Help! - The Beatles Box Set Review

Help! - The Beatles Box Set Review

The Beatles

Box Set Review

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

The Beatles’ second film Help! was their first in colour, and director of photography David Watkin’s first. It was released at the height of their iconic period 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’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, Ticket to Ride, I Need You, The Night Before and Another Girl. The Richard Lester film which followed his Hard Day’s Night, now comes as 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 making of Help!, a missing scene, theatrical trailers, radio spots, plus 18 page booklet.

Going to see this film way back in 1965, Help! was a hoot. It was also the first time I’d seen my childhood heros in colour. Until then, most images were 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 outside plot that revolved around Ringo’s possession of a sacrificial ring, which he couldn’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 the Bahamas. Brian Esptein insisted it was important to film in the Bahamas, so scenes were specially created. In pursuit were religious cult members, a mad scientist and the Old Bill. Of the four, surprisingly, Ringo shines, turning out to be the best and most comfortable actor of the group. Backing them was a strong cast of Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Welshman Victor Spinetti (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 perfectly suiting each member. It also, visually, showed Lester’s sharp eye for surrealism by effectively creating the first music ‘videos’. MTV recognised Lester’s work, calling him the father of MTV for his innovative work on the film.Who can forget the memorable clips in the snowbound mountains playing along to Ticket To Ride? Remarkable considering none of them could ski.

As good as the film is, it’s the documentary that makes the most interesting viewing with bags of off -screen footage, beginning with what appears to be the premier (with the lads attending) whilst hoards of screeming (and fainting) teenagers cram the streets with overwhelmed police and first-aiders. In one of many interviews with Lester, he confessed he didn’t want to make just a colour version of documentary styled A Hard Day’s Night, so it played on their weaknesses and turned into a frollicking chase film. Bron saw it as a complete departure for them, believing they genuinely wanted to learn how to act, via the writing of another surrealist, screenplay writer Charles Wood, which suited Lennon’s wacky style. Above all, the documentary shows how working class lads could ‘make it’. It’s mad quality was enhanced by some recreational pot smoking, late nights and early starts.

File under : Essential.

Elly Roberts

You may be interested in

Adverts - Advertise here

Site Meter