Help! | 
| Director: Richard Lester
Actors: John Lennon, Paul Mccartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Leo Mckern
Studio: Capitol
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $16.45
You Save: $13.53 (45%)
New (146) Used (5) Collectible (1) from $16.45
Rating:  108 reviews
Sales Rank: 1265
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dts Surround Sound, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 149 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.6
MPN: C9DW-10347
EAN: 5099951034795
ASIN: B000VSBX34
Theatrical Release Date: November 6, 2007
Release Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
The Beatles followed up their debut film A HARD DAY'S NIGHT with this fanciful spy spoof. When Ringo adds a new ring to his collection he's unaware of how important and dangerous this piece of jewelry is. On one hand a religious cult considers it a sacred object and the wearer must become a sacrifice to their gods. On the other hand the ring has magical abilities that hold the key to supreme power. Soon the boys from Liverpool are engaged in a slapstick and madcap chase round the world as a crazed scientist a pack of crooks and several religious fanatics set out to capture the band. Watch for the English Channel swimmer who seems to be perpetually lost and appears in nearly every location. Includes Beatles' hits including "Help!" "Ticket To Ride" "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and many more.System Requirements:Running Time: 153 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/SHOWBIZ Rating: G UPC: 5099951034795 Manufacturer No: C9DW-10347
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| Customer Reviews: Read 103 more reviews...
 Classic HELP November 6, 2007
Bennet Pomerantz (Seabrook, Maryland)
41 out of 41 found this review helpful
The Beatles in HELP is over 40 years old..and it is as fresh as it was 40 years ago.
This two disk DVD version is a classic film, restored to its glory that modern day marvels can do to film. This pre-MTV film stands as a great blend of music and comedy. The Beatles music in the film may seem new to the young ones. Nevertheless, I would not be surprised if the HELP soundtrack goes back up the top 40 with the DVD release
Richard Lester, who was director of the 1973/74 The Complete Musketeers (The Three Musketeers / The Four Musketeers), moved the Beatles in this fast paced romp, like the Marx Brothers did 40 years before them. Lester did what was later done for TV with the MONKEES. MTV called Lester "The Father of MTV" due to the movie HELP...which he replied that he wanted a blood test
The film looked like nonsense, but it has a thin plot about Ringo and a special ring. Leo (Rumpole of the Bailey, The Prisoner) McKern and Roy (Three Musketeers) Kinear ham it for the camera in this romp. This is a simple enjoyable film is one of these that family can watch
The two disk set also has a 16 page booklet with mostly pictures and very little text (if you are a film buff, I suggest you buy the deluxe HELP set with Richard Lester's annotated script book) . The booklet reminds me of a movie book, that was sold in the theaters when a large film was release..I have a few from Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments...BOY I AM DATING MYSELF NOW!
What is missing for me is Lester or the remaining Beatles (Paul & Ringo) doing an audio commentary over the film. The second disk has a few documentaries, but no comments from neither Paul nor Ringo..and that is a shame!
Now, what you all want to know is, IS IT WORTH IT? YES, it is a still a grand piece of comedy and music that is timeless
So you don't need HELP to get this film..Just order it and get the HELP you need!
Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD
HELP! DVD Review November 3, 2007
paulisdead (Melbourne, Australia)
24 out of 26 found this review helpful
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.
The question of aspect ratios, neither U.S. version is correct. November 6, 2007
Paul J. Mular (San Carlos, CA USA)
18 out of 22 found this review helpful
The issue of aspect ratios will always be a problem with films produced between 1955 & 1990. Unless they were produced in a real "widescreen" format such as Cinemascope, VistaVision, or other trademarked names, the movie is best seen in full frame 1:33-1 format.
The Beatles Films A HARD DAY'S NIGHT & HELP were shot in a British theatrical format which is inbetween 1:33-1 and 1:85-1. About 1:66-1, which means both U.S. screen formats will cut something off of the picture.
I compared the old "Full Frame" 1:33-1 release of HELP to this new "Anamorphic" 1:85-1 release. I must first say that all of the long shots benefit from the added picture to the sides on the widescreen version, and they feel better this way. However the widescreen version tends to cut off the tops of peoples heads in the close-ups and the full frame version looks better.
Overall the film looks superior in this newly re-mastered widescreen DVD, with the color correction & scratch removal. The sound has been improved also (even though Laserdiscs have better sound reproduction).
The old Criterion 2-disc Laserdisc does contain some bonus material that is not on this 2-disc DVD release. But there is also much new bonus material on this release that was not on the old 2-disc Laserdisc release.
