Across the Universe Filmography

Help! Help! Help! DVD

Help is the Beatles' follow-up to their infectious, exuberant A Hard Day's Night. Unlike the basic black-and-white perfection of their first film (it simply followed the Beatles on a day in the life), Help presents the Beatles in color nearly engulfed in a tidal wave of Monty Python-esque absurdity, featuring a bunch of not-so-sly nods to the James Bond movies. Directed by Richard Lester (who also directed A Hard Day's Night), Help finds the Beatles in a terrain-crossing pastiche, a travelogue, a fashion show. They pretty much become scribbles at the edges while a bunch of hams steal the film's vital center, playing buffoonish Middle Eastern types who chase Ringo Starr around the world in order to retrieve the big red ruby ring he's wearing.
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And yet with all the dumb show surrounding them, the Beatles survive. Their energy remains contagious. When they mutter to each other in Liverpudlian accents, it's like hearing a set of quadruplets speaking a private language. Even after all these years, there's a sense of privilege attached to watching them interact. And of course, there's the music.
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Director Lester chooses a more sedate style for the musical scenes this time. (In fact, the entire movie is both more sedate and sillier than the first.) Still, his subtler, shift-focus methods serve the performances well. Included are songs: "You're Gonna Lose That Girl," "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," and the title tune.
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Of the four Beatles, John Lennon really stands out. Not only does the soundtrack represent John's single best batch of songs (except, perhaps, for those on his first solo album, Plastic Ono Band), he seems to have grown more comfortable clowning before the camera. If you keep your eye on him, he seems to be in his own movie -- a better, sharper, more subversive movie.
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Help is best watched piecemeal. All at once, it tends to grow tiresome. One sequence has little to do with another, and the quality is very erratic. It's surprising that Richard Lester -- who did everything right in the first film, whose wild style broke new ground in British cinema, and whose manic camerawork set the tone for most MTV videos to come -- should go so wrong the second time around.
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The Help DVD contains all kinds of extras. There's the original trailer, newsreel footage, silent footage from the set -- scraps essentially, but striking to the Beatles aficionado. The disc also includes still photos, posters, a Beatles radio interview, and the original radio ads. ("A Beatle-eyed view of this much too serious world" is promised.) Best of all, there's a short black-and-white interview with Richard Lester in which he's called one of the four most influential filmmakers working at the time. (A fair case could be made.) And, hidden in Lester's biography, there's his first movie -- The Running, Jumping, Standing Still Film -- which got him the job of directing A Hard Day's Night. -- Larry Frascella
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In their second feature with director Richard Lester, who oversaw the massive hit A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles again aim for a mix of goofy comedy and sterling pop music. There is slightly more of a plot this time, though it is a patently ridiculous one: a sacred ruby ring comes into Ringo's possession, attracting the unwelcome attention of an exotic religious cult and forcing the boys to go on the run. This chase narrative is thankfully never taken too seriously, serving mainly as an excuse for colorful excursions to international locations from Europe to the Bahamas. The musical numbers include such classic tunes as "Ticket to Ride," "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," and, of course, "Help!". ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
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Basic Info

Premiere: July 29, 1965
Running Time: 92 minutes
Distributor: United Artists
Produced by: Walter Shenson Films/Subafilms
Filming Locations: Austria; Bahamas; Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, UK
Exact Shooting Days: February 1965: 23-28; March: 1-9, 14-20, 24-26, 29-31; April: 1-2, 5-9, 12-14, 20-24, 27-30; May: 3-5, 7, 9-11, 18.
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Cast

John Lennon - John
Paul McCartney - Paul
George Harrison - George
Ringo Starr - Ringo
Leo McKern - Clang
Eleanor Bron - Ahme
Victor Spinetti - Professor Foot
Roy Kinnear - Algernon
John Bluthal - Bhuta
Patrick Cargill - Superintendent
Alfie Bass - Doorman
Warren Mitchell - Abdul
Peter Copley - Jeweler
Bruce Lacey - Lawnmower

(not listed in official credits)
Mal Evans - Channel Swimmer
David Mikkelson - Curling Referee
Dandyl Nicholas the Neighbor
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Crew

Director - Richard Lester
Writers - Marc BehmCharles Wood (II)
Cinematography - David Watkins
Music by - George Harrison, John Lennon, George Martin, (I)Paul McCartney, Monty Thorman, Gioacchino Rossini, Ringo Starr, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Richard Wagner
Costume Design - Dinah Greet, Julie Harris, (II)Arthur Newman, John Victor-Smith, Walter Shenson, Ray Simm
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Notes on Help!

