The Beatles - Help! [DVD] [1965] | ![The Beatles - Help! [DVD] [1965]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21ze%2BMld-lL._SL500_.jpg)
| Actor: The Beatles
Studio: EMI
Category: DVD
New (2) Used (4) from £19.90
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 19960
Format: Box set, PAL
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region: 2
Discs: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.5
MPN: 5099950952298
EAN: 5099950952298
ASIN: B000VR4AB2
Theatrical Release Date: August 25, 1965
Release Date: November 5, 2007
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
After the world-wide 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 semi-spoof of the globe-trotting James Bond pictures, Help! has always been considered a somewhat disorganised 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 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
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
 Help Is On The Way October 27, 2009
juliet R (London,UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I watched this film on VHS two nights ago and it was the perfect escape.Lovely singable Beatles songs(including perhaps my favourite - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away),a silly and hilarious plot,John,Paul,George and Ringo,Eleanor Bron ("I am not what I seem") as Ahme,stylishly dressed high priestess of a nutty Indian religious
cult,and some super photography,make up a jolly romp of a movie,without pc,without violence,without swearing,indeed without any of the vulgarity of the late 20th/21st century.
What more could one ask for in a film?
Watch it ASAP.
Help April 10, 2009
Peter John Storey (Gateshead UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Definitely a trip down Memory lane as both my wife and I watched this movie three times as Teenagers when it first came out
Film story is rubbish bu the songs are brilliant and we had a right good old singalong to ourselves
Funny that after 40 yeaars you still remnember all the words
Not Bad Beatles Film April 9, 2009
I. M. Knight (Huddersfield, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love the Beatles and their music, but this is not quite as good as 'Hard Days Night'. It is quite 'zany' and funny in parts and there are some excellent tracks on there, as you would expect from the greatest band of all time.
If you are a Beatles fan you will want this in your collection as it shows the Beatles just on the cusp of their change in musical style in the mid sixties. There is a great album to the film with classic songs like `Help' (obviously), `Ticket to Ride' and `Yesterday'.
 I love the Beatles, but this is not a good film September 28, 2008
lexo1941 (Edinburgh, Scotland)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
"Help!" is not actually the worst film ever made. There are several candidates for that: I would nominate "Easy Rider", "Funny Games" (both the original and the remake), "Ocean's Eleven" (again, both the original and the remake), "Star Trek V" (the one Shatner directed), anything by Lina Wertmuller, practically everything by Guy Ritchie...
But it's not very good. The original idea might have been better. Originally, Ringo was supposed to find out that he was terminally ill, whereupon he would hire a contract killer to off him before he died of natural causes, but then he would find out that he wasn't terminally ill after all, and the rest of the film would have been about his efforts to call off his own assassination...with, presumably, hilarious consequences. But it turned out that a Jean-Paul Belmondo film with a very similar premise was in production, so Lester hired a couple of new writers to knock this sloppy and somewhat racist story together. (The Belmondo film isn't a classic of world cinema. Aki Kaurismaki subsequently made a great little movie on the same basic premise of hiring someone to kill yourself and then changing your mind, "I Hired A Contract Killer" (1990) with Jean-Pierre Léaud and Margi Clarke.)
Perhaps it wouldn't have worked anyway. By this point, the Beatles were in a bit of a mid-career slump and were too lazy and too stoned to be bothered with the discipline required to make a good comedy film. The only thing they took seriously (apart from scoring more drugs) was making music, and even then the accompanying "Help!" album is notable for the number of less-than-stellar Beatle songs it contains. (There are some jewels, such as "Ticket To Ride", "Yesterday", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", "I've Just Seen A Face" and the title track, but also humdrum filler like "Another Girl", "The Night Before", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy", "You Like Me Too Much"...)
"Help!" the movie has its moments, but basically it's slack, boring and badly acted by its four supposed stars. Even the chaotic "Magical Mystery Tour" is a more rewarding evening's viewing, because at least the Beatles came up with the ideas themselves.
This is not, of course, the worst ever film associated with the Beatles. That would be the grisly "Sgt. Pepper" movie, the compulsory viewing of which is I believe regarded by the UN Commission on Human Rights as cruel and unusual punishment.
Just Plain Fun!!! July 6, 2008
F. S. L'hoir (Irvine, CA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Despite the frivolous, not to say silly, plot, "Help!" is just plain fun; and, if one gets past the frantic antics, it is full of delightful puns and allusions (Some are very Goon Show.). The adorable four are supported by an A-1 cast, including Leo McKern, who puts as much zest into his role as the evil Clang as he does into that of Rumpole. Victor Spinetti (who was also in "A Hard Day's Night"), chews the scenery as the mad scientist, Foot, and he is ably assisted by Roy Kinnear as the dippy Algernon. Eleanor Bron is outstanding as the mysterious Ahme, who, decked out in an outrageous peacock blue turban and plumes, informs the lads that there is more to her than meets the eye. Each one of us probably has his favorite scene; mine is one in which Ringo is told not to worry about the Bengal tiger which is sharing the cellar with him; all he has to do to calm the beast is sing the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; and then all the Beatles and everyone else in the pub above the cellar belt it out in German! Goofy, but so what? It's fun! And besides, the Beatles sing a rollicking rendition of "Hey! You've got to Hide Your Love Away."
The second disk with the commentary is particularly enlightening. Not only are there the very interesting comments of the director, Richard Lester, but there is also a fascinating explanation by the technicians on the intricacies of restoring the film. Wendy Richard, who plays my favorite character, Miss Brahms, in "Are You Being Served?", talks about the thrill of playing her very first role in "Help!," only to discover at the last minute that the scene had been cut (They show bits and pieces of it, but unfortunately, the scene itself seems to be lost).
"Help!" is a film to watch on a summer night when you just want to sit back, relax, and have a good laugh.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
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