DVD Review
Help!
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Help!
MPI Home Video - © 1965 - 90 Minutes - Color and B&W - Keepcase
"Help!, the follow-up film to the Beatles' fantastically successful A Hard Day's Night, is a fun-filled adventure that takes us back to a ssimpler era - a time when the Beatles and a whole generation took themselves less seriously. And now, the film that provided the soundtrack to many of our own lives and times has been newly remastered, along with eight minutes of rare bonus footage.
Help! follows the Fab Four on a worldwide jaunt around the globe. When a fan sends Ringo an ancient scrificial ring that becomes stuck on his finger, he becomes targeted by a group of hilariously obsessed oriental mystics, as well as an ambitious scientist who has his own plans for the ring. On th erun, the Beatles are chased from London to the Swiss Alps to the Bahamas, outwitting their pursuers, singing great songs and having a ball.
As an added bonus, the Help! digital video disc comes from a fully restored print made from the film's original color negative, and includes the original theatrical trailer, two newsreels, silent footage of the film set and the world premiere, still photos and posters set to original radio ads, and an open radio interview that allows for a friendly "chat" with the Beatles."
Features
Another First-Class Beatles Film from MPI
The second of the Beatles films. Contrary to the packaging, this 4:3 original production is in full color, however many of the extras are in B&W.Much more of a fantastic romp than A Hard Day’s Night, Help! was originally conceived as a way to give the "lads" a much needed vacation. Travel to many exotic locals was planned based upon where they wished to travel on holiday. The plot is thus contrived to accommodate this elaborate scheme.
Though A Hard Day’s Night is a much better and important film, Help! is truly my favorite. A broad comedic parody of "spy genre" films, Help! does nothing which could be conceived of as predictable.
As with A Hard Day’s Night, the original soundtrack was mono, and has been remastered to include stereo recordings of all of the song tracks. The video is quite excellent, beating the previous Criterion laserdisc in color quality.
Review by Peter Sills
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