The Beatles: Help!

Elly Roberts reviews

The Beatles: Help!Distributed by
Apple Corps Ltd2-Disc Edition:
Bumper Limited:

• Cert:
• Pressing: 2007
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Running time: 92 minutes
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
• Languages: English
• Widescreen: 16:9
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £21.99
• Rating: 10/10+
• Extras (57 mins):30-minute documentary, The Making of Help!, Missing scene, Theatrical Trailers,Radio Spots, 18-page booklet.

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Help! They didn’t need any. The film did.,

The Beatles’ second film Help! was their first in colour, and directorof photography David Watkin’s first. It was released at the height of their iconicperiod in 1965, also the year they called it a day for touring the UK.

It includes seven classics – Help!, You’re Going To Lose That Girl, You’veGot To Hide Your Love Away, Ticket to Ride, I Need You, The Night Before andAnother Girl.

The Richard Lester film which followed his Hard Day’s Night, now comesas a 2-DVD set. Disc 1 is the fully restored film in 5.1 Surround Sound Soundtrack,with disc 2 – Special Features, including a 30 minute documentary, the makingof Help!, a missing scene, theatrical trailers, radio spots, plus 18-pagebooklet.

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Going to see this film way back in 1965, Help! was a hoot. It was alsothe first time I’d seen my childhood heros in colour. Until then, most imageswere in black and white. OK, so the plot was pretty simple. It was meant to be.In case you haven’t seen it, The Fab Four were passive recipients of an outsideplot that revolved around Ringo’s possession of a sacrificial ring, which hecouldn’t removed from his finger. We mustn’t forget why he was called Ringo:he always wore rings, lots of them apparently, so he was perfectly cast.

The Mop Tops were relentlessly chased from London to the Austrian alps and theBahamas. Brian Esptein insisted it was important to film in the Bahamas, soscenes were specially created. In pursuit were religious cult members, a madscientist and the Old Bill. Of the four, surprisingly, Ringo shines, turningout to be the best and most comfortable actor of the group.

Backing them was a strong cast of Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Welshman VictorSpinetti (who George’s mum asked to be cast as one of her favourite actors),funnyman Roy Kinnear, Patrick Cargill and John Bluthal. In true Beatles form,it showcases the likely lads just larking about, with character lines perfectlysuiting each member.

It also, visually, showed Lester’s sharp eye for surrealism by effectivelycreating the first music ‘videos’. MTV recognised Lester’s work, calling himthe father of MTV for his innovative work on the film. Who can forget thememorable clips in the snowbound mountains playing along to Ticket To Ride?Remarkable considering none of them could ski.

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As good as the film is, it’s the documentary that makes the most interestingviewing with bags of off-screen footage, beginning with what appears to be thepremier (with the lads attending) whilst hoards of screeming (and fainting)teenagers cram the streets with overwhelmed police and first-aiders. In one ofmany interviews with Lester, he confessed he didn’t want to make just a colourversion of documentary-styled A Hard Day’s Night, so it played on theirweaknesses and turned into a frollicking chase film.

Bron saw it as a complete departure for them, believing they genuinely wantedto learn how to act, via the writing of another surrealist, screenplay writerCharles Wood, which suited Lennon’s wacky style. Above all, thedocumentary shows how working class lads could ‘make it’. It’s mad quality wasenhanced by some recreational pot smoking, late nights and early starts.

File under: Essential.

Weblink: thebeatles.com

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