what's the status of Help!?

When can we expect this out on DVD? I have the MPI version, but I would love to go blow some money on a new 2 disc version with a better picture and some extras.

 

This is Apple we're talking about. Don't hold your breath.

Like a lot of projects, one hears dribs and drabs that it's being worked on, so and so's done a commentary track, it'll be out for it's 40th anniversary, yadda yadda. But nothing's been promised or even really mentioned, let alone announced.

Look what happened to the promised Let It Be DVD.

Hold on tight to you MPI copy, it may be awhile...

 

Mr F. on his mega thread alludes to the fact that "something is in progress" ...

We sit and we wait.

 

And the only reason AHDN came out was because its owned by Miramax. Albeit, it was three years late, still at least it finally came out. I thought Walter Shenson owned the rights to Help. A little "Help" on clarifying that?
Let It Be is going at a snails pace, but maybe someone there needs to rewrite history once more before releasing it.

 

I believe that while the estate of Walter Shenson and the Beatles co-own the rights to AHDN, Help! has reverted to the Fabs.

The last restoration of Help!, done in 1996, was pretty good. It was shown on AMC.

Evan

 

Yes, it looked great, but they used the George Martin "LSD" remixes for the songs.

There have been two remixes of the song "HELP!" possibly by Ron Furmanek, one with split background vocals, and both with Lennon's lead vocals slightly split. One of them is the Red & Blue promo video, and the other was shown on VH1 and MTV2. It is the video used on the opening credits of "HELP!"

I hope any re-release of "HELP!" will have remixed stereo versions, by Ron Furmanek.

 

By the time Help! was made, Epstein had negotiated a piece of the action for The Beatles, hence they now own the film. Shenson's estate owned A Hard Day's Night outright.

 

Do the unused scenes and outtakes from Help survive?

 

No, they were destroyed in 1969. It was the policy of the studio at that time to destroy all unused footage after a five-year period. Nobody could foresee the existence of DVD's(with the extras)at that time.

Evan

 

LSD remixes? Can you explain a little further? I have never heard of that.

Thanks
Bob

 

I think he means the remixes done for the CD issue of Help! in 1987. They were digitally remixed, and as a result some of the tracks have a highly distrating digital echo added.

Evan

 

Are the mixes on the Criterion LDs of the LSD variety?

 

No. They used vinyl.

 

I would like to have a stereo remix- PLUS the original mono mix of the soundtrack, complete with the original mono songs.

 

How's the picture quality on the MPI version? I never bought it because I have the LD version of Help and didn't think it would go out of print so fast (along with Magical Mystery Tour).

 

The Help! DVD isn't bad at all, wasn't it the version Ron F. restored for them, only with the stereo masters dubbed in for the songs? The MPI DVD's were generally pretty good, with the exception of Magical Mystery Tour, which no one seems to know what went wrong with it. Bad transfer, bad music dubbing...the VHS was much better, actually.

 

I have to differ. I have the laser of MMT, and, picture-wise, the DVD totally blows away the laser, for both detail and, especially, color. Of course, as I have said here many times, the SOUND on the laser kills the horrible mix on the DVD, but fair is fair.

 

But compare it to the same footage used in Beatles Anthology, and I'd hardly call the MMT DVD "good."

 

I hope they mix the songs on Help in true 5:1 not like the AHDN DVD.

 

I'm glad to read Reechie's review of the MMT DVD, because I didn't buy it. I watch MMT so infrequently, that I simply kept the VHS video. Now I'm glad I did.

There's no reason Help! has to be two DVD's, same as with AHDN. A waste of disc space.

Evan

 

Well, remember that The Beatles and Apple had nothing to do with the A Hard Day's Night DVD. The songs weren't mixed into real 5.1 because Miramax didn't have access to the multi-track tapes (Apple policy is said to be, if The Beatles don't own it, Apple doesn't cooperate with it). Unfortunately, instead of the logical choice of using the original mono track, they gave us a futzed with fake 5.1 track.

Apple owns Help!, and thus would have access to the multi-tracks for the songs if they wanted to have a proper multi-channel mix done for the songs (if indeed such a thing hasn't already been done). Chances are, they'd do it

 

For as crappy as the AHDN DVD turned out, here's hoping Apple will eventually purchase the rights to the movie someday and reissue it correctly, but we can only hope to live that long.

As far as Help! goes I'll just hang on to my MPI version in the meantine. After seeing what Miramax did with AHDN, I know Help! coulda' been worse.