 List Price: $19.98
Lowest Price: $4.94 
Amazon.com: After the worldwide 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 semispoof of the globe-trotting James Bond pictures, Help! has always been considered a somewhat disorganized 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 the 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 Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-23
Worth the money
I would recommend this to those who only have the video tape. Unlike what MIRAMAX (I call them MIRALAX) did to '(A)Hard Day's Night' DVD, these people did a wonderful job of restoring this classic - especially the video portion - bringing out things never before seen (as clearly, anyway), such as the card-playing scene where Paul is bouncing the ball against the wall - his image is very clear in the newly-restored video. As far as the sound...they offer PCM stereo and 5.1 DTS - I wish they would have offered 5.1 surround (as they did on the 'LOVE' dvd/cd) for people like me who don't have DTS, but I consider this a minor flaw. This is definitely a 'must have'. Rating:
Date: 2008-03-25
Great product
Marvelous package, brings back memories of my younger days. Fantastic how they provided additional insight into the making of the film, along with the reproduction script. Great item for Beatles collectors. The seller was fast in delivery, and reasonably priced compared to retail outlets. Rating:
Date: 2008-03-21
Perfect!
I've just receveid my box. The film is what is expected (are you a fan or not). What counts, however, are the gifts that accompany the film: the poster, cards, the extras on DVD, the script, the book of photos ... An item of collector. Rating: 
Date: 2008-02-17
Problems with second dvd
I have had the special dvd set for two months and just now watched it. I put in disc two, which is labeled disc two and got the movie all over again with the chapter selection menu not working properly. Has anyone else had similar problems? Rating: 
Date: 2008-02-05
Beatles - 'Help!' (MPI Home Video) Running Time: 91 minutes
Review no. 288. What was this, their second feature film? Classic 1965 Beatles flick, with actually a decent plot to it. Personally, I liked this movie better than 'A Hard Day's Night'. Don't ask me why. Don't believe I've watched this film since I was a kid. Movie centers around some weirdo religious cult and their 'great Swami' leader attempting at ALL costs to snatch a sacrificial ring from Ringo. They try by hiding in a mailbox, a sandwich machine, etc. Several semi-side splitting scenes through the picture. Songs that were bringing back some precious memories were "You're Going To Lose That Girl", "Ticket To Ride", "The Night Before" (one of my personal favorites), "I Need You" and "She's A Woman". Heard from a friend of mine and I totally agree that one cool factor about this movie was the way the Fab Four's house appeared to be of average size on the outside but when you step inside, the place is huge. Sort of cartoon-like. Liked the way John (was it?) had his bed in a lowered portion of the guy's pad. A forty year-plus film that hasn't lost much at all through the years. Fun to watch. |