To clear up the people listed in the "Music by" section of the crew: Monty Thorman is the author of the "James Bond Theme," Giocchino Rossini came from the "Barber of Seville," and Ludwig Van Beethoven composed the "9th Symphony," all featured in the film.
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Songs Featured

"Help!"
"You're Going To Lose That Girl"
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"
"Ticket To Ride"
"I Need You"
"The Night Before"
"Another Girl"
"Help!"
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Home Video

MPI Home Video 1342 (VHS, Beta)
Criterion 2004L (Laser Disc)
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Laser Disc

Laser Disc Number: 5783
Label: Pioneer
Catalogue Number: PLFEB 34301
Length: 101
Release Date: April 1996
Availability Status: Available
Official Retail Price: £ 24.99
Video Standard: PAL
Color Information: Color
Sound Encoding: Digital
Digital Sound: Stereo
Master Format: Film
Pressing Plant: Pioneer Japan
Disc Size: 12
Number of Sides: 2
Disc Format: CLV
Picture Format: Academy}
Ratio Aspect Ratio: 1.33 : 1
Number of Chapter Stops: 19

Additional Information: Special 30th Anniversary Edition.
Supplements: Trailer, 8 Minutes of rare bonus footage.
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Laser Disc Number: 5309
Label: MPI Home Video
Catalogue Number: CLV 1342
Length: 92
Release Date: November 1995
Availability Status: Available
Official Retail Price: $29.95
Video Standard: NTSC
Color Information: Color
Sound Encoding: Digital/Analog-CX
Digital Sound: Stereo Analog
Left: Stereo Master
Format: Film
Pressing Plant: Technidisc
Disc Size: 12
Number of Sides: 2
Disc Format: CLV
Picture Format: Academy
Ratio Aspect Ratio: 1.33 : 1
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Laser Disc Number: 199
Label: Criterion
Catalogue Number: CC 2003L
Length: 92
Availability Status: Available
Official Retail Price: $ 79.95
Video Standard: NTSC
Color Information: Color
Sound Encoding: Digital/Analog-CX
Digital Sound: Stereo Analog
Left: Stereo Master
Format: Film
Disc Size: 12
Number of Sides: 4
Disc Format: CAV
Picture Format: Academy
Ratio Aspect Ratio: 1.33 : 1
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Laser Disc Number: 198
Label: Criterion
Catalogue Number: CC 2004L
Length: 92
Availability Status: Available
Official Retail Price: $ 39.95
Video Standard: NTSC
Color Information: Color
Sound Encoding: Digital/Analog-CX
Digital Sound: Stereo Analog
Left: Stereo Master
Format: Film
Disc Size: 12
Number of Sides: 2
Disc Format: CLV
Picture Format: Academy
Ratio Aspect Ratio: 1.33 : 1
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UK Poster

This is an original 1965 U.K. movie poster for the release of the Beatles first color film HELP! This poster measures 39 1/2 x 27 1/2. Printed on heavy poster stock and came folded. Different than the U.S. verticle version, this one is horizontal. The reprints are 38 x 26, come rolled and are Quad.
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Additional Reading about "A Hard Days Night" & "HELP!"

A Hard Day's Night (1964) was the Beatles' first, feature-length motion picture. Directed by American Richard Lester, it takes an imaginative look at a-day-in-the-life of the Fab Four. The madcap result is a visual delight, with many Beatles songs on the soundtrack, including "And I Love Her", "Can't Buy Me Love", "I Should Have Known Better" and the title track. The score was written expressly for the film.
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HELP! (1965), The Beatles' second film, is a wild and funny picture about a religious sect who attempts to recover a sacrificial ring from Ringo, forcing The Beatles to travel the globe. This movie, again directed by Richard Lester, includes the popular songs 'Ticket to Ride," 'Another Girl' and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away."
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The two films were restored by Paul Rutan Jr. and 4-Media Company Film Laboratory, who worked closely with the films' producer, Walter Shenson, for nearly four years on the restoration process.
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Until now, the only prints that existed on A Hard Day's Night were release prints manufactured (from a duplicate negative) in 1964 and, a few prints left over from a reissue in 1986. Rutan found these prints to be of poor quality and unsuitable to fill the requirements demanded by discerning viewers today. In order to produce top quality theatrical or broadcast elements, the original negative had to be secured. Eight of the ten reels were discovered in a vault in South Central L.A.
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An exhaustive search in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and London turned up only bits and pieces of the missing negative, leaving Rutan to believe it had been cannibalized and discarded. Also, to make matters worse, severe damage was discovered in several areas of the existing negative. Therefore, Rutan and his crew faced the daunting tasks of replacing the missing and damaged original negatives. Using a fine grain duplicating master from 1964, they applied various photographic processes to create a new restored duplicate negative that was very close to the original. Then they set out to repair the rest of the original negative, replacing the torn footage, fixing each splice and cleaning each frame with a scribe and solvent to remove ground in-dirt. The original negative was fully corrected for density and contrast, then a new print and a finegrain master were struck.
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The restoration of HELP! was even more difficult. Again Rutan sought out the original negative. It was discovered in a vault in Los Angeles, greatly damaged and poorly repaired. For example, a section of negative in the "Bahamas sequence" had a seven-foot tear, plastered back together with scotch tape. Therefore, a suitable alternative element had to be located to replace the torn and damaged areas. No separation masters had ever been manufactured, and an interpositive struck in 1965 could not be located. An old duplicate negative (with German titles) was located in a vault in Pittsburgh, it was damaged and worn but the areas needed to replace the original was serviceable. Through photographic processes once again, a duplicate negative was created that closely resembled the original negative. The various tears and damage were replaced with restored footage.
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Each frame on the original negative was then cleaned to remove dirt. The negative was fully color corrected and new prints and an interpositive were struck.
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The restored negatives are now safely in deep-freeze storage at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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A Hard Day's Night | Help! | Let It Be | Magical Mystery Tour | Yellow Submarine