Beatles "Help" on DVD October 29 (Out Now!)

[EMB]

If you were worried about these songs just being processed through a matrix decoder of some sort, fear not. These are real multitrack derived mixes.

I've spent the last few hours with HELP!...listening to the DTS 5.1 in various ways(full 5.1,then just L/R front, then rears)...and must say that the work put into this MC soundtrack is very clever and creative, with a lot of other music(Ken Thorne's score) in stereo and while this doesn't redeem the film, does enhance it, made it enjoyable again(while the songs were there, anyway).

In the end, it comes down to the 5.1 mixes of the songs; and these, while limited, are great fun to hear, and make you wish more were to come.

ED

 

[timbre4]

Oh yeah... and your only choices for the movie are DTS 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. No Dolby!!!

Isn't DD mandatory to spec? Who cares....

Based on Jon's reports we will go out in a buying frenzy; this is great news that the 5.1 concept is taken seriously over there.

Maybe an audio overhaul for Hard Day's Night is on the horizon...

 

[Bob Romano]

I believe that the standard is either LPCM or Dolby as the first stream. Then DTS can be the second stream.

 

[atrocity]

BTW - the video, although cropped a bit to make it 16:9, looks great!

The cropping is perfectly normal for a non-'scope, non-70mm film of that vintage. It's not exactly efficient, but just about any "flat" film shot after 1953 is designed to be shown with the top and bottom of the frame matted off. Compositional issues aside, sometimes things intrude into the 4:3 frame on the negative that you're not supposed to see, most commonly microphones.

I just popped "Help" into the computer for a quick check...it's matted to 1.66:1, so the image fills the 16:9 frame top-to-bottom but is black at the sides. Most TV sets overscan so much that few will ever know the sides are black.

 

[Dylan Berichon]

Having had my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday morning, I'm glad I finally got a copy of this to keep me occupied.

The movie looks fantastic. The best I've ever seen it.

I can't wait to get it home to check out the surround mix. (I'm at the folk's place for the weekend, and they don't have a surround set up.)

 

[ChristopherLees]

The picture and audio is superb !!...
...I get just a little black (very little.. most people wouldn't notice it) on the sides of my plasma, in the PAL version, but any a touch of oversan will probably never show it..
The audio is amazing not only for the beatles 5.1 sound but also for the rest of the sound. voices, sound effects..it's so clear !!
10/10..all other previous versions are now bin material.

:51banana:

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Great video and audio for DVD-V. The black bars on the side are just the difference between 1.66:1 aspect ratio and my screen's 1.77:1 aspect ratio and are very noticeable but as it should be. It would be even better in HD with lossless audio, but I won't complain, this is absolutely a bull's-eye.

The movie itself is another matter and a big step backwards from "A Hard Day's Night" in my opinion.

Chris

 

[JonUrban]

The movie itself is another matter and a big step backwards from "A Hard Day's Night" in my opinion.

Chris

All I could think of when I was watching this for the first time in a long time was how much it looked like an episode of "The Monkees". DAMN! Those Monkees writers/producers ripped off this movie 100%.

Because they did, it was almost shocking to see the Beatles doing "Monkee" things in this film!! @:@:@:

(Of course, it was two years earlier thankfully)

 

[Chris Gerhard]

All I could think of when I was watching this for the first time in a long time was how much it looked like an episode of "The Monkees". DAMN! Those Monkees writers/producers ripped off this movie 100%.

Because they did, it was almost shocking to see the Beatles doing "Monkee" things in this film!! @:@:@:

(Of course, it was two years earlier thankfully)

Ya, sort of a Monkees type of James Bond spoof. I think I would have liked the film itself better in the 60's if I had seen it then. Still the music is terrific and everything else first rate for a DVD. I didn't dislike the film really, just didn't like it nearly as well as "A Hard Day's Night".

Chris

 

[JonUrban]

I remember seeing it in the theater when it came out. It was just a thrill for us kids to actually SEE the Beatles. It did not matter so much that the plot was kind of hokey.

AHDN is, of course, far superior in all respects, except the DVD release of course. Help! with its REAL 5.1 soundtrack is the winner there.

 

[Dylan Berichon]

You know what's funny, I actually think Help is the better movie between the 2. I thought that the first time I saw the movie as a little kid and still think so today.

Help is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. A Hard Days Night was a very good flick too, it just never made me laugh out loud as much as Help did.

That said, I do enjoy "A Hard Day's Night" a lot more now at 22 then I did when I was a kid.

