on YouTube at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e80Uhbd4K84. You can also find it with a YT search for <If (malcolm mcdowell film 1968)>. Disclaimer: The writer of this article did not upload the film onto YouTube and the following analysis of it is for educational purposes only and for no monetary gain whatsoever.
We begin with church organ music, not unlike what one might hear at a church funeral. We see a Bible quote (0:24) about getting wisdom and understanding. If there is something we don't know, we would first get wisdom and then we could understand it. Church organ music hasn't anything to do with Beatles, unless you consider Billy Preston's contributions to the song Let It Be.
At 0:38, we see that this is a Memorial Enterprises Film. What, memorial, did someone die? Then, we get the title, "If..." so are we to think that there is a memorial enterprise if someone died? Hmmm.
At 2:16, we see that this film was directed by Lindsay Anderson, the same Lindsay Anderson who was a cryptographer for British Intelligence during the war. Anderson made what is known as the Mick Travis Trilogy, with Malcom McDowell playing the role of Mick Travis beginning with this film, IF... The other two were O LUCKY MAN (1973) and BRITANNIA HOSPITAL (1982).
When The Beatles became worldwide stars in 1964, Anderson was directing Shakespeare in theatre productions. In 1965, he directed a short film called The White Bus, about a pleasure trip on a bus (a Magical Mystery Tour?) that was released in the UK in 1967, just pre-MMT. What does imdb.com have to say about The White Bus?
"An impassive young girl is taken from her suicidal London life, back to her home in North England on a bizarre bus trip. Seen through the poetic eye of the camera, this is a commentary of doomed British morbidity."
Sounds a bit mental and perhaps the phrase "bizarre bus trip" is not so unlike Magical Mystery Tour.
Also from imdb.com...
"Anderson's film actually got cinema showings in Britain and elsewhere, although not until late 1968, some two years after it was made. It was released just before Anderson's biggest success in the cinema, IF...."
If (there's that pun again) there are clues to Paul's death in the movie IF..., then one wonders if Paul's replacement or the inner circle had seen The White Bus and got the idea from it for Magical Mystery Tour, being already involved with Anderson (if... they were).
IF... is about an English boarding school for boys and it begins with the boys returnng from break to start a new term. So, there was a group before, but now there is a new group.
Where do we find school references in Beatles lyrics? You might say that there are a lot of them in the first album by the new Beatles, which was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Apparently, Sgt. Pepper was the schoolmaster who taught them. Singing in tune, so they won't walk out on you, is like passing a test. Lend me your ears is definitely Shakespearean, the most famous playwright always being a subject in school. Interestingly, "lend me your ears" comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the very play Lindsay Anderson was directing in 1964.
And, of course, there are more school references in the Sgt. Pepper album lyrics. I used to get mad at my school. The teachers who taught me weren't cool. Holding me down, turning me round, filling me up with your rules. Then you decide to take a walk by the old school. Nothing has changed, it's still the same. I've got nothing to say, but it's okay. I read the news today, oh boy, about a lucky man (O LUCKY MAN?) who made the grade.
Back to IF... Right. Well, isn't it a coincidence that in the first shot of the movie, among the seeming pandemonium of boys returning to boarding school and trying to find their rooms, we see a guitar at 2:26? Boys are carrying suitcases to their rooms, but why does that trunk (2:39) look like a coffin? At 3:10, while the boys are looking at the bulletin board postings of their room assignments, a boy says (3:10), "Excuse me, I don't see my name. I'm new." Just like the new 'Paul' in the new Beatles, he didn't see his (real) name and he was new. In the film, the boy is told that he isn't allowed to ask about it, not allowed to talk to his superiors, the boys that have been in the school before. To them, he is "scum" because he's new to the group.
At 3:43, there's an old cardboard carton that used to hold Ancient Age bourbon. It's hard to read the ad slogan on the box, something like 'the whiskey with age in it's name,' but by 1967-68, the slogan was, 'If you can find a better bourbon, buy it." We know that the replacement 'Paul' was older than the original Paul McCartney, so he had age and the Ancient Age ad slogan makes me think, 'If you can find a better Paul McCartney, get him, and 'buy' him to be Paul.'
The senior boy, in charge of the boarding house floor, has two younger boys serving him. One is called Malcolm. The Beatles, of course, had Mal serving them.
Not convinced yet that this movie has some uncanny parallels to the mystery of Paul and Faul? Nothing, so far, has really raised your eyebrows a little? Right, how about what happens next? The senior boy asks (4:00) the new boy what his name is. Lo and behold, it is "Jude," as in Hey, Jude. Then the senior boy instructs Jude to not call him "Sir." Odd, isn't it, that Faul is known for Hey, Jude and becoming "Sir." At 4:52, a boy calls out to Jude and it almost sounds like "Hey, Jude!" but he shouts "Here, Jude!" before showing the new boy his desk in the dorm room.
