Help! (Deluxe Edition) Reviews

• Great film, questionable DVD package

  
  By A1ZP3F3PSDURB4 on 2007-09-12
  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.
  
  

• A Hint of Things to Come

  
  By A18M68DE1Y6W51 on 2002-07-12
  Released only a year after the critically acclaimed "A Hard Day's Night," this film has a subtle edge to it, which in hindsight is quite poignant.

  Yes, the boys are gorgeous, so young, so talented, so sexy--and in COLOR this time. The music, as it always was with the Beatles, was innovative for its time, often brilliant. The very silly plot, in which some bad guys want to steal a sacred ring from Ringo's finger, is fun and ridiculous and infectious. But it only takes a close listen to John Lennon's title song, "Help," to know that he was already in distress.

  The demands on the Fab Four were getting more and more troubling to each of them. Just on the horizon, if not already begun, was time with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, heavy use of LSD, the John and Yoko saga, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heartclub Band, and all that was to come until the inevitable acrimonious disintegration of the group.

  Viewed in hindsight, therefore, "Help" makes this reviewer sad. It is so seemingly happy and innocent, so "60s," and yet the viewer knows that it all fell apart. I think for those who did not experience the Beatles firsthand, however, this movie has to be a thoroughly enjoyable and wonderful experience. And for the rest of us, it's a trip down memory lane to a time when all things still seemed possible.
  
  

• Fab film from the Fab Four!

  
  By A3VNNI6PFNK901 on 2001-06-18
  

  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.
  
  

• Here's What's in the Deluxe Edition...

  
  By AMA3XK29KQAZ7 on 2007-09-05
  So for an extra $75 you get (in addition to the two DVDs):
  
  * a reproduction of Richard Lester's original annotated script
  
  * 8 reproductions of the original theatrical lobby cards
  
  * a reproduction of the Theatrical movie poster
  
  * a 60-page book with rarely seen photographs and production notes from the movie. Both the deluxe book and the standard booklet feature an introduction by Richard Lester and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese.
  
  No doubt it's the book that bumped the price up so much. My rating is temporary, only because it's not out at the time I wrote the review. Most likely a nice (albeit pricey) holiday gift for the die hard Beatles collector.
  
  Unanswered questions: why not a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD high-def release? What mixes are provided of the soundtrack? And why are LET IT BE and several other Beatles films still unreleased on home video (as of late 2007)?
  
  

• Help me if you can, I'm feeling fleeced

  
  By A2FEJIORC1MBG3 on 2007-10-30
  Another cynical ploy by the major releasing studios to exploit boomer nostaglia (I'm surprised no one has observed the proximity of the release date of this opus to the holidays...)
  
  I already have my copy of the newly remastered "Help!". It is airing on the Sundance Channel as of this writing. The cost of my sparkling, letterboxed, uncut copy?
  
  25 cents for the blank DVD.
  
  You'd think the releasing studio would at least take me out to dinner first, before attempting to bend me over the retail counter.
  
  Wake up and smell the incense, folks.
  
  
• HELP! DVD Review
  By A3DWNXPNJ3K2Z3 on 2007-11-03
  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.
  
  
  
  
  
• What about the aspect ratio???
  By AQVO0VN4DW5N7 on 2007-09-10
  "Help!" has never been released in its original aspect ratio. NEVER. Watch the VHS release, the Criterion laserdisc, or the previous DVD incarations. You can see portions cut off from the edges of the screen. In the past the distributors tried to convince us that "Help!" was never wide screen--but it wasn't of strict TV proportions either, as evidenced by what you can blatantly see missing at the edges of the screen.
  
  As exciting as the restoration and extras sound, I'm concerned about the fact that NOTHING is being said about the aspect ratio. Which makes me nervous that once again we'll get a full-screen version, with no valid explanation as to why.
  
  APPLE, please clarify!
  
  
  
• The question of aspect ratios, neither U.S. version is correct.
  By A42GFMF12V7XR on 2007-11-06
  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!
  
