''Imagine '' is a 1972 feature-length music film by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

, filmed at their

Tittenhurst Park Tittenhurst Park is a Grade II listed early Georgian country house set in off London Road at Beggar's Bush near Ascot and over the parish border into Sunningdale, both in the English county of Berkshire. It was famously the home of musici ...

home in Ascot, England, and in various locations in London and New York between May to September 1971. All the songs from Lennon's 1971 ''

Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...

'' album appear in the soundtrack, and also the songs "

Mrs. Lennon "Mrs. Lennon" is Yoko Ono's first single from her second studio album '' Fly'', released in 1971. It was written and performed by Ono, and produced by Ono and her husband John Lennon. It includes the B-side "Midsummer New York". "Mrs. Lennon" was f ...

", "Mind Train", "Don't Count the Waves" and "Midsummer New York" from Ono's 1971 album ''

FLY Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

''.

Synopsis

Widely regarded as one of the first album-based longform music films, ''Imagine'' was a ground-breaking movie featuring a distinct visual treatment for every song, interspersed with occasional slices of Lennon and Ono's life together and improvised fantasy and comedy sequences featuring

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

& Yoko,

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history. Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...

Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s. In ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

, Dan Richter,

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

and others.

Production

Lennon said of the improvised nature of the film at the time, "The one we’re making now is very loose; they just bring the camera every day and we just decide what to do that day." Ono said of the now-famous film for the song 'Imagine', "‘It just happened naturally. I was well aware of the

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

of everything – closing and then opening the shutters to let the light in. It’s rather personal, but I had a definite reason why I smiled at the end, in addition to loving being next to John." Lennon talking about their film-making together, said, "Yoko’s quite adept in film-making and she’d made quite a few films before I’d met her. I used to make 8mm films at home and superimpose and do tricks with it and just play arbitrary records with it. But when I met Yoko she said, ‘Well why don’t you do it seriously?’ So she sort of helped me to develop in that area and I find it’s very similar to recording, just visual. And it’s beautiful to work with. When we did ''Imagine'', we felt great about it, and were saying, ‘This is going to widen the field of film! This is it! This is the seventies! We started off…we were going to do a few clips and we ended up filming every song on the album and a few from Yoko’s album too, and we ended up with a seventy-minute film. It only has two words in it: "Good morning". And all the rest is music. So it’s like a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

. It’s fairly wild and we made it up as we went along." On the creative process and the film for the song '

Jealous Guy "Jealous Guy" is a song written and originally recorded by English rock musician John Lennon from his 1971 album ''Imagine (John Lennon album), Imagine''. Not released as a single during Lennon's lifetime, it became an international hit in a v ...

', Ono said, "We enjoyed making films together. John came up with big ideas, or ideas that seemed big to me at the time. He thought of using a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, which added a new dimension to our film. When John first said, ‘Let’s use a helicopter’, I – who was supposed to have sold out in a big way – thought, ‘Oh dear, aren’t we getting a bit

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

?’ The result was that beautiful scene in ‘

’. There was nothing so-called ‘Hollywood’ about that." Of the final scene in the film, Ono said, "John was the most romantic man I ever encountered. We were on

South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south of Dade Boulevard. This area was the fi ...

on Staten Island. ‘Let’s really upset them and end the film with us walking on water.’ (I’ll let you guess whose idea that was!) We tried – that is, I know it looked a bit awkward, but it was a windy day and the waves were rough. Anyway, what you see is what you get. Enjoy." Speaking in 2018, Ono said of the film, "The people who all worked on ''Imagine'' were Peace People and it was so enlightening and exciting all the way through to be one of them. Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world."

Film track listing

# "

" * # "

Crippled Inside "Crippled Inside" is a song by British rock musician John Lennon from his 1971 album ''Imagine''. Background Lennon recorded "Crippled Inside" on 26 May 1971 at Ascot Sound Studios, during the sessions for his ''Imagine'' album. Robert Christgau ...

" * # "Good Morning" # '

' * # ' Don't Count The Waves' † # '

It's So Hard "It's So Hard" is a song written and performed by John Lennon, which first appeared on his 1971 album ''Imagine''. Shortly after the album's release, the song was issued as the B-side to the single "Imagine". In Mexico, it was released on an E ...

' * # '

' † # In Bag # ' I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die' * # '

Mind Train The mind is the set of faculties responsible for all mental phenomena. Often the term is also identified with the phenomena themselves. These faculties include thought, imagination, memory, will, and sensation. They are responsible for vario ...

' † # Whisper Piece # What's That In The Sky? # ' Power To The People' ‡ # '

Gimme Some Truth "Gimme Some Truth" (originally spelled "Give Me Some Truth") is a protest song written and performed by John Lennon. It was first released on his 1971 album ''Imagine (John Lennon album), Imagine''. "Gimme Some Truth" contains various politica ...