A different senior boy makes his entrance at 5:54 and he immediately reminds us of John Lennon. He has sideburns and wire rims, just like John. Just when he tells a younger boy, "You need a haircut," we have the character Mick Travis walk in, but he's in disguise. He's got on a black hat and a black scarf over his face, to hide his face. He walks in front of (6:05) the guy who looks like John Lennon.
When Mick enters the dorm room, his disguise doesn't fool the senior boy who knows him and quips, "It's Guy Fawkes back again." These days, we know Guy Fawkes to be the inspiration for Anonymous. The legend of Fawkes (incidentally, he used two aliases) also inspired John Lennon to sing, "Remember, remember the fifth of November!" You can read about Fawkes and his gunpowder plot and why the House of Lords is relevant on wiki. Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords.
Then, it's weird that one of the boys, who looks like Stephen Hawking, is holding a telescope, but I digress.
One of the boys is chided for preening himself in a mirror, "Preen, preen, preen and pride," then (7:45) there's a struggle to remove Mick Travis's disguise. Travis breaks away with some of his things and runs down the stairs to the lavatory. There's a copy of Munch's The Scream on the wall. Mick, alone now, carefully takes off the scarf that's been hiding his face, revealing (8:28) that he has an unmistakable Sgt. Pepper moustache. Strangely, in the top left corner of the mirror, (8:32) there appears to be a little snippet of artwork depicting a pair of babies as identical twins.
Another boy pops in and comments on seeing Mick with his moustache, "You look evil." (8:45) To which Mick replies, "My face is a never fading source of wonder to me." Questioning the moustache, the other boy asks, "What did you grow it for?" (8:55) Mick replies, "To hide my sins."
It's chilling that when we first hear Malcolm McDowell speak in IF... he reminds us of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, same voice alright. Was IF... sponsored by Tavistock and full of planted PID clues? I'm beginning to wonder. Of course, PID is a never fading source of wonder, isn't it?
Stay tuned for PART TWO of IF... Paul is Dead?
PART ONE
Malcolm McDowell starred in several films that may have synchronicities or hold purposeful clues to the Paul is Dead mystery. Probably not the least of which was Stanley Kubrick's epic psychological thriller based on the Anthony Burgess novel, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, with its depictions of what we PID theorists would suspect are scenes about Tavistock mind control. In the following analysis, in parts, we will have a look at McDowell's appearance in the 1968 classic IF... and will see 'if' (pardon the pun) we can find anything, any allegorical clues, that would raise our eyebrows, those of us who are familiar with other clues originating with the Beatles themselves and their associates regarding Paul being dead... in the spirit of, "Here's another clue for you all..."
Of course, when we're looking for PID clues, the word "if" reminds us of the famous 28IF license plate on the Abbey Road cover, so we are already familiar with "if" being part of PID theory.
I will give duration time numbers for you to follow along with, if you find the movie on YouTube at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e80Uhbd4K84. You can also find it with a YT search for <If (malcolm mcdowell film 1968)>. Disclaimer: The writer of this article did not upload the film onto YouTube and the following analysis of it is for educational purposes only and for no monetary gain whatsoever.
We begin with church organ music, not unlike what one might hear at a church funeral. We see a Bible quote (0:24) about getting wisdom and understanding. If there is something we don't know, we would first get wisdom and then we could understand it. Church organ music hasn't anything to do with Beatles, unless you consider Billy Preston's contributions to the song Let It Be.
At 0:38, we see that this is a Memorial Enterprises Film. What, memorial, did someone die? Then, we get the title, "If..." so are we to think that there is a memorial enterprise if someone died? Hmmm.
At 2:16, we see that this film was directed by Lindsay Anderson, the same Lindsay Anderson who was a cryptographer for British Intelligence during the war. Anderson made what is known as the Mick Travis Trilogy, with Malcom McDowell playing the role of Mick Travis beginning with this film, IF... The other two were O LUCKY MAN (1973) and BRITANNIA HOSPITAL (1982).
When The Beatles became worldwide stars in 1964, Anderson was directing Shakespeare in theatre productions. In 1965, he directed a short film called The White Bus, about a pleasure trip on a bus (a Magical Mystery Tour?) that was released in the UK in 1967, just pre-MMT. What does imdb.com have to say about The White Bus?
"An impassive young girl is taken from her suicidal London life, back to her home in North England on a bizarre bus trip. Seen through the poetic eye of the camera, this is a commentary of doomed British morbidity."
Sounds a bit mental and perhaps the phrase "bizarre bus trip" is not so unlike Magical Mystery Tour.
Also from imdb.com...
"Anderson's film actually got cinema showings in Britain and elsewhere, although not until late 1968, some two years after it was made. It was released just before Anderson's biggest success in the cinema, IF...."
