All This and World War II is a 1976 musical documentary film^[2] directed by Susan Winslow. It juxtaposes Beatles songs covered by a variety of musicians with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century-Fox films. The film was panned by critics and ran for only two weeks in cinemas.^[3]

The film features clips from the Nazi Germany army newsreels, various films from 20th Century Fox and other studios, and from other propaganda films featuring Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, Milton Berle, Humphrey Bogart, Richard Burton, Neville Chamberlain, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Clark Gable, Adolf Hitler, Bob Hope, Joseph P. Kennedy, Laurel and Hardy, James Mason, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and James Stewart.^[4][5]

The film was researched by Tony Palmer who had previously released All My Loving, a history of 1960s music (1968), and the 17-part rock history documentary All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music.^[6] He remade the film in 2016 as The Beatles and World War II.^[7][8]

The musical director was Lou Reizner, who also produced the soundtrack album.^[3]

Although it was rumoured that Terry Gilliam turned down the offer to contribute animation to the documentary, Russ Regan, who conceived the film, has stated that Gilliam was never asked.^[3]

All This and World War II was panned by critics, prompting 20th Century-Fox withdraw the film from distribution.^[5] New York Daily News wrote that the film's PG rating rating must have stood for "Positively Ghastly".^[3] In 1977, the film was screened out of competition at Cannes.^[9] It has since occasionally been shown at film festivals and on cable TV in the US.^[3]

The film has gained a small cult following in the UK since being screened by BBC2 as part of their fifteen-hour themed broadcast "Rock Around The Clock", which ran from the afternoon of 27 August 1983 into the early hours of the next day.

On 1 June 2007, the film played a single midnight show at Landmark's Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles.^[10]

All This and World War II has never been officially released on home video in any format, but pirated copies of the film are available from several collector-to-collector resources. A fairly high-quality transfer is also available as an unofficial DVD release.^[11] A version of this film, entitled The Beatles and World War II, was released as a DVD plus two-CD set by Gonzo Multimedia in 2016. However, this is a revised edition by original director Tony Palmer, using different footage and a different soundtrack.^[6]

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The original intention of the filmmakers was to use actual Beatles music in the film. The decision to use other artists covering Beatles music was made by the film's producers after they realised additional money could be made through a soundtrack album. (The soundtrack actually generated more revenue than the film.) The album was released on 25 October 1976, and the film was released on 11 November 1976.^[13]

The album reached number 23 on the UK Albums Chart, with a total of seven weeks on that listing,^[3] and number 48 on the Billboard Top 200.^[14][15] It also made number 17 on the Dutch album charts and number 37 on the New Zealand album charts.^[16] The soundtrack is notable for featuring the solo recording debut of Peter Gabriel, formerly of Genesis, singing "Strawberry Fields Forever".

A live concert featuring many of the artists who appeared on the soundtrack and album was planned for London's Olympia. However, the idea was abandoned due to difficulties in getting a date that all or most of the artists could make.^[17]

The LP was also released in 1979 with the title The Songs of John Lennon & Paul McCartney Performed by the World's Greatest Rock Artists,^[18][19] and two of the tracks ("Let It Be" performed by Leo Sayer and "Because" performed by Lynsey de Paul) were released on the Beatles cover version CD album With A Little Help that was issued in Europe in 1991.^[20]

The album was finally released on CD in 2006 on the Hip-O Select label^[21] and again in 2015 as a limited-issue release on the Culture Factory label, complete with the original gatefold sleeve.^[22]

• Elton John’s rendition of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", when previously released as a single in 1974, became a US and Canadian number-one hit.^[5][23]
• Rod Stewart’s version of "Get Back" was subsequently released and became a UK hit single (#11).^[12]
• Ambrosia's cover of "Magical Mystery Tour" reached #39 on the US Billboard Hot 100.^[24]

• List of artists who have covered the Beatles
• Across the Universe, a 2007 musical film that also used the concept of using Beatles songs to tell a story
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a 1978 film featuring Bee Gees covers of Beatles songs
• Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?, a 1975 documentary that did a similar thing, but with contemporary music for the period, which may have inspired All this and World War II
• The Atomic Cafe, a darkly satirical 1982 Cold War documentary similar in content