' * # '

Midsummer New York "Midsummer New York" is a song written by Yoko Ono that was released as the opening song of her 1971 album '' Fly'' and also as the b-side of the single " Mrs. Lennon." Lyrics and music "Midsummer New York" is based on the Elvis Presley song "Hear ...

' † # '

Oh My Love "Oh My Love" is a song written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono that appeared on Lennon's '' Imagine'' album in 1971. Information The song was originally written with different lyrics and demoed in 1968 after sessions for the album ''The Beatles''. Th ...

' * # ' How Do You Sleep?' * # ' How?' * # ' Oh Yoko!' * # Beach / End Credits * from the

album

† from the

album

‡ from the

single ' Power To The People' Track listing sourced from 2018 BluRay Release, UPC Code: 5051300536978 and official website.

2018 DVD/Bluray Extra Features

Bundled with the film, ''Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine Album''. # '

' (Raw Studio out-take) # ' How?' (Raw Studio out-take) # '

' (Raw Studio out-take) # David Bailey photoshoot Track listing sourced from 2018 BluRay Release, UPC Code: 5051300536978

Production credits

*Directed by and starring

& Yoko. *Produced by Joko Films. *Guest stars:

Jonas Mekas Jonas Mekas (; December 24, 1922 – January 23, 2019) was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet, and artist who has been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema". Mekas' work has been exhibited in museums and at festivals worldwi ...

. *Also Appearing: Desire De Freitas, Setsuko Ono, Dan Richter, Diana Robertson and many others *Cameramen: Nic Knowland, Bob Fries, John Metcalf, Richard Stanley,

. *Camera Assistants: Andy Carchrae, Jimmy Dibling, Chris Morfitt, Dick Pope, Doug Ibold. *Sound Recordists: Charlie Bagnall, Ivan Sharrock, Garth Marshall, Mike McDuffy, Dixie Dean. *Production Managers:

Franco Rosso Franco Rosso (29 August 1941 – 9 December 2016)Bill Douglas Centre"Franco Rosso 1942-2016" ''Babylon'', 27 December 2016.Martin Stellman"Franco Rosso obituary" ''The Guardian'', 2 January 2017. was an Italian-born film producer and director ...

, Gerry Harrison, Steve Gebhardt. *Edited by Yoko &

. *Assistant Editors: Bob Fries, Doug Ibold, Richard Key, Janice Davidson. *Animation Sequence: Carmen D’Avino. *Optical Printing: The Optical House. *Business Manager, ABKCO:

Allen Klein Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...

. *Promotions Manager: Pete Bennett. *A&R: Allan Steckler. *Road Manager:

Mal Evans Malcolm Frederick Evans (27 May 1935 – 5 January 1976) was an English road manager and personal assistant employed by the Beatles from 1963 until their break-up in 1970. In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer, and a ...

. *Production Assistants:

George Maciunas George Maciunas (; lt, Jurgis Mačiūnas; November 8, 1931 – May 9, 1978) was a Lithuanian American artist, born in Kaunas. A founding member and the central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers ...

, Dan Richter, Peter Bendrey,

May Pang May Fung Yee Pang (born October 24, 1950) is an American former music executive. She worked for John Lennon and Yoko Ono as a personal assistant and production coordinator, and when Lennon and Ono separated in 1973, Pang and Lennon began a re ...

, Paul Mozian. *Secretary: Diana Robertson. *This and That: Tom Basalari, Arlene Reckson. *Catering: Val Wilde. *Chauffeurs: Les Anthony, Joe Marchini. *Filmed: May to September, 1971. *Music from ''Imagine'' by

and ''FLY'' by

on Apple Records. *Music produced by

& Yoko and

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

. *Musicians:

Klaus Voormann Klaus Otto Wilhelm Voormann (born 29 April 1938) is a German artist, musician, and record producer. Voormann was the bassist for Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and performed as a session musician on a host of recordings, including "You're So V ...

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

, Alan White,

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

King Curtis Curtis Ousley (born Curtis Montgomery; February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musicia ...

John Barham John Barham is an English classical pianist, composer, arranger, producer and educator. He is best known for his orchestration of George Harrison albums such as ''All Things Must Pass'' (1970) and for his association with Indian sitar maestro R ...

, Rod Lynton,

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, cable news ch ...

Joey Molland Joseph Charles Molland (born 21 June 1947, Edge Hill, Liverpool) is an English songwriter and rock guitarist whose recording career spans five decades. He is best known as a member of Badfinger, the most successful of the acts he performed wi ...

, Tom Evans,

Mike Pinder Michael Thomas Pinder (born 27 December 1941) is an English rock musician, and is a founding member and original keyboard player of the British rock group the Moody Blues. He left the group following the recording of the band's ninth album ''O ...

, Jim Gordon,

John Tout Renaissance are an English progressive rock band, best known for their 1978 UK top 10 hit "Northern Lights (song), Northern Lights" and progressive rock classics like "Carpet of the Sun", "Mother Russia (Renaissance song), Mother Russia", and " ...

