Help! is 43 years old and, truth be told, the old girl hasn’t aged particularly well. Some of those gags that seemed so witty back in the sixties are wearing a bit thin and at times, the dialogue is positively cringe-inducing.
That being said, this movie was ahead of its time in 1965, with several Pythonesque moments (just take a look at the brief ‘Interlude’ sequence, which pre-dates Messrs. Palin, Cleese, et al by three years). The music is of course as fresh now as it was then, with the title track, ‘Ticket To Ride’ and ‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away’ being the stand-outs.
The movie has been painstakingly restored and the results are simply fab, gear and groovy. The 12 minute sequence documenting the restoration process is probably the most interesting item on the ‘bonus’ disc. The restoration team are all self-confessed Mop Top fans and they discuss their role in almost reverential terms. You can rest assured that this film has been handled with loving care, every step of the way.
There is also a 30 minute documentary; ‘The Beatles in Help!’ which includes some fascinating insights into the making of the film, mainly from director, Richard Lester, together with a number of other reminiscences and some excellent ‘behind the scenes’ footage.
Disc 2 also contains a nice surprise (to all but Beatle diehards) - a four minute item on a ‘missing scene’. Unfortunately, this contains no footage whatsoever and we have to make do with recollections of how The Beatles, Wendy Richards and Frankie Howerd failed to come together.
Overall? An excellent, reasonably-priced package, but it is likely to appeal to existing fans only. One final thought: If this zany, mad-cap adventure had never been made, we might have been spared the ‘Monkees phenomenon’!
