Help!
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Movie Reviews of Help!
Movie Review: Outstanding reissue at all levels
Summary: 5 Stars
I hadn't seen the Beatles' Help! movie in a long, long time, let alone the 2007 premastered version. Well, I picked this up recently, and boy, am I glad I did. The 2007 reissue is a 2 DVD set.
DVD 1 of "Help!" (95 min.) brings the original movie (released in 1965), and what a delight it is to see it again after all this years. It doesn't have the original charm and innocence of 1964's "A Hard Day's Night", but that is not a surprise as at that time the Beatles were battling the peak of Beatlemania. Director Richard Lestor somehow manages the 4 guys through a zany script (something about a chase for a ring on Ringo's finger, not that it matters a whole lot). The movie is just a pretense to showcase the Beatles in any way, shape or form. The way the songs are presented in the movie became, what is clear by now, a model on how to shoot interesting music videos (as is acknowledged in the second DVD, more on that later). The songs play fabulously if you have the proper home-theatre set-up (which I have). To think that this movie is now 44 years old just boggles the mind. It still feels fresh to this day.
DVD 2 (60 min.) brings mostly a recollection of those who were involved in the movie at that time, and it is a delight to hear these people (including the director, but also many others) recollecting on the insaneness that it was to shoot a film with the Beatles. Lester tells a funny anecdote that he received an award from MTV for being the father of music videos and he says "I want a blood test", haha! It also includes a look on how the movie was "remastered" (with spectacular results, by the way) and several trailers for the movie, including one in Spanish for "Los Beatles", just hilarious.
In all, this is a must have for Beatles fans, and by now also a great historical time-capsule of things in the mid-60s. Highly recommended!
Movie Review: the perfect dvd
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, This is a review of the $20 version of this DVD (not the $100 version), and is a review of the actually DVD, and not the actually movie.
I purchased this DVD on a whim, as I was observing the New Releases. I popped it in my DVD player and BANG!!. I had to quickly turn down the volume. The Audio is high powered, which I love. Some older movies have lousy audio volume, even after remastering. Not this one. You barely need to turn up the volume on your surround sound system. The Audio is extremely sensitive to the volume dial, if you know what I mean.
Secondly, I was extremely worried about this movie being a FULL SCREEN movie, which I hate!! I own a 42 inch, 16x9 Widescreen Television. And full screen movies have annoying black bars on the left and right side of the screen, and the picture looks thinned out. This is NOT the case for this DVD. There are extremely THIN black bars on the left and right sides of the screen, but is not really visible. So I would call this a Widescreen version (the DVD itself says: 16.9 aspect ratio. It is posted differently on amazon). I was extremely happy that the bars were hardly visible, and the picture image is NOT thinned out.
Last, I want to comment on the songs. The songs sound much better than the LP versions, in my opinion. I hear more of a "live" sound, rather than a studio sound. The vocals, drums, and guitars just sound too perfect.
If you are hesitant on buying this DVD because of the technical aspects of this DVD, DONT BE. They are tremendously great. I had my doubts when purchasing the one, but after I saw/heard it for myself, I was pleasantly surprised. This has got to be one of the BEST remastering jobs in DVD history. Don't let this one pass you by.
Movie Review: HELP! DVD Review
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: The Beatles Under-Rated Classic Comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
The Beatles' second film is wonderfully restored to its original high saturation full color glory in this two DVD set. It looks beautiful and sounds great. The film itself is widely underrated. If the band's amazing film debut, "A Hard Day's Night," had not been so unexpectedly brilliant, "Help!" would stand today as one of the classic British comedy films of the 1960s. This is not to say that "Help!" is a better film, but by comparision, this one has more outrageous site gags, more rapid-fire British wit, much more plot, more funny characters, more locations and more interesting sets. Like "A Hard Day's Night," it was directed by Richard Lester, who excelled in spectacular comedies. (He later directed "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and the best and funniest versions of "The Three Musketeers" and "The Four Musketeers.") The soundtrack offers seven now-classic Beatles songs and a classical score the effectively offsets the pleasant pop of the Fab Four. The plot centers around the pursuit of a mystical ring stuck on Ringo's hand, giving two sets of comical bad guys an excuse to chase the band through England, the Swiss Alps and the Bahamas. Victor Spinetti, Roy Kinnear, Eleanor Braun, Leo McKern, John Buthal and Patrick Cargil all turn in wonderfully over-the-top comic performances and the Beatles themselves are very funny, too. Extras on this collection include behinds the scenes footage in the context of several short documentaries, backckground on the restoration of the film and a decontruction of a lost scene that was cut from the film. Beatles buffs will be interested in noting the cameos by longtime Beatles aid Mal Evans as the swimmer looking for the White Cliffs of Dover.Movie Review: Not just an eleborate music video but a real comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
The Beatle's second film re-released at a reasonable price is well worth it. unlike their first film 'Hard Days Night' which pretended to be an almost documentary of their work day, Help makes no pretense at being anything but fun fiction but in so doing it allows the 'Fab 4' to have wild adventures in a comedy that is so much more than just an excuse to play songs on film in the pre-MTV world but really is an enjoyable movie.
The concept is that Ringo receives an ornate jeweled ring from a fan and, putting it on, doesn't give it another thought. What he doesn't know is that it is a sacred ornament from a deadly eastern cult. It is the mark of who is to be sacrificed to the dread death goddess: "He who wears the ring!" Is painted red and "slaughtered jolly with a knife." Unfortuneately for Ringo, the ring is stuck on his hand.
The plot then unrolls as cult members keep trying to kill the fab four's drummer and a mad scientist, intrigued by a ring he can't cut, pursues them to gain the material. What follows are lots of attempts to paint Ringo red and cut him up. Other band mates start to wonder if ringo is really worth the effort-"Can you drum with only 9 fingers?"
When Scotland yard sends out an inspector who would give Cluseau a run for 'Twit of the Year' award, the boys are on their own and on the run. Adventures take them through London's finest house, army manuvers on Salisbury Plane, curling and skiing in Switzerland and eventually the Bahamas before a climax in which it we are remembered that it is death to: "he who wears the ring!"
To which there can be only one response: 'HELP!"