Help!

The Beatles’ second film is not the masterpiece of their first, “A Hard Day’s Night,” but it is colorful, funny, and exciting.  And it also has a fabulous soundtrack including the title song and “You’re Going To Lose That Girl,” “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” “Ticket To Ride,” “I Need You,” “The Night Before,” and “Another Girl.”

It’s a spy spoof about a Beatles fan who sends a ruby ring that is used in a religious ritual to Ringo.  The ring is used in a ritual sacrifice.  Since it is stuck on Ringo’s finger, the cult members decide he must be sacrificed.  So, there is a lot of silly racing around and a scene where Paul gets shrunk.  And a lot of great music.

Extras on the first-ever Blu-Ray release this week include:

(1.) ‘The Beatles in Help!’ a 30-minute documentary about the making of the film with Richard Lester, the cast and crew, including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of The Beatles on-set.

(2.) ‘A Missing Scene’ a film outtake, featuring Wendy Richard.

(3.) ‘The Restoration of Help!’ an in-depth look at the restoration process.

(4.) ‘Memories of Help!’ the cast and crew reminisce.

(5.) 1965 Theatrical Trailers two original U.S. trailers and one original Spanish trailer. (6.) 1965 U.S. Radio Spots (hidden in disc menus)