The animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine has been painstakingly restored frame by frame for DVDrelease this year, the band’s holding company announced.

Apple Corps Ltd revealed that specialists worked for four months to individually hand clean each frame of the surreal 1968 tale.

The company said it chose not to use automated software because of the delicate nature of the hand-drawn artwork.

The DVD will be released on May 28 and the film’s soundtrack album will be reissued on CD on the same day.

The film, which is currently out of print, has been restored in 4K digital resolution by a team of specialists at Triage Motion Picture Services and Eque Inc.

The cartoon adventure is recognised as a pioneering moment in film, fusing Andy Warhol-inspired pop art animation with a soundtrack of Beatles songs, including Eleanor Rigby, When I’m Sixty-Four, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.

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