If (there's that pun again) there are clues to Paul's death in the movie IF..., then one wonders if Paul's replacement or the inner circle had seen The White Bus and got the idea from it for Magical Mystery Tour, being already involved with Anderson (if... they were).
IF... is about an English boarding school for boys and it begins with the boys returnng from break to start a new term. So, there was a group before, but now there is a new group.
Where do we find school references in Beatles lyrics? You might say that there are a lot of them in the first album by the new Beatles, which was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Apparently, Sgt. Pepper was the schoolmaster who taught them. Singing in tune, so they won't walk out on you, is like passing a test. Lend me your ears is definitely Shakespearean, the most famous playwright always being a subject in school. Interestingly, "lend me your ears" comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the very play Lindsay Anderson was directing in 1964.
And, of course, there are more school references in the Sgt. Pepper album lyrics. I used to get mad at my school. The teachers who taught me weren't cool. Holding me down, turning me round, filling me up with your rules. Then you decide to take a walk by the old school. Nothing has changed, it's still the same. I've got nothing to say, but it's okay. I read the news today, oh boy, about a lucky man (O LUCKY MAN?) who made the grade.
Back to IF... Right. Well, isn't it a coincidence that in the first shot of the movie, among the seeming pandemonium of boys returning to boarding school and trying to find their rooms, we see a guitar at 2:26? Boys are carrying suitcases to their rooms, but why does that trunk (2:39) look like a coffin? At 3:10, while the boys are looking at the bulletin board postings of their room assignments, a boy says (3:10), "Excuse me, I don't see my name. I'm new." Just like the new 'Paul' in the new Beatles, he didn't see his (real) name and he was new. In the film, the boy is told that he isn't allowed to ask about it, not allowed to talk to his superiors, the boys that have been in the school before. To them, he is "scum" because he's new to the group.
At 3:43, there's an old cardboard carton that used to hold Ancient Age bourbon. It's hard to read the ad slogan on the box, something like 'the whiskey with age in it's name,' but by 1967-68, the slogan was, 'If you can find a better bourbon, buy it." We know that the replacement 'Paul' was older than the original Paul McCartney, so he had age and the Ancient Age ad slogan makes me think, 'If you can find a better Paul McCartney, get him, and 'buy' him to be Paul.'
The senior boy, in charge of the boarding house floor, has two younger boys serving him. One is called Malcolm. The Beatles, of course, had Mal serving them.
Not convinced yet that this movie has some uncanny parallels to the mystery of Paul and Faul? Nothing, so far, has really raised your eyebrows a little? Right, how about what happens next? The senior boy asks (4:00) the new boy what his name is. Lo and behold, it is "Jude," as in Hey, Jude. Then the senior boy instructs Jude to not call him "Sir." Odd, isn't it, that Faul is known for Hey, Jude and becoming "Sir." At 4:52, a boy calls out to Jude and it almost sounds like "Hey, Jude!" but he shouts "Here, Jude!" before showing the new boy his desk in the dorm room.
A different senior boy makes his entrance at 5:54 and he immediately reminds us of John Lennon. He has sideburns and wire rims, just like John. Just when he tells a younger boy, "You need a haircut," we have the character Mick Travis walk in, but he's in disguise. He's got on a black hat and a black scarf over his face, to hide his face. He walks in front of (6:05) the guy who looks like John Lennon.
When Mick enters the dorm room, his disguise doesn't fool the senior boy who knows him and quips, "It's Guy Fawkes back again." These days, we know Guy Fawkes to be the inspiration for Anonymous. The legend of Fawkes (incidentally, he used two aliases) also inspired John Lennon to sing, "Remember, remember the fifth of November!" You can read about Fawkes and his gunpowder plot and why the House of Lords is relevant on wiki. Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords.
Then, it's weird that one of the boys, who looks like Stephen Hawking, is holding a telescope, but I digress.
One of the boys is chided for preening himself in a mirror, "Preen, preen, preen and pride," then (7:45) there's a struggle to remove Mick Travis's disguise. Travis breaks away with some of his things and runs down the stairs to the lavatory. There's a copy of Munch's The Scream on the wall. Mick, alone now, carefully takes off the scarf that's been hiding his face, revealing (8:28) that he has an unmistakable Sgt. Pepper moustache. Strangely, in the top left corner of the mirror, (8:32) there appears to be a little snippet of artwork depicting a pair of babies as identical twins.
Another boy pops in and comments on seeing Mick with his moustache, "You look evil." (8:45) To which Mick replies, "My face is a never fading source of wonder to me." Questioning the moustache, the other boy asks, "What did you grow it for?" (8:55) Mick replies, "To hide my sins."
It's chilling that when we first hear Malcolm McDowell speak in IF... he reminds us of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, same voice alright. Was IF... sponsored by Tavistock and full of planted PID clues? I'm beginning to wonder. Of course, PID is a never fading source of wonder, isn't it?
Stay tuned for PART TWO of IF... Paul is Dead?