  
• Goofy fun, great music-- SO WHERE IS THE DVD?
  By A2Y34QTG3XDBIA on 2001-05-14
  My three daughters (ages 11, 7, and 5) are suddenly in the full thrall of Beatlemania, something I thought I'd gotten over 20 years ago. Lo and behold, they totally re-infected me at age 44! We can't seem to get "1", "Revolver", "Abbey Road" and "Rubber Soul" out of rotation on our CD player. My kids and I also watch the DVDs of "Yellow Submarine" and "Magical Mystery Tour" (which shows how truly hard core we are) every few days.

  Anyway, I went in search of DVDs of "Hard Day's Night" and "Help" and found out THEY ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE. It seems they have been TAKEN OFF THE MARKET just as the Fabs were hitting Number 1 again across the land! Same goes for VHS tapes and DVDs of the "Beatles Anthology" and "Compleat Beatles" documentaries, all listed as "out of print and no longer available."

  HELLO-- Who's reponsible for this FIASCO? Someone ought to be fired immediately for this, since there's no telling how much money is being lost minute-by-minute. The Beatles are once again the HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD, and their best movie work is suddenly UNAVAILABLE? The stupidity of this marketing move is almost inconceivable.

  Anyway, I was lucky enough to find a tired, worn-out VHS tape of "Help" on the bottom shelf of the local video store and brought it home. The kids, of course, FLIPPED and I found myself once again amazed at what truly natural, charismatic performers the Fabs were.

  Although rock critics have always liked "Hard Day's Night" more, I must admit "Help" has always been my favorite Beatles movie. Viewing it again after 20-odd years, I'm amazed at its innocent charm and how well some of the sight gags hold up. It's a sheer pleasure to watch all the proto-music videos in it, particularly the fabulous "Ticket To Ride" sequence (my youngest still screams "The SKI SONG! YIPPEEE!" whenever the opening chords come over the stereo). The Mad Scientist character reminded my girls of "The Brain." Some of the casually tossed-off lines have amazing staying power. "A feindish thingee!" "You've got a plan, haven't you inspector?" "Not a bit like Cagney!" "Ah, you see? British! If I had a Luger..." "So these are the famous Beatles / So this is the famous Scotland Yard" "Lovely boys! Just the same as they was before they was" etc.

  The spirit of both "Help" and "Hard Day's Night" is definitely "cheeky," as opposed to the "snotty" and cynical attitude adopted by today's teen-oriented music stars (don't believe me? Compare the excruciating "Jose and the Pussycats" to any Beatles flick and tell me we haven't gone BACKWARDS in 30-odd years in terms of music, talent and attitude). That's the only bad part of watching or listening to the Beatles in this day and age: It reminds you that pop/rock music is long into its decadent phase, with the themes so daringly explored by the Beatles and others so long ago simply being hashed, rehashed, sampled, computerized, and spat out by today's soulless performers.

  Anyway, I would happily buy a "Help" and "Hard Day's Night" DVD IF THEY WERE AVAILABLE! How long is this agony to last?
  
  

• Restored or Retarded
  By A2GBBZWJT4L3Y4 on 2007-12-09
  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.
  
  
• GOUGE GOUGE GOUGE GOUGE
  By A3KLR8ED1V5SQC on 2007-09-25
  FIRST THE FILM IS FUN AND THE DVD WILL PROBABLY BE GREAT, BUT EVEN AS THIS IS A LIMITED EDITION WITH A BIG BOOK, IT IS WAY WAY WAY OVERPRICED. CAPITOL/APPLE AND THE BEATLES ARE GOUGING THEIR FANS. HEY, THE NEW RHINO SAN FRANCISCO NUGGETS BOX HAS FOUR DISCS A HUGE BEAUTIFUL BOOK AND IS ABOUT 60-70 BUCKS. WHOLE SEASONS OF TV SHOWS ARE LESS THAN 50 BUCKS. WHAT GIVES CAPITOL.. HEY BEATLES DON'T GOUGE YOUR FANS HERE!!!
  
