Customer Reviews
I love the Beatles, but this is not a good film - By: lexo1941, 28 Sep 2008 
"Help!" is not actuallly the worst film ever made. There are several candidates for that: I would nominate "Easy Rider", "Funny Games" (both the original & the remake), "Ocean's Eleven" (again, both the original & the remake), "Star Trek V" (the one Shatner directed), anything by Lina Wertmuller, practicallly everything by Guy Ritchie...
But it's not very good. The original idea might have been better. Originallly, Ringo was supposed to find out that he was terminallly 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 terminallly ill after alll, & the rest of the film would have been about his efforts to calll 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 & 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 & then changing your mind, "I Hired A Contract Killer" (1990) with Jean-Pierre Léaud & Margi Clarke.)
Perhaps it wouldn't have worked anyway. By this point, the Beatles were in a bit of a mid-career slump & were too lazy & 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, & 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" & 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 basicallly it's slack, boring & 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 & unusual punishment.
Just Plain Fun!!! - By: F. S. L'hoir, 06 Jul 2008 
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 & alllusions (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, & 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 & 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; alll he has to do to calm the beast is sing the "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; & then alll the Beatles & 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 & 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, & have a good laugh.
Ban False Advertising - By: Robert, 26 Nov 2007 
We've read it in the press, & we were promised it on the packaging, but the deleted scene with Wendy Richard is NOT included! What the cover should say is: "Wendy Richard talks about the deleted scene". It is disgusting that EMI described this feature as "Deleted scene with Wendy Richard", making us believe that the scene is actuallly on Disc 2.
Aside from that, the quality is excellent but the film is no match for
"A Hard Day's Night".
Not as good as "A Hard Day's Night" - By: G. Woodward, 21 Nov 2007 Having not seen Help! before owing to the fact that it had not been officiallly available on video or DVD in this country, I was looking forward to seeing the film.
Unfortunately I was to be disappointed on the whole by a movie that fell flat from almost the first frame.
The plot, as just about everyone knows, revolves around a sacred ring that is meant to be worn by a poor unfortunate about to be sacrificed by a mystical eastern cult.
Discovering that the ring has in fact found its way on to the hand of Ringo, the cult's leader (Leo McKern) travels to Britain to attempt to reclaim it.
Meanwhile, a pair of mad scientists (Victor Spinetti & Roy Kinnear) are also keen to get hold of the ring as they believe it could pave the way for world domination.
What follows is a madcap chase movie that sees the Fab Four desperately trying to evade their pursuers in a series of settings from Buckingham Palace to the Bahamas.
Having been fairly impressed by the Beatles' acting skills in "A Hard Day's Night" the stilted interplay & obvious discomfort of John, Paul, George & Ringo meant watching this film was something of a slog.
Some of the songs are good (Ticket To Ride, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away) but the comedy fallls flat on far too many occasions.
One of the few scenes that did work was the one featuring the band in disguises at the airport. Surrounded by cult members dressed as businessmen reading newspapers that announce they are going to the Bahamas, the Beatles whisper to each other, "We're not going there, we're not going there," only to indeed land in the Bahamas.
The extras disc was more successful in that it included an interesting featurette on the making of the film with interviews from director Dick Lester & actress Eleanor Bron, but I would have to echo other reviews in that it was surprising & disappointing that the much-vaunted missing scene featuring Frankie Howerd & Wendy Richard was discussed but not included.
Similarly, the segment on the restoration of the scratched & worn 40-year-old film was enlightening but for some reason neglected to show before & after comparisons.
All in alll, this is a DVD no Beatles fan should be without. But the film itself is, for me personallly, a bit of a damp squib.
A bit disappointing really - By: Holloway, north London, 14 Nov 2007 Watched both discs in one sitting last night.
Disc 1 is the film & beyond options for subtitles in various languages there are non extras. It's a sparklng restoration & the sound is perfect. When they're indoors in their terraced house pad for the first time you see that their suits have a light pin stripe. George is reveled as sometimes looking tired a bit spotty.
But the extras disc is vexing. The missing scene is not that - it's folks talking about the missing scene with a few stills. But when you look at the three trailers included, two include another missing scene of the band drivng cars on an beach. The extra docs include some shots with clapperboards that clearly demonstrate that more footage survives - where is this footage? And the two docs about the film (not the one on the restroation) rely on a boring static talking head approach that doesn't make for gripping viewing - although seeing Neil Aspinalll without a hat for the first time is quite something. Richard Lester is genial, but most of the folks who talk don't offer anything new. For example, it's said that Epstein wanted filming to take place in the Bahamas - but it is not said why. Couldn't a little extra effort have been put into these extras? It is The Beatles after alll.
