Drexel to host panel discussion after showing ‘ Yellow Submarine’

In 1968, film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago SunTimes called “Yellow Submarine” “the most original and inventive feature-length animated cartoon since the days when Walt Disney was still thinking up innovations.”

In 2012, in the Guardian newspaper, “The Simpsons” writer Josh Weinstein wrote: “Without ‘Yellow Submarine’ there would never have been ‘The Simpsons,’ no ‘Futurama,’ no ‘South Park,’ no ‘Toy Story,’ no ‘Shrek.’ No animated anything that enables us to laugh at ourselves while being highly entertained.”

And Cima Balser, the widow of “Yellow Submarine” animation director Robert Balser, never tires of watching it.

“Not really, honest to gosh,” said Balser, who added she has seen the film dozens of times, “we enjoy it. Not ‘Oh, boy, look at what we did;’ we just enjoy it. It’s a great film.” What: "Yellow Submarine" special screening Where: Drexel Theatre, 2254 E. Main St., Bexley Contact: 614-251-1050, www.drexel.net Showtime: 7 p.m. Thursday, with panel discussion to follow Admission: $15

The movie, which is currently showing at the Drexel and Gateway theaters, will be celebrated on Thursday with a special screening at the Drexel.

Attending the screening are Balser, whose husband died in January 2016; Bob Hieronimus, author of “Inside the Yellow Submarine: The Making of the Beatles’ Animated Classic”; Charlotte Belland, the animation chairwoman at the Columbus College of Art & Design; and Aaron Petten, assistant professor of art history and visual culture at CCAD.

Director and Kenyon College film professor Jonathan Sherman will moderate a panel discussion that will follow the screening. Also, six original cels from the movie will be on display.

In the movie, the Beatles (none of whom appeared in the movie until a live-action segment at the end) travel in a yellow submarine to Pepperland, which is under siege by the Blue Meanies, villains who have drained all the color and music from Pepperland.

Although the movie has garnered critical acclaim, in 1968, those working closely on the film weren’t certain how good it was. After a preview screening of the film, Cima Balser said, her husband came home and complained to her that he was unhappy with the movie.

Cima Balser accompanied her husband to the next preview and was amazed.

“I was absolutely astounded by how really terrific the film was,” she said. “Those who worked on it thought they were just wasting their time, so it really wasn’t regarded as something truly special until after the original premiere.”

Sherman, who recently watched the movie again, said the storytelling in the film was ahead of its time.

“There is a real trend in American independent film now to create narratives based on the logic of the unconscious instead of a traditional three-act structure,” Sherman said. “‘Yellow Submarine’ really anticipates this kind of storytelling and is so imaginative in how it relies on visuals to take the viewer wherever it wants the story to go. That is definitely why it is still essential viewing now.”

And the animation was unlike anything made previously, Belland said.

“‘Yellow Submarine,’ in my opinion, was revolutionary because it allowed for a feature film to not be in the Disney style, not that there is anything wrong with the Disney style,” she said.

“They were able to have a style that was uniquely theirs and could change and flex in regard to the music being