HELP

UK, 1965, 90 minutes, Colour.
John Lennon, Paul Mc Cartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Leo Mc Kern, Victor Spinetti, Warren Mitchell, Eleanor Bron, Patrick Cargill, Alfie Bass, John Bluthal.
Directed by Richard Lester.

A Hard Day’s Night and Help were two very interesting films of the sixties that were designed as promotion and publicity for the Beatles. Director Richard Lester who had come from television commercials and had made a number of popular films like The Mouse on the Moon. Lester was to go on to make such films as How I Won the War, The Bed-sitting Room, Petulia. After some years he returned with Juggernaut, the two Musketeers films, Royal Flash and The Ritz.

A lot of the techniques of television commercials were used in the two films, full of speed, action, zany editing and brisk and effective comedy routines. Wilfrid Brambell joins the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night and it is a showcase for their songs and the image that they projected.

Help is a fiction, playing parody with some of the spy films of the sixties. The colour and decor are very striking in Help. They are interesting examples of successful commercial film-making.


1. Was this an enjoyable comedy? The ingredients of comedy which were successful? The style of the film - The presentation and impact of the Beatles?

2. Audience response to the Beatles in this film? The cult, the personalities, the style? How developed were they as characters, or just innocent figures of fun?

3. The significance and tone of the title, its use during the film? The credits song? The visualising of the song and its themes?

4. The necessity of the colour, the costumes, the sets? How different is the film in black and white from colour?

5. Comment on the detail of the editing: the swift cuts. the elaborate mixing of shots. the unexpected editing? Its use for variety in the songs?

6. The humour in the narrative? The shifting of scene? The various points being made humorously?

7. How enjoyable was the nonsense atmosphere? The fantasy? The goon and unexpected humour?

8. What did the songs contribute to the film? The Beatle's singing and their style? Their humour within the plot of the film? The visual fantasy and style of their presentation?

9. How did the film employ fairytale ingredients and make them up to date? Audience response to quests. Chases, heroes and villains, mysterious ladies, satirical villains?

10. How well were any of the characters developed? did it matter if they were not? The conventions from film thrillers? the sacrifice? The chases?

11. How humorous and attractive was Ahme? The credibility of her final betrayal?

12. The humour in Foot, Clang and Algernon and the satire on science?

13. The satire on the superintendent and British police?

14. How well did the film sell the Beatles? Its role for the Beatles in the mid-sixties? Seen now in perspective as a humorous delight?