I will keep both versions. Hopefully someday someone will release the film in it's original 1:66-1 aspect ratio and give us the full picture!
 Restored or Retarded December 9, 2007
Michael Osborn (Seattle, WA USA)
18 out of 31 found this review helpful
One of the first rules you learn in art school is, `You always cut the frame to fit the art, you never cut the art to fit the frame'. This is out of respect to the artistic vision and the recognition of the frame as merely a subservient presentation tool.
Some people just don't get it. I actually have a friend who has a 65 inch SONY LCD WIDESCREEN TV but there is no way I can convince him that a FULL SCREEN DVD is actually a misnomer since it takes a WIDESCREEN image and crops off the sides of the movie to square it off to fit on a standard TV. He only buys FULL SCREEN versions of movies and then converts them to WIDESCREEN by stretching and cropping the top and bottom of the already cropped image to fill his TV screen! It should be obvious to everyone that this bastardization of image is a plague of the mind to be avoided whenever possible. Converting FULL SCREEN to WIDESCREEN is something only retarded people do who not only believe that bigger is always better, but also believe that includes any illusion of being larger. Since the faces in a WIDESCREEN image look smaller on a FULL SCREEN TV, then the picture must be bigger with a FULL SCREEN DVD. At no time can a person who thinks this way tolerate any unused part of their TV screen because unless every square inch of it is lit, they feel cheated somehow. Such is the ill logic that prevailed by the manufacturers of this DVD.
In 1965 this movie, HELP! was originally filmed in British Standard of 1.6:1 (slightly wider than Full Screen) but was cropped on the top and bottom for the American theatrical release in the USA WIDESCREEN standard of 1.75 to one. When it was released on TV the original 1.6 image was panned and scanned to fit on the TV FULL SCREEN of 1.3:1 and this version has been previously released on other DVDs.
For this DVD release, the movie was converted from the 1.75:1 (one and three-fourths to one) USA WIDESCREEN ratio to a WIDER SCREEN format of 16:9. The top and bottom of the already cropped movie image has been cropped for this purpose, which is nothing less than a CRIME against art!! This simulated WIDESCREEN version often decapitates any of the actors at the top of the frame, as well as one of the opening credits. Why do people tolerate this?
Likewise, equally as dumb, the SOUND was not only originally recorded in monaural (not stereo), but the movie had unique versions of the songs (different from the album versions), which are lost in their replacement by stereo tracks. When `The Beatles' recorded the songs in the studio for the album, EMI was using an analog four track recording system, so if the original music has to be supplemented it should be OPTIONAL so one can choose which version to listen to. And it should be with an STEREO version, not by any kind of fake Dolby Surround or 5.1 remix. Please don't support this inanity foisted upon us by corporate idiots.
Beatles in Color! October 25, 2007
Javier Moreno (San Francisco Bay Area, California)
14 out of 24 found this review helpful
After "A Hard Day's Night," They did it in less than a year. Another comedy directed by Richard Lester. This time it's more than a musical but a very british sit-com full of Beatle gags. They were extremely funny and full of wit, they played themselved being in an adventure/ action movie and it worked perfectly. They were stoned all the time too, but that doesn't mean they weren't having fun. Ringo claims he doesn't remember a second of the shooting because he was on pot all the time. Nevertheless, he played extremely well for "Ticket To Ride" and "You're Gonna Lose That Girl." John was in his "Fat Elvis" phase, depressed of all the fame and fortune he had and not being able to express himself completely. Sgt. Pepper was a year and a half away. Paul McCartney had his best Beatle moment, in my opinion. Two extremely good songs: "The Night Before" and "Another Girl" were featured in the movie and another song for the Help! LP, "Yesterday" became his masterpiece. George wrote and sang "I Need You" and, with "Something", it's his best piece of work.
You know what would have been a great bonus feature for the DVD? a commentary/ review of the 7 additional songs in the Help! U.K. album. I would have loved to hear George Martin talking about "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," the last cover the Beatles played in record, featuring a powerful, soulful John. Even tho he claimed later "It's Only Love" sucked, this tune is really, really adorable and romantic. Ringo strikes with "Act Naturally" and of course, Paul brings down the country house with "I've Just Seen A Face." Let's be honest, side B is better than side A in the Help! LP. Am I right?
I don't know why Help! was moved to the Nov. 6, maybe it's a Paul McCartney move to promote his DVD box being released the next week and also clean his image because of his messy divorce... I don't know. I want to have Help! right now in my hands!
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