, Andy Davis, Chris Osborne,

Rosetta Hightower Rosetta Jeanette Hightower (23 June 1944 – 2 August 2014) was an American singer and the lead singer of the 1960s girl group The Orlons. She was born in Philadelphia. As lead singer of The Orlons, the Orlons recorded several Top 10 U.S. hits ...

& choir, Joe Jones Tone Deaf Music Co.,

, The Flux Fiddlers. *Orchestrations: Torrie Zito. *Engineers:

Phil McDonald Philip McDonald is an English recording studio audio engineer, best known as the engineer for EMI and later for Apple Records during the Beatles' The Beatles#Controversy.2C studio years and break-up .281966.E2.80.931970.29, studio years, along w ...

, Eddie Klein,

Eddy Offord Eddy Offord (born 20 February 1943) is a retired English record producer and audio engineer who gained prominence in the 1970s for his work on albums by the progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. Life and career Offord studied phy ...

, Eddie Veale,

Roy Cicala Roy Joel Cicala (March 28, 1939 – January 22, 2014) was an American producer, engineer, songwriter and musician. His body of work includes over 10 Platinum Records for producing, writing, engineering and management for talent from the 1970s thro ...

Shelly Yakus Sheldon Gershon "Shelly" Yakus (born November 1945) is an American music engineer and mixer. Formerly chief engineer and vice president of A&M Records, he was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Yakus is referenced ...

, Jack Douglas, Bob Fries, Jay Messina, Dennis Ferrante. *Recorded and Mixed at Ascot Sound Studios, EMI Studios Abbey Road and

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

, New York, February to July, 1971. Credits sourced from 2018 BluRay Release, UPC Code: 5051300536978

2018 HD restoration credits

Film and Audio Remastering (2010 - 2018) *Producer & Creative Direction:

. *Restoration Editor & Production Manager: Simon Hilton. Film Restoration (2010 - 2018) *Produced by

. *Film Preservation Production Team: Simon Hilton, James Chads, Hannah Arcaro, Thom Hill, Paulina Anderson, Adam Farrington, Benjamin Baker, Lee Merricks, Sam Gannon, Beth Walsh, Olivia McShane, Alex Miles and Jake Blunden. *Transfers: Dave Northrop, Bruce W Goldstein, Scott Delaney, Jack Serrani, Stephen Walsh, Rob DeSaro, Beth Simon, Elle Crowley and Andre Macaluso at Deluxe Northvale. *Digital Restoration: Venancio David, Brett Bone, Miguel Algora, Kate Warburton, Madeleine Shenai, Gary & Georgina Brown at Munky. *Mastergrade: Simona Cristea, Nic Knowland, Mireille Antoine and Joce Capper at Rushes London. Imagine 5.1 and Stereo Audio Remixes (2016 - 2018) *Produced by

. *Mixed & Engineered by Paul Hicks at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

and Sear Sound NYC *Engineer: Audio Sourcing, Match and Tracklay: Sam Gannon. *Mastered by

Gavin Lurssen Gavin Lurssen is an American mastering engineer. He owns Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California.Paul Hicks at Lurssen Mastering. *Production Manager: Simon Hilton. *Multitrack & ¼” Transfers: Matthew Cocker at

. *Film Audio ¼” Transfers: Scott Delaney at Deluxe Northvale. *Lenono Audio Archive: Rob Stevens. *Abbey Road Studios Library: Cary Anning. *Production Co-ordinators: Colette Barber at

, Roberta Findlay at Sear Sound NYC and Nikki Nieves at Lurssen Mastering. Credits sourced from 2018 BluRay Release, UPC Code: 5051300536978

Versions Released

John & Yoko's 1972 theatrical version of the film originally ran for 68 minutes. The VHS version, released in 1985 in the UK and 1986 in the US was trimmed to 55 minutes by the record company without consulting Yoko Ono. "Mind Train" was completely cut, as was half of " I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier", Yoko's Whisper Piece, which originally came after "Mind Train", and all of "

". A restored and remastered 70-minute cut of the original version of the film was released in 2018 theatrically, on BluRay, DVD and digitally, combined with the 2002 documentary ''Gimme Some Truth (The Making of Imagine)'' as part of a massive reissue campaign centered around the ''Imagine'' album in 2018.

Restoration

Between 2010 and 2018 the film was painstakingly reassembled from the original negative, regraded and digitally cleaned frame-by-frame in HD1080, with the audio completely remixed from scratch from the original multitracks by Paul Hicks at

in Stereo, 7.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Atmos for a theatrical, BluRay, DVD and digital release.

References

External links

* {{Yoko Ono 1972 television films 1972 films 1970s musical films American documentary films American musical films Documentary films about the Beatles Films about John Lennon Films directed by John Lennon Films directed by Yoko Ono Films shot in Surrey 1970s English-language films 1970s American films 1970s British films