Help! (Deluxe Edition)

This was the first Beatles film I saw. From the first minutes of the film I was hooked! I became an instant Beatle fan.

A religious cult is after Ringo because he is in possession of thier sacrificial ring. There are several failed attempts to obtain the ring: stealing it at night as he sleeps, grabbing it when he posts a letter, the elevator scene, getting the ring at a restaurant and even sawing around his drum set so he will fall through to the basement as the Beatles record "You're Gonna Lose That Girl". Despite these failures, Clang (Leo McKern), the cult leader, is more determined than ever to get the ring from Ringo!

Ahme (wonderfully played by Eleanor Braun), a priestess of the cult is secretly working with the Beatles to keep them out of harms way.

Added to the mix are two bumbling scientists Professor Foot and Algernon (Victor Spinetti and Roy Kinnear respectively), and a Scotland Yard superintendent played by Patrick Cargill. To Cargill everything is "famous" (the famous Ringo, famous Beatles, famous plan).

John, Paul, George and Ringo are all charming as ever. The settings run from England, to the ski slopes of Austria to the Bahamas.

There are so many funny things in this movie that you can't just watch it one time and catch them all.

The soundtrack to this movie is awesome: "Help!", "The Night Before", "I Need You", "Another Girl", "You're Gonna Lose That Girl", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", "She's A Woman" and "Ticket To Ride".

It's such a shame that MPI is no longer producing this movie. I truly hope another distributor will be able to gain the rights so it will once again be available.

It is well worth the trouble of hunting a copy of this movie down because everything about it is timeless.


HELP! DVD Review   November 3, 2007
 28 out of 30 found this review helpful

OK, I'm sure there will be 100's of reviews of the film itself, so I'll just skip to the tech review of the disc:

Video:

Full marks to the restoration team; as this is the best you're ever going to see this colourful 1965 classic. Nearly every scratch and dirt speck is gone and the colours look fantastic on DVD.

Sound:

A full 5.1 DTS remix (not much help if you still only have Dolby Digital). Very similar to the Anthology/Love mixes of their mid 60's stuff; not many flashy rear effects (just a bit of reverb to fill it out) but for the modernists - the drums are in the centre and the new mix is a beefy one.

Extras:

A Missing Scene: Just to save you the same disappointment I had - THIS SCENE IS STILL MISSING! However, we do get Wendy Richard, Richard Lester and other insiders; giving an in-depth rundown on the lost SAM AHAB scene.

The Beatles in Help!: A great documentary featuring period interviews of the Beatles with lots of behind the scenes footage interlaced with some snippets of outtakes and 8mm home movies. Very informative. Richard Lester details some of the problems of filming in the mists of Beatlemania (there's even footage of mass crowds in the Swiss Alps!). Neil Aspinell also appears; confirming the well worn stories the Beatles recreational drug use on set.

The Restoration of Help! - An in-depth look at the restoration process.

Memories of Help! - More focused on the crews experiences making the film than the 30-minute documentary. Contains behind the scenes and home movie footage.

Plus two 2 US trailers, a spanish one (with no dubbed Beatles - sadly) and hidden Radio promos.





Goofy fun, great music-- SO WHERE IS THE DVD?   May 14, 2001
 22 out of 24 found this review helpful

My three daughters (ages 11, 7, and 5) are suddenly in the full thrall of Beatlemania, something I thought I'd gotten over 20 years ago. Lo and behold, they totally re-infected me at age 44! We can't seem to get "1", "Revolver", "Abbey Road" and "Rubber Soul" out of rotation on our CD player. My kids and I also watch the DVDs of "Yellow Submarine" and "Magical Mystery Tour" (which shows how truly hard core we are) every few days.

Anyway, I went in search of DVDs of "Hard Day's Night" and "Help" and found out THEY ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE. It seems they have been TAKEN OFF THE MARKET just as the Fabs were hitting Number 1 again across the land! Same goes for VHS tapes and DVDs of the "Beatles Anthology" and "Compleat Beatles" documentaries, all listed as "out of print and no longer available."

HELLO-- Who's reponsible for this FIASCO? Someone ought to be fired immediately for this, since there's no telling how much money is being lost minute-by-minute. The Beatles are once again the HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD, and their best movie work is suddenly UNAVAILABLE? The stupidity of this marketing move is almost inconceivable.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to find a tired, worn-out VHS tape of "Help" on the bottom shelf of the local video store and brought it home. The kids, of course, FLIPPED and I found myself once again amazed at what truly natural, charismatic performers the Fabs were.