  
• the acting is terrible & absolute albern!!
  By on 2002-10-28
  Some die hard fans bought this film because its the Beatles, but the movie here has no story at all.
  Similar to A Hard days Night (another black & white film), the acting doesn't work well. As I watched the last scene on the beach when people just chased each other and then......they just chased each other some more, what absolutely a waste of time. Nothing happens and there is no real ending in the film, but there was no coherent story to start with! When it was first released, the british critics & press panned it and with good reason.
  It is absolutely a nonsense film and everyone who is a big Beatles fan so there is no bias here.
  The only good thing is the music. Buy it, if you re a die hard fans only!...
  
  
• just watchable
  By on 1999-11-20
  This movie is just watchable--if you happen to be a Beatles nut (like me) and you happen to be particularly in the mood. Otherwise look at "A Hard Day's Night" instead. By the way: 1) George Martin did produce the Beatles album "Help!", but he did not score the movie "Help!"--as he scored the movie "A Hard Day's Night". 2) "Eight Arms to Hold You" was a title under consideration at one point, but so was "Eight Days a Week". ("Eight Arms to Hold You" obviously derives from "Eight Days a Week", and "Eight Days a Week" obviously derives from "A Hard Day's Night".) 3) The ultimate source--as far as has been determined--of the phrase "a hard day's night" was Ringo Starr, but John Lennon put it in his book "In His Own Write", and that is where director Richard Lester encountered it. (Lennon considered it "found poetry", so to speak. He called it a Ringo "malapropism".) 4) Lennon said in interviews he likes to think of his song "Help!" as a personal statement, but he also said that this is merely a coincidence: he wrote the song for the movie and at Richard Lester's insistence.
  
  
• Great movie but...
  By A2X4WE6D5Z3WXM on 2003-04-12
  Obviously this is a fantastic movie, but what about the DVD? Well, honestly, the quality is pretty bad. The film transfer isn't very pretty, it's in FULL SCREEN as opposed to its original widescreen ratio, and the sound quality is an insult for any music-based film, let alone The Beatles.

  [...]

  Also, this version has zippo extras. A Hard Days' Night has some nice bonus features, so surely the next Help! DVD will, as well.

  Hold off 'till we get the good version! Just dust off your old copy of Help! on VHS, 'cos this version literally is no better.
  
  

• Get this DVD so that HELP! is on the way
  By A2R6RA8FRBS608 on 2007-02-05
  The Beatles score a coup with their film entitled "Help!" Some people write that this movie is a spoof of James Bond films; and they are right. The antics and music set it very far apart from any James Bond movie. The soundtrack to this movie positively shines! It includes the title track and "You're Gonna Lose That Girl;" "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away;" "She's A Woman" and "Ticket To Ride." The cinematography is especially well done for the musical numbers.
  
  The plot, as you may know, centers on a special ring that Ringo possesses; Ringo wants the ring but so do the members of an Eastern religious cult who need the ring for a ritual sacrifice. The members of the religious cult attempt to kill Ringo many times but never succeed. In addition, a mad British scientist also develops a keen interest in the ring. The crazy scientist character enhances the comedic value of this picture.
  
  In a successful attempt to make the film even more unusual in a funny sort of way, the Fab Four enlist the help of Scotland Yard to protect Ringo and the other three members of the band. The attempts on Ringo's life so that the religious group or the mad scientist can obtain the ring are exaggerated even further for comedic effect with the not so brilliant "services" of Scotland Yard.
  
  The cinematography's strength shines in the scenes filmed in the Austrian Alps and the island of Nassau in The Bahamas. You get impressive shots of the countryside and the seashore, respectively.
  
  Amazon notes that there is "relentless nonsense" in this movie; and I strongly agree. The Fab Four go through a lot to protect Ringo and stay together: Paul is at one point shrunk to the size of a chewing gum wrapper; the religious cult tries to kill them countless times but never succeeds and John has to fish out a season ticket from some soup he is eating. Ringo and his band mates enjoy a happy ending but I won't write anything specific that could spoil it for you. The picture boasts a bizarre finish that complements the outrageous antics throughout "Help!"
  
