Paul McCartney Really Is Dead

The Last Testament of George Harrison

Highway 61 Entertainment

MVD

R1 DVD

At first I thought this DVD was a spoof, but the further it goes the more obvious that it is meant to be taken seriously. Unfortunately it has so many holes that I can’t do that and spent a lot of my time laughing at it instead.

Let’s start with the basic conspiracy. In 1966 Paul McCartney took off from Abbey Road Studios in his car following an argument. He crashed the car and was decapitated. MI5 (What would they have to do with it? Their job is protecting Britain’s national security – counterespionage and so on) instigated a coverup and substituted a false Paul. They were concerned that if the news got out there would be mass suicides of silly hysterical little girls around the world. (Really? It would only increase the world’s average IQ). The “conspiracy” was revealed by a U.S. radio announcer who said he pieced together clues in the Beatles’ records and cover art to for his conclusion. The theory was a nine-day wonder, then fizzled out.

This DVD now rehashes the theory. According to the PR material and the cover slick, “In the summer of 2005 a package arrived at the Hollywood offices of Highway 61 Entertainment from London (cue picture of tatty looking envelope with lots of British stamps on it) with no return address. Inside were two minicassette audio tapes dated December 30, 999 and labelled The Last Testament of George Harrison. A voice identical to Harrison (no, it’s not) tells a shocking story” and so on.

Now we switch to conspiracy theory mode. The tapes were allegedly subjected to three separate forensic analyses to see if the voice really was George’s. The results were inconclusive according to the documentary, but nevertheless from here on it is treated as if genuine. This is a typical conspiracy theory trick - make some wild assertion, hedge it with a few ifs and buts, then carry on as if it’s true. It is now up to the viewer to prove it wrong. This is lost, however, in the amount of early Beatles history padding out the doco.

Now we go for the completely unsupported Big Lie. After rambling on about the early history of the Beatles “George” tells us of an MI5 operative called Maxwell who threatened the surviving Beatles with death if they didn’t go along with the story. A substitute “false Paul”, whom “George” comes to call “Faul”, was picked, trained and given plastic surgery. He was then carefully inserted into the group who had to carry on as normal. Conspiracy theorists love to blame organizations like the big corporations, government security bodies and especially the CIA. Nothing they say can be officially denied (well, they WOULD deny that, wouldn’t they?) or even ignored (The CIA remains silent on the issue). They are damned either way.

One of the silliest parts of the DVD is the Beatles visit to India. There they hoped that the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi would open up Faul’s inner consciousness so he could receive the spirit of Paul, lose his false identity and become truly the Paul they all knew and loved. This, not surprisingly, didn’t seem to work.

John Lennon was, according to the story, still upset at Paul’s death and decided to include clues in their future records so fans would realise Paul was really dead. Now we go into a long series of “clues” in record cover photos, sleeve pics and song titles. All these “prove” the conspiracy theory. In Sgt Pepper’s, for instance, much is made of the “fact” that the photos in the collage are all of people who are dead, or who experienced a near-death phenomenon, or sang about death (or in fact were still alive?). Sometimes they went to close to revealing the truth and got a visit and a hiding from the dreaded Maxwell and his men.

John then turned to “reverse masking”, embedding words in the songs that could only be heard if the record was played backwards. Some clue. We hear examples on the DVD and if they weren’t subtitled with the words that are supposedly there I would regard them as gibberish. Most words start with an “attack” – a sudden quick rise in the sound – then fades out (“Decays”). Say “bang” and you will see what I mean. If these words are played backwards the decay will be at the start of the word, which will seem to fade in quickly then finish sharply. The “speech” on the records when played backwards does not show this – in fact it shows the decay first leading up to the attack – just as it should if it was played backwards. Any similarity to words is wishful thinking rather than fact. Incidentally, I am a Beatles fan, I tried this when the rumours were first published, and I heard nothing in reverse. I think the examples on the DVD may have been enhanced a little.

Lennon went to the U.S. following the group’s breakup and according to the doco feigned increasing madness to try to convince MI5 that he was harmless. Or perhaps it was just his regular use of recreational pharmaceuticals? Either way when he was shot by a crazed gunman the doco blames it on MI5, rather than just the ultimate criticism of Lennon’s music. It also suggests that Faul knew something about it since he wasn’t surprised.

“George Harrison” according to the tapes was now in fear of his life and when he was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder in his home in Britain, he was convinced that MI5 was behind it. He recorded the tapes so the truth could come out if he died. Then they were sent to some obscure little movie company in the U.S. instead of to a major overseas newspaper or someone who could publish them with impunity. Joel Gilbert and his company Highway 61 Entertainment are producers of, shall we say, “controversial” documentaries.

The doco is the classic conspiracy theory of half-baked facts, irrelevant connections, wishful thinking and unsupported assertions. I had a good laugh at it until I realised that there are people out there who will believe this. Then I had another good laugh at them as well.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content. We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy Magazine.

This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Magazine Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com