'Hard Day's Night, A' & 'Help!'
by Robert A. George

Beatles fans are in for a treat with the release of DVD editions of Help! and A Hard Day's Night from MPI Home Video. Help! was a title I was very much looking forward to as this is a film that holds some very fond memories for me. My expectations were somewhat low, I admit, since MPI is not exactly a major studio. To my very pleasant suprise, both Help! and A Hard Day's Night are not just good, but great!

The transfers for both films were taken from recently restored prints. These are the first video releases, outside of a broadcast on American Movie Classics, of these restored prints. The black and white photography of A Hard Day's Night is very crisp with excellent contrast, but the real revelation is the gorgeous colors and detail in Help! Having seen Help! at least several dozen times since its theatrical run in 1965, I have to say this is the best I can remember it looking, easily besting the previous laserdisc edition from Criterion. Nither film has been transferred in the letterbox format, but the full-screen, 1.33:1 framing looks natural for both films. Both discs contain Dolby Stereo soundtracks, though only the music passages contain much true stereo sound. Restoration efforts have provided some improvment in overall sound quality with fair frequency response and dynamic range, though the age of the recodings are rather apparent.

Help! runs 90 minutes and contains 17 chapters. Additional materials include the theatrical trailer, as well as trailers for A Hard Day's Night and Magical Mystery Tour. Also included is a couple of newsreels, footage shot on the set and at the world premiere, and a montage of stills and posters with audio of several radio ads and an interview with the boys. The productions notes include a fairly detailed account of the restoration process that I found quite interesting.

A Hard Day's Night runs 90 minutes and contains 29 chapters. Much of the supplements from Help! are duplicated on this disc, with the addition of an interview with director Richard Lester along with a 10 minute experimental film of Lester's, The Running, Jumping, and Standing Still Film. List price of both discs is $24.98. A true bargain if there ever was one. These discs get my highest recommendation.

© 1997.

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