  The quality of the sound is excellent and the witty dialogue will amuse you. I especially like the scene in which Ringo must whistle parts of Beethoven's ninth symphony in order to tame a tiger that could kill him so that the members of the religious group could finally obtain the ring.
  
  I highly recommend this DVD for fans of The Beatles. People who enjoy spoofs of famous types of movies including the James Bond genre will love this movie.
  
  
  
• Help me if you can
  By A1RXDSG1KL0XNM on 2007-10-14
  Won't you please, please help me! This is nothing more than an attempt to rape and pillage the die-hard Beatles fans of which I am one. There is so much Beatles-related garbage out there to buy. I know, I have bought more than my share. I love the Fab Four! I was a little kid when Help! came out and I was smitten and have not gotten over them since. This price, even at just under $95 is ridiculously inflated and the distributors ought to be taken out and flogged for their blatant attempt to take advantage of the Beatles fanatics. Why are you repackaging this when there is so much else that hasn't been released? How about Let It Be and the worldwide broadcast of All You Need Is Love? Where are they? Why are you recycling what is already available instead of releasing more? Help me if you can to understand. Help me if you can to justify the cost! Stop playing with our memories for your profit and give us something else, something new.
  
  
• sophmore jinx!
  By on 2002-11-24
  They were musicians not film star! the music is ok but the acting is terrible.
  
  
• Beatles in Color!
  By A12WWQDL323Q0M on 2007-10-25
  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!
  
  
• for Beatle buffs only
  By on 1999-10-06
  Especial fans of the Beatles should find this mildly entertaining or at least tolerable. Non-Beatles fans had better avoid it. The Beatle songs are among their pre-psychedelic best. The design of the Beatles's fictional abode is appealing in its wacky way. The Beethoven's ninth symphony scene is original. Everything else is tired, tedious, and heavy-handed. The big-band-arrangement score is particularly tasteless; George Martin is sorely missed. (Director Richard Lester so harrassed George Martin on the set of "A Hard Day's Night", for the score of which George Martin won an academy award, that George Martin refused to have anything to do with "Help!") About the title song: For the first Beatles movie Richard Lester found the title "A Hard Day's Night" in John Lennon's book, "In His Own Write", and asked Lennon to write a song called "A Hard Day's Night". Paul McCartney was jealous. When he heard the working title of the follow-up Beatles film, "Eight Days a Week", he immediately set to work pre-emptively composing the song "Eight Days a Week". Richard Lester eventually decided to call it "Help!" and again approached Lennon. (Sorry, Paul.)

  Recommended for musicians (a number of which presumably may be interested in this film): "Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz Rock Keyboardist" by Jeff Burns, a method book.
  
  

• pop music is a major musical taste for all reviewers!
  By on 2002-11-13
  Some people claimed that Beatles were not good actors, it is really true! but some die hard beatle fans have their own rights
  & said this is excellent!
  but I love to say that the pop music is a major of musical taste!
  Honestl y I'm not a huge Beatle fan. I am giving this film 2 stars because it is the beatles. Additionally, Beatles gave the strong
  cultural POP influence in the 60's with their musical styles. That's all & PLEASE END OF DISCUSSIONS!

  In fact, I take a look the other better Hard Rock bands than this HELP,......check out the DVD's like Led Zeppelin "THE SONGS
  REMAINS THE SAME 1976 or DEEP PURPLE London Symphony orchestra 1999 or Deep purple at the CALIFORNIA JAM 1974 are excellent DVD's. These legendary bands are also not the good actors in their concert films but musically they
  are also the best one.
  
  

• Can't Wait to Not Buy It
  By AH8SAT8WEOPUH on 2007-09-25
  Once is enough for this film - basically an extended music video with an idiotic plot but fantastic music. Long before the "Magical Mystery Tour" low budget idiocy (but yet again, fantastic music) we had this nonsense. Why is "Let It Be" still not on DVD, yet we get this repackaged yet again? It's your money...spend it wisely.
  
