New DVD Spin: Help!

Help! (Apple/EMI): The "I Do Appreciate You Being 'Round" Disc of the Week

The Beatles' second film, from 1965, has been a long time coming to DVD, at least in a worthwhile edition. The earlier (and dreadfully sub par) MPI disc has been out of print for some ten years, fetching outrageous prices on eBay. (A Korean knock-off was the best value on the underground Beatles market.) 2005 rolled by without the expected 40th anniversary special edition, something we patient fans hoped would be on a level with the glorious Miramax DVD of the Beatles' path-breaking first film, A Hard Day's Night. Finally, at last, Help! is arriving -- beautifully restored -- in a two-disc set loaded with extras.

Now, although Help! was the fab lads' second outing with American-born director Richard Lester, it can't hold a candle to A Hard Day's Night, a bona fide best-of-breed classic. This time, instead of a "day in the life" romp punctuated by expertly staged musical numbers, we get a silly comedy plot -- Ringo, wearing "the sacred ring," is chased across the globe by a Kali-worshipping cult trying to sacrifice him in a blood ritual -- that could have been a rehearsal for The Monkees.

The production is flabby and at times appears slapdash. The scenes shot in the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas don't serve the story; rather, they exist because the band thought they'd be groovy places for a paid holiday. And there's all the time they were stoned on set thanks to their recent turn-on to marijuana by Bob Dylan. The Beatles themselves didn't especially care for Help!: at one point John quipped that they'd become second bananas in their own film. Says Lester in an interview on the extras disc, "We didn't want to repeat A Hard Day's Night. The next logical step would have been to show them in their real lives. But by that point their real lives were X-rated, or what would have been considered X-rated at that time. So the only thing left was to have them become the passive recipients of an outside threat."

But. The best British broad-brush comedy moments are great fun. The James Bond spoofing is rather endearing. The location shooting (such as the boys' skiing in the Tyrol because they thought skiing would be fun) provides the film's signature images and some great-looking cinematography. And the supporting cast -- Leo McKern as the cult chieftain, Victor Spinetti as a frustrated mad scientist, and especially Eleanor Bron as the cult maiden smitten with Paul -- is top-grade. Best of all, of course, are the scenes with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison performing hits such as the title number, "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "Ticket to Ride," along with the fine B-sides "You're Going to Lose That Girl," "I Need You," "The Night Before" and "Another Girl." You can hear them transitioning from their early poppy sound to the more sophisticated, envelope-pushing styles and lyrics that within two years would lead to the albums Revolver, Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper. For casual viewers, the whole thing has a retro charm. For Beatles fans, it's a flawed but essential film.

Help! hits shelves this week in two editions: a basic two-disc set and a pricey Deluxe Edition that augments the two-disc set with a box of hard-copy bonus material. The real quality here, though, lies in the pristine, vibrant, digitally restored image and the remixed and remastered DTS 5.1 surround or PCM stereo sound. The colors are vivid and pop like never before on home video, while the full-bodied audio, most noticeably in the musical numbers, really fills the room nicely. This is the sort of DVD that easily justifies our big screens and home-theater sound systems.

The best of the bonus material is a new 30-minute making-of documentary with Richard Lester and members of his cast and crew, with behind-the-scenes footage of the Beatles on set. Another extra reveals images from a missing scene with new comments from Lester about why the scene was cut, and input from actress Wendy Richard (subsequently a star of the Britcom Are You Being Served? and the long-running BBC soap EastEnders) giving a wistful interview about her lost moment with The Beatles. Also on board are "Memories of Help!" with cast and crew reminiscences, including Neil Aspinall, formerly head of The Beatles' Apple Corps company, on the impact of marijuana and other substances on The Beatles and their entourage during the filming of Help!. Finally there's an in-depth look at the restoration process; two U.S. trailers and one Spanish trailer; and 1965 U.S. radio spots hidden in the on-screen menus.

The keepcase includes a 14-page liner notes booklet with photos, a new intro by Richard Lester, and a new (Aug. 2007) essay by Martin Scorsese, who gives Lester's film work -- his Beatles films in particular -- a warm appraisal.

The Deluxe Edition adds to that list a reproduction of Lester's original annotated script, eight lobby cards, and a 60-page book with rarely seen photos.

Read about more new DVDs.

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Mark Bourne

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