Help![Blu-ray]

...Has ALWAYS been one of my favorite Beatles movie! It's completely insane, full of good, improvisational-style comedy of the Monty Python type, (in fact, I can almost guarantee you that this film and "Hard Day's Night" inspired the Pythons directly, as well as the godforesaken Monkees!) and excellent tunes by JPG&R! Just about everybody from this film went on to very respectable acting careers in film and theatre, especially Leo McKern and Eleanor Bron. Roy Kinnear became Richard Lester's signature supernumerary. And I'm still amazed at Victor Spinetti's strong resemblance to Donald Nixon.A completely zany flick, this film follows the boys as they establish themselves in a new set of linked cottages in a spiffy clean, quaint working class part of, (presumably,) London, with the sight gags starting immediately as an enormous organ pops up out the floor of Paul's section of the cottages; John selects and kisses a copy of his own "Spaniard In The Works"; George instructs a bumpkin to mow his rug with snapping gag dentures and Ringo selects fruit and soda from his own row of vending machines!Enter the villains. In the opening teaser, it is established that a cult that is into human sacrifice has noted that Ringo has possession of a gaudy ring that they have lost that is crucial to their ritual sacrifice. They immediately go to London to re-obtain this ring so they can conduct business as usual and it is up to Eleanor Bron, as the very pretty Ahme, to get the ring from the hapless drummer.Craziness ensues as they chase the fabs from locale to locale to get the ring, first to the recording studio, then an Eastern restaurant in London, then the alps, then to London again and Scotland Yard and then to the Bahamas. About half the movie takes place in the Bahamas where we see the bulk of the music performed in the movie as well, and what we hear is among the Beatles best pre-psychedelic work...in fact, this is the beginning of the Beatles experimenting musically beyond the simple post doo-wop stuff they had BEEN doing up till that point. The very folk-rocky "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" is performed after Ahme comes over to their side and it is perhaps the most moving pre-Rubber Soul/Revolver tune of theirs.The first time I viewed a copy of this movie on VHS, the spoken dialogue in the flick was kind of raspy, but the songs were crystal clear with excellent stereo separation and cleaning up. I have yet to hear an up-to-date copy, and it may be awhile before I do, since MPI has stopped issuing the danged thing! Come ON, people...EMI, Apple...SOMEBODY, get this puppy back on the market!Anyway....George and Paul are the ones who shine the most musically in the film and on the accompanying album, with John singing the incredible "Hide Your Love Away", the boring and overplayed "Ticket To Ride" amd "You're Gonna Lose That Girl". It seems that John, except for "Away" is still somewhat rooted in the earlier days yet with his tunes here, while Paul and George are exploring the fringes of country/folk rock with "I Need You", "Another Girl" and "The Night Before". The film/album is also the first appearance of the sitar in anything by the Beatles, showing up in incidental music in the film.The boys easily out-zany the Marx Brothers in this film, carrying themselves like a clever bunch of high school/college cutups with their own little in-jokes and routines for us to giggle at. Richard Lester became known for directing this sort of zany, farcical stuff, with only occasional forays into regular dramatic moviemaking. Unfortunately, since 1975, he has become very much the ordinary director, after creating masterpieces like "The Three and Four Musketeers", "Robin & Marian", "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" and others...This is the Beatles at their all-stops-pulled cleverest, musically, theatrically and otherwise. Their charisma was immediate, and I guarantee you, you will become a fan by the time this movie is over.TOTALLY nuts!

This DVD titled "Help" is an entertaining musical and fascinating Fab 4 romp, directed by Richard Lester. A Beatles classic!

Received item in good working condition.

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