  
• HELP! I CAN'T AVOID BUYING THIS
  By AMWAP277BFGRJ on 2007-11-07
  If you're a Beatles collector, you should buy the deluxe version no question. It's been designed with so much class and attention to detail rarely seen in "Special Editions". It is a bit pricey but so was "Anthology" and we all ran out and paid for the book and the Video's and then the DVD's a couple of years later. The Help! book and Dick Lester's script come wrapped in special Beatles logo paper sealed with a Help! sticker. It was like unwrapping a present. There is also a poster and "mini" lobby cards also included. The 2 disc set includes the movie Letterboxed for the first time. The new sountrack mix is phenominal. If you have 5:1 surround you will be stunned at the beauty of the mixes. It's a sampling of the entire Beatles catalog that will be released in 5:1 hopefully next year. The second disc has some never before seen material as well. The only problem is it's not to convienient to get to the DVD's. The deluxe package is "big" and not easily manupulated. I guess I'll buy the regular set to solve that problem.
  
  
• what th'???!!!??
  By AZJ9R9PC1KX84 on 2007-10-03
  I loved "Pleh" when it first came out and I have it on DVD. I watch it about once a year. This DVD set is a rip-off. You pay BIG BUCKS for some lousy cards and a "script" and a few other worthless trinkets.Whoopee.
  What I want to know is: WHERE IN THE H*** IS THE "OFFICIAL" RE-ISSUE DVD set of "LET IT BE"/"GET BACK"?????!?!!??!!?
  I would think that is of more value than a fancy re-issue of "Help".
  The bootleg market would attest to that!!
  GET IT TOGETHER,EMI/APPLE (or whomever)!!!
  The two stars are for the rip-off nature of the "Help" DVD set,not for the film...the film is a 3.5 for me.
  
  
• why was my review removed ??
  By A3BD4B8HW8RT5H on 2007-09-16
  I wrote that if one can deal with PAL versions of this set , one can seek it at Amazon UK for about $20.00 cheaper. Sorry if that upset the USA Amazon but its true. But don't worry I'm buying the stripped down version as even about $80.00 still seems a slap in the fans face to me and I'm buying it in the good old USA :)
  
  
• Not as much fun as A Hard Day's Night
  By on 1998-12-31
  Help! starts off with great promise and intrigue, but then it starts to get a little boring. For one thing, the people from the religious cult dominate way too much of this movie. The Beatles were almost always on the screen in A Hard Day's Night but there are many scenes, including the very first, where they don't appear. Also, a curious choice for the female lead. Eleanor Bron delivers a nice performance but she looks to be about 15 years older than the Beatles. On the other hand, there are some great scenes - the two intermissions, George fainting upon seeing a hypodermic needle, and the long distance swimmer. There are also some great one liners. And then, of course, there are the great songs. One last thing - listen carefully to the ending credits. At one point, it says something like "Songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, I Need You by George Harrison" As this appears, you can actually hear George saying "I Need You by George Harrison." This also repeats a little later in the closing credits. (I think this is because George's song "Don't Bother Me" is heard in A Hard Day's Night during the nightclub scene but that movie's closing credits only says songs by Lennon and McCartney.)
  
  
• Why HELP! was NOT a dissappointment...
  By A16IYPTT5A5BJB on 2001-03-31
  Some People have put the word around that HELP! was a bad movie, these people have issues with themselves that they need to work out in a more positive manner than to bash an awesome movie. For starters, all of The Beatles movies were made to promote the soundtracks that go along with them so to expect academy awards is obviously out of the question. But maybe that's why HELP! and A HARD DAY'S NIGHT were so popular, they were actually good movies! The humor is a completely new breed compared to American movies at the time and the creativity of the movie amazes me still! For instance, the house that the Beatles live in appears to be four separate houses from the outside because there are four different colored doors for each individual Beatle. But when they get inside it's all one room! John's Bed is a pit in the floor, George's carpet is grass, Paul has an electric organ that rises from beneath the floor and Ringo (Although it was evtually edited out) had a cow in his room so he could get himself a fresh glass of milk whenever he needed one!!! That's not even starting with all the crazy ideas they had for this movie, but I don't want to write out the whole movie for you so just take my word, it's classic!
  