 

[John Svensson]

Where are you finding these Best Buys? I need to lay my grubbies on this but when I went into my local BB on Saturday the price was $29.99 for what I thought was the "normal" 2 disc set..of course they had the de luxe package for something like $115. Am I chasing a different edition of this or do I just need to hit more outlets? This BB just opened about a month ago so maybe they trying to get their investment back quickly?? (Never at that price differential ) John

 

[bugdaddy]

Where are you finding these Best Buys? I need to lay my grubbies on this but when I went into my local BB on Saturday the price was $29.99 for what I thought was the "normal" 2 disc set..of course they had the de luxe package for something like $115. Am I chasing a different edition of this or do I just need to hit more outlets? This BB just opened about a month ago so maybe they trying to get their investment back quickly?? (Never at that price differential ) John

My experience is that Best Buy tends to have major new releases on sale the first week they come out, before jacking up to list price. You may want to try deepdiscount.com. i see they have it for $17.88 with free shipping. i've had no problems with them.

 

[Dylan Berichon]

Amazon also has it for under $20

 

[EMB]

Yeah, the major outlets like BB, CC, even Borders will often discount the first week to lure consumers...and then put it back to normal(that is, unreasonable)list price for the duration.

ED

 

[jrahrah]

Does anybody else have a problem with the DVD? I detect an error at the scene where John skis into the train ticket window. Lennon says London and then there is a pause (like when the DVD shifts layers) and a brief second of the Scotland Yard inspector, then the title screen that says Scotland Yard and then back to the inspector again and the movie continues.

 

[ChristopherLees]

You know what's funny, I actually think Help is the better movie between the 2. I thought that the first time I saw the movie as a little kid and still think so today.

Help is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. A Hard Days Night was a very good flick too, it just never made me laugh out loud as much as Help did.

That said, I do enjoy "A Hard Day's Night" a lot more now at 22 then I did when I was a kid.

Yes I tend to agree with you that Help is a better movie for children, I loved it as a 6 year old ,but later in life I found it a bit of a drag after 40 minutes.By the time they get to play "Another Girl" I'm virtually asleep....and the ending on the beach is rather juvenile..

but that has nothing to do why I own a copy of it....after all there are many movies that I find hard to watch more than once..

 

[alk3997]

It is an impressive restoration. I knew I'd like the 5.1-channel audio mix but I didn't realize how much an improvement the picture was over the previous releases. Unlike A Hard Day's Night at least there is one definative Help! release now.

Speaking of which, I believe the current audio status of the movies are:

AHDN - no true multichannel audio released yet (last release had a 5.1-channel phase-shifted mess). Some hints of what AHDN could sound like in true 5.1 on the Anthology DVDs.

Help! - True 5.1-channel released (5.1-channel DTS)

MMT - The digital track on the LaserDisc sounded better than the last DVD. Really poor mix on both LD and DVD (audio panned hard left/right)

Yellow Sub - True 5.1-channel released with music only track included (5.1-channel Dolby Digital with some noticible encoding artifacts)

Let It Be - Yeah, right. Some hints of what LIB could sound like in the Anthology DVDs.


The easiest thing would probably be to re-release Yellow Sub with a DTS track but I don't know the contract situation between MGM and Apple.

Andy

 

[sspsandy]

I think some of the aspects of the Help script are timeless. The mad scientist:
"MIT wanted me, wanted me to rule the world for them." After the gun he's pointing at the Beatles fails: "British you see, useless. If I had a Luger, eh. Think of it, scientists properly equipped. The answer's with you, the voters."

The Scotland Yard inspecter is priceless too. In Buckingham Palace after George fans the cards: "What was that? It's haunted you know, this wing of the palace is haunted." And then George says: "What's that whirly thing comin' out of his stomach?" the inspector panics, covers his eyes "I daren't look."

The film is full of humorous lines and sight gags, it's a different deal from Hard Days Night, but classic Richard Lester comedy, silly, over the top, funny as hell.

In the restaurant, they order soup. The High Priest sharpening a big knive, glaring at them, "Soup, yes." continues sharpening the knife. John eating soup: "What are these, spectacles?" The easterner: "That's right sir, they're spectacles." John: "I think someone's been in this soup, what's this?" holding up a ticket. Ringo: "It's a season ticket." John: "I like a bit of seasoning in my soup." puts it back in.

I also love all the weird cars that get used thoughout the film. And the song clips are really some of the very first realized music videos, especially Ticket to Ride.

 

[timbre4]

What an absolute JOY to see and hear! Just got around to (upside of being ill) watching both discs of the HELP DVD release and stunned how great it is. Sometimes films just look wrong when upconverted by the Denon DV1930Ci, but this looks so absolutely right! A 1965 film to show off a 2007 LCD, that's a miracle. It's optimized to 16:9 and I applaud everyone involved with this restoration. Looking forward to watching it again very soon. My son asked to borrow as soon as I was done.