Product Details

• Actors: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Leo McKern
• Directors: Richard Lester
• Writers: Charles Wood, Marc Behm
• Producers: Walter Shenson
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: April 10, 1991
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (350 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000069KS
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,564 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #7 in	Video > Music Video & Concerts > Artists > Beatles > Feature Films
  #42 in	Video > Art House & International > United Kingdom > Music & Musicals
  #77 in	Video > Music Video & Concerts > Other Music > British

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
After the worldwide success of A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles and director Richard Lester reunited for a follow-up film, Eight Arms to Hold You. Well, that wasn't the final title; a pleading Lennon-McCartney tune provided the catchier handle: Help! A loose semispoof of the globe-trotting James Bond pictures, Help! has always been considered a somewhat disorganized comedown from its predecessor; but it presents "the famous Beatles" even more clearly as the English cousins of the Marx Brothers. The plot has an Eastern religious cult declaring that the new ring on Ringo's finger is the key element in a human sacrifice; they will stop at nothing to obtain it. Meanwhile, a mad scientist (crazed Victor Spinetti, who also appeared in A Hard Day's Night and Magical Mystery Tour) believes that if he has the ring, he could--dare we say it?--rule the world. The songs, including "Ticket to Ride" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," are filmed with gleeful ingenuity, in locations such as the Bahamas, an Austrian ski resort, and the Salisbury Plain. The relentless nonsense becomes nearly the equivalent of a swinging-'60s Alice in Wonderland: for instance, Paul shrinks to the size of a gum wrapper, John fishes a season ticket out of his soup, George wears a top hat on the ski slopes, the lads sing the "Ode to Joy" to a lion. Oh, and the film is dedicated to Elias Howe, "who in 1846 invented the sewing machine." Brilliant. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 122 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great film, questionable DVD package, September 12, 2007

By	Beatle23 "beatle23" (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Help! (Deluxe Edition) (DVD)

Everyone knows the film and loves it, that's why we're here checking it out on this page. But what about this DVD package? If you look at the price, you have to question is it really worth it.

When I first read about the Deluxe Edition, I thought the price would be around $50 like most other Deluxe Edition DVDs out there. At $95, this is way too much for what they're offering. Yes, you get all this:

- a reproduction of Richard Lester s original annotated script

- 8 lobby cards

- poster

- 60-page book with rarely seen photographs and production notes from the movie

... but unless they are signed by at least one Beatle, I wouldn't pay that much. Yes, Richard Lester's annotated script is great, but wait awhile and you'll probably find a reproduction online sometime. The lobby cards and poster are great, but those are not the main reasons for the price inflation. The 60 page book would seem to be the main reason for the price hike, but look at other Beatles books out there. The paperback version of The Beatles Anthology has 368 pages, weighs 2.2 pounds, and has over 1,300 photographs. The price? LESS THAN A THIRD of what this Deluxe Edition of Help is going for.

Yes, all these extras are nice, but it's not worth the price, and I'm a huge Beatles nut who buys everything they make. At this moment, I'm going to buy the regular edition which has been restored with great picture and a 5.1 soundtrack. Plus, the second disk has great extras (could be better if they had Paul or Ringo commenting) that will suffice. Especially for the price.

Drop the price on this Deluxe Edition, guys. If you do that, people will buy.

65 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fab film from the Fab Four!, June 17, 2001

By	J. Gibson (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Beatles - Help! (DVD)

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.

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HELP! DVD Review, November 2, 2007

By	paulisdead (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Help! (DVD)

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.