  
• help??
  By on 2002-09-20
  I apologize to the beatles fans, I said no story in this film and the film had no sense at all. The beatles were a good accepted band but they couldn't act in the film.

  They never become a huge film star! the whole story in the film is like a story book children and absolutely childish, though bonus with some nice songs too.... need I say more?
  
  

• I've had this for years
  By A338H90UAXZQAC on 2007-09-12
  I have a copy of "HELP" on DVD already. It came packaged with "A Hard Day's Night" and several other Beatle discs (though not Let It Be/Yellow Submarine). I agree that the aspect ratio is a bit odd. However, the Criterion Laserdisc version should be as close to perfect as it can get. The Criterion LD version of "AHDN" is excellent!
  
  
• Yes, this version of the DVD IS a ripoff
  By AWKL4F38HL83F on 2007-11-02
  I've been reading a lot of reviews about people being "uninformed" about there being another edition of this dvd, and I had to put my two cents in.
  
  I don't think it's the fact that people are "uninformed". I think people are informed quite well. All you have to do is search "Beatles Help" to see both editions (as well as several bootleg editions). The problem is that it seems as if whoever owns the rights to this is trying to milk out Beatles fans for every penny they have, when the packaging simply is not worth it. A decent price would be somewhere between $30-$50. It's very sad that the makers of Beatles products feel like they have to rip off the fans.
  
  As far as people complaining that there isn't more unreleased footage, both dvd editions look pretty much the same as far as content on the discs. So, once again, the price for this shoddy set just isn't worth it.
  
  Since this is technically a "review", I think most people know that this is a great movie... hell, it's The Beatles! If you're even a casual Beatles fan and just own the '1' album, you will love this movie.
  
  FIVE STARS for the movie, NEGATIVE FIVE stars for this outrageously ridiculous package.
  
  
• My favorite Beatle movie
  By AE2RYNOW14OMY on 2007-09-10
  This has ALWAYS been my favorite Beatle movie. Seeing it for the very first time brings back memories I shall cherish forever.
  
  I remember my mom and I at a store one night, there was a drive-in a little ways down from it and it was a school night. While driving to the store I got all excited because I saw that they were showing "HELP!". I just went on and on about how I wanted to see it. I was 11 and it was a school night.
  
  While leaving the store and driving back home I turned myself around and kneeled on the carseat looking out the back window so I could see the screen while we past it, and then I fell over. My mom had turned into the drive-in. I looked at her in amazement and she said "shhh, just don't tell your father"......
  
  I had to sit through Blue Hawaii with Elvis first so by the time "HELP!" started it was pretty late.
  
  It was the first time I had seen The Beatles on a big screen. I didn't like them when they premiered on Ed Sullivan in 64 but between "Yesterday" then seeing them on Ed Sullivan in 65 and now "HELP!" I have been a Beatles fan the rest of my life.
  
  I have listened and had them in my life every single day since then.
  
  I LOVE "HELP!" and could watch it over and over again. I have been waiting so very long for 'Apple' to finally 'refurbish' this great movie.
  
  I had taped it many years later when it came on tv and had an audio-tape and listened to it over and over and actually wrote the script from listening and stopping it so knowing every line, well it's welded into my memory.
  
  I taped it on my Cartrivision in 1973, taped it on Beta, then bought it on Beta, VHS and when the DVD came out the first time in the early 90's.
  
  Maybe NOW "The Fest For Beatles Fans" will finally show this wonderful, funny movie again.......I'll just have to wait to find out.
  
  If your a 'true' Beatles' fan this is a must to have in your collection even if you already own it, if you've never seen it before, buy it you won't regret it. And if you aren't a Beatles fan buy it and bring back the 60's and your youth, you'll be happy you did.
  
  mcrtnyfan.com
  
  

• A Hard Day's Night
• The McCartney Years
• Magical Mystery Tour
• Yellow Submarine
• Photograph: Very Best of Ringo Starr (CD/DVD)