The Bruce McMouse Show: an introduction

I had always assumed that the Bruce McMouse Show was an unfinished project by Paul McCartney. But now the film turns out to exist and not only that, it will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in December as part of the Red Rose Speedway Deluxe Edition. For those unfamiliar with this project, a short introduction.

The Bruce McMouse Show is a fifty to sixty minute concert film where the songs are interspersed with short cartoons around a mouse couple Bruce and Yvonne that lives under the stage with their three children Soily, Swooney and Swat. For the film, a performance by Wings at the Congresgebouw (nowadays called The World Forum) in The Hague, Netherlands was filmed by a professional film crew on August 21, 1972. McCartney imagined Bruce and his family living under the stage while Wings was performing, and the idea was to release the film featuring the band interacting with the cartoon characters. 

The director of the film was Barry Chattington, who also made the likewise un-released film Rockestra in 1979. Eric Wylam was responsible for the cartoons, which were based on Paul’s own sketches. They have been working on the project for two years and the film was meant to be shown on British tv channel ITV.

Was it a good film? Well, no. At least not to Paul’s own standards. That’s why it was never released. Also according to Maggie Thornton, the daughter of animator Eric Wylam, and one of the few to have seen the finished film, the final result wasn’t quite well:

The storyline doesn't really work and some of the cutting between the singing and the animation isn't very good.

But will it be worth watching? Probably yes, if only because of nostalgic reasons and at least the songs will be enjoyable. One of the tracks which originated from this project was the hard rocking Soily, the final track of Wings Over America.

Video Soily

The Bruce McMouse Show will be released on DVD and Blu-ray as part of the Red Rose Speedway Deluxe Edition, fully restored and remixed in stereo and 5.1 surround sound. The package includes a folio containing 14 replica hand-drawn original character sketches by Paul and facsimile dialogue sheets for the film.

More news:

Wings 1971-73 Archive Collection Released In December
Coming Up: Wild Life And Red Rose Speedway Archive Collection
Paul McCartney Honors Emerick: Geoff Was The ONE!

André Homan

André Homan is a Dutch writer and journalist.

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