Strange Fruit Tells the Epic, Enthralling Story of The Beatles? Failed Apple Records

The film: Strange Fruit: The Beatles? Apple Records (2012), available on DVD via Chrome Dreams

Why It?s an Inessential Essential: Clocking in at a mammoth 162 minutes, Strange Fruit: The Beatles? Apple Records is an exhaustive new documentary about the short-lived record and film label that the Beatles used to release such artists as Badfinger and James Taylor. And while the absence of Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney and the lack of archival interview footage of the Beatles is striking (John Lennon only chimes in around the 135-minute mark), that?s also sort of liberating: The film takes a semi-critical look at why Apple, a label that was meant to have established artists promote new artists, never really took off.

One could easily accuse talking heads like The Iveys? bassist Ron Griffiths of having an axe to grind. Griffiths bad-mouthed Apple and said he was disappointed in their non-existent promotion of the band. But others, like Mojo Magazine?s Park Paytress, Apple biographer Stefan Granados and Beatles biographer Chris Ingham, all clearly know their stuff and hold no grudges. They also all have their own unique takes on the artists and history of the Beatles (Paytress is especially fond of Yoko Ono?s debut album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band). Ultimately, Strange Fruit works because the filmmakers don?t have to be beholden to the Beatles' sides of the story.

That approach is almost immediately rewarding, too: The film quickly establishes that part of the reason why Apple was created was to help the Beatles pay less tax money than they otherwise would have had to. Apple Records? financial failure is, after all, mostly due to creative mismanagement. It?s great to see Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland defuse tension by saying that he?s not mad at the Beatles but rather…

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