Although rock critics have always liked "Hard Day's Night" more, I must admit "Help" has always been my favorite Beatles movie. Viewing it again after 20-odd years, I'm amazed at its innocent charm and how well some of the sight gags hold up. It's a sheer pleasure to watch all the proto-music videos in it, particularly the fabulous "Ticket To Ride" sequence (my youngest still screams "The SKI SONG! YIPPEEE!" whenever the opening chords come over the stereo). The Mad Scientist character reminded my girls of "The Brain." Some of the casually tossed-off lines have amazing staying power. "A feindish thingee!" "You've got a plan, haven't you inspector?" "Not a bit like Cagney!" "Ah, you see? British! If I had a Luger..." "So these are the famous Beatles / So this is the famous Scotland Yard" "Lovely boys! Just the same as they was before they was" etc.

The spirit of both "Help" and "Hard Day's Night" is definitely "cheeky," as opposed to the "snotty" and cynical attitude adopted by today's teen-oriented music stars (don't believe me? Compare the excruciating "Jose and the Pussycats" to any Beatles flick and tell me we haven't gone BACKWARDS in 30-odd years in terms of music, talent and attitude). That's the only bad part of watching or listening to the Beatles in this day and age: It reminds you that pop/rock music is long into its decadent phase, with the themes so daringly explored by the Beatles and others so long ago simply being hashed, rehashed, sampled, computerized, and spat out by today's soulless performers.

Anyway, I would happily buy a "Help" and "Hard Day's Night" DVD IF THEY WERE AVAILABLE! How long is this agony to last?


The question of aspect ratios, neither U.S. version is correct.   November 6, 2007
 25 out of 29 found this review helpful

The issue of aspect ratios will always be a problem with films produced between 1955 & 1990. Unless they were produced in a real "widescreen" format such as Cinemascope, VistaVision, or other trademarked names, the movie is best seen in full frame 1:33-1 format.

The Beatles Films A HARD DAY'S NIGHT & HELP were shot in a British theatrical format which is inbetween 1:33-1 and 1:85-1. About 1:66-1, which means both U.S. screen formats will cut something off of the picture.

I compared the old "Full Frame" 1:33-1 release of HELP to this new "Anamorphic" 1:85-1 release. I must first say that all of the long shots benefit from the added picture to the sides on the widescreen version, and they feel better this way. However the widescreen version tends to cut off the tops of peoples heads in the close-ups and the full frame version looks better.

Overall the film looks superior in this newly re-mastered widescreen DVD, with the color correction & scratch removal. The sound has been improved also (even though Laserdiscs have better sound reproduction).

The old Criterion 2-disc Laserdisc does contain some bonus material that is not on this 2-disc DVD release. But there is also much new bonus material on this release that was not on the old 2-disc Laserdisc release.
I will keep both versions. Hopefully someday someone will release the film in it's original 1:66-1 aspect ratio and give us the full picture!


Classic HELP   November 6, 2007
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

The Beatles in HELP is over 40 years old..and it is as fresh as it was 40 years ago.

This two disk DVD version is a classic film, restored to its glory that modern day marvels can do to film. This pre-MTV film stands as a great blend of music and comedy. The Beatles music in the film may seem new to the young ones. Nevertheless, I would not be surprised if the HELP soundtrack goes back up the top 40 with the DVD release


Richard Lester, who was director of the 1973/74 The Complete Musketeers (The Three Musketeers / The Four Musketeers), moved the Beatles in this fast paced romp, like the Marx Brothers did 40 years before them. Lester did what was later done for TV with the MONKEES. MTV called Lester "The Father of MTV" due to the movie HELP...which he replied that he wanted a blood test

The film looked like nonsense, but it has a thin plot about Ringo and a special ring. Leo (Rumpole of the Bailey, The Prisoner) McKern and Roy (Three Musketeers) Kinear ham it for the camera in this romp. This is a simple enjoyable film is one of these that family can watch

The two disk set also has a 16 page booklet with mostly pictures and very little text (if you are a film buff, I suggest you buy the deluxe HELP set with Richard Lester's annotated script book) . The booklet reminds me of a movie book, that was sold in the theaters when a large film was release..I have a few from Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments...BOY I AM DATING MYSELF NOW!

What is missing for me is Lester or the remaining Beatles (Paul & Ringo) doing an audio commentary over the film. The second disk has a few documentaries, but no comments from neither Paul nor Ringo..and that is a shame!

Now, what you all want to know is, IS IT WORTH IT? YES, it is a still a grand piece of comedy and music that is timeless

So you don't need HELP to get this film..Just order it and get the HELP you need!

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD