With the news that Paul McCartney hopes to release a lost Beatles track called “Carnival of Light” and a nearly 8-hour trip to Orlando on the horizon (don’t ask), last week seemed like a good time to dig out an old uncracked chestnut from the Fab Four’s cinematic career: Help. C’mon, you know that only acid-era Beatles can match the trippy stylings of Mr. Walter Elias Disney! Plus the TVs were out in my row on JetBlue!
I’ve seen A Hard Day’s Night a few times and love its irreverent sense of humor and goofy directing, so it was hard to avoid using it as a measuring stick for Help. Of course, I knew from the first Technicolor scene that I was in for something completely different from the grainy black-and-white of A Hard Day’s Night. (Other factors compounded my confusion: Help features a cold open, and the Beatles don’t actually appear on screen until a few minutes into the film. I actually had to check the DVD to make sure I had grabbed the right movie!)
A Hard Day’s Night was basically a film about the Beatles on tour, so the first thing Help adds to that minimal equation is a plot, albeit a rather ridiculous one. In what I assure you is a fully fair summary, basically Ringo has a giant ruby ring that some vaguely Eastern cult requires to perform its ritualistic sacrifices, and they’ll stop at nothing–nothing–to get it! This structure has two distinct advantages for director Richard Lester, who was kind enough to join the boys for a second foray into film.
- As the leader of the cult musters his goons for yet another far-fetched attempt for Ringo’s ring, Lester has reason to keep the rather heavily self-medicated band out of frame for as long as humanly possible.
- It creates an excuse for the band to be on the run, which basically means that John, Paul, George, and Ringo got to film the whole damn movie while on vacation. Brilliant!
Except it’s kind of not that brilliant. If it weren’t for the musical interludes this movie would be damn-near unwatchable. It might hold my attention if I were on the same stuff as John was at the time, but alas, JetBlue could only provide a gratis G&T in lieu of their usual in-flight entertainment.
Looks like I won’t be attempting Magical Mystery Tour any time soon, but you can find Help and some other Beatles classics up on Google Video. Hurry–their lawyers will be on it in no time!
