Memory

“Memory” is a short film made in 1967, set to “Penny Lane” by The Beatles. It was directed by Ian McMillan, who would later collaborate with Paul McCartney on his 1984 feature film “Give My Regards to Broad Street.”

In contrast to the official promotional film for “Penny Lane”, which embraced a psychedelic aesthetic, “Memory” adopted a more realist approach, featuring documentary-style images of Liverpool streets, houses and shops.

From The mystery music video for The Beatles’ Penny Lane | bpi.org.uk:

Almost entirely unknown and shrouded in mystery, this three-minute short film is scored to The Beatles’ song ’Penny Lane’ and was made in 1967, the very same year that the song was released on a double A side with ’Strawberry Fields Forever’. Lennon and McCartney’s dual hit was ultimately kept from number one by Engelbert Humperdinck’s ‘Release Me’, but – if it had been seen more widely – perhaps Ian McMillan’s film could have helped the cause?

Unlike other music films, and indeed later pop videos, Memory wasn’t screened on television, and the circulation of short films was limited to film society and independent cinema events. Shot on 35mm and more traditional in tone than the then current vogue for cut-up, psychedelic underground films, in all likelihood it failed to trouble the Arts Labs and other multimedia happenings slowly popping up around the country, which typically projected 16mm films from a portable projector, juxtaposed with a liquid lightshow.

The Beatles were already in their psychedelic phase when Paul McCartney wrote ‘Penny Lane’, and yet MacMillan adopts a realist, melancholic approach in his modest, delicate film. The streets, houses and shops of Liverpool are brought to life with touching attention to the texture of bricks, buildings, rainwater and sunlight.

MacMillan had already worked on commercial feature films and had a very different background to those who typically congregated around alternative film in the late 1960s. […]