Help! Behind the Scenes of the Beatles’ Movie

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum celebrates the Beatles Film Help!, their second feature-length film

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum pays homage to the Beatles’ impact on our culture with a new exhibit that commemorates the group’s classic 1965 movie, Help!
Help! Behind the Scenes of the Beatles’ Movie opened with a members-only reception on November 16, 2007. The exhibit, which is timed to the November 6 release of the film on DVD, includes many never-before-seen artifacts and set photography shot during the making of the movie.

Help! follows in the great tradition of classic comedy chase movies. In this instance, John, Paul, George and Ringo find themselves being pursued across the world by not one but two groups of fanatics with separate agendas. Ringo possesses a ring with a large red stone set in the middle, sent to him by a fan. The first group of fanatics are cult followers of the Goddess Kaili led by Swami Clang (Leo McKern), including High Priestess Ahme (Eleanor Bron); and the second group are comprised of two scientists named Foot (Victor Spinetti) and Algernon (Roy Kinnear) who have become involved, being called in by the Government to try and remove the ring from Ringo’s finger.
These cult followers and the two scientists frantically pursue the Beatles first through London, then up the snow-covered Austrian Alps to Buckingham Palace, across Salisbury Plain and finally along the sandy beaches of the Bahamas with a Scotland Yard Police Superintendent (Patrick Cargill) in hot pursuit.

The film features performances of 7 classic Beatles songs. “Help,” “You’re Going To Lose That Girl,” “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” “Ticket To Ride,” “I Need You,” “The Night Before” and “Another Girl.”
“We’ve tried to capture the zany spirit of the Beatles’ second movie in this exhibit,” said Jim Henke, vice president of exhibitions and curatorial affairs for the Museum. “We were fortunate in that the Beatles’ organization Apple Corps had great archives of material from the filming of the movie, and they have generously loaned much of it to us for the exhibit.”

The exhibit features George Harrison’s original script for the film, and a reproduction of Richard Lester’s working script with handwritten changes, various shooting schedules and call sheets, posters, tickets to the U.S. premiere of the film at the Beacon Theater in New York City, press kits and promotional items. It also includes costumes worn by the Beatles in the film and instruments played in the film.

Open through September 1, 2008

Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame Museum, Cleveland, Ohio