Via RR Auction:
Original reel of 8mm black-and-white silent film of the Beatles taken during the filming of their second feature film, Help!, by a member of the production crew or possible Beatle affiliate on May 3, 1965, lasting 3 minutes and 17 seconds. This unseen, behind-the-scenes Beatles footage, shot on location at Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, during the production of the 'I Need You' sequence, originates from a personal archive. It offers some rare and unique moments where all four Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr—were captured 'off-camera,' in their natural, jovial state. In this footage, they are not performing for the camera, but engaging with cast and crew, noodling on their instruments, and joking around on set. Notably, the footage shows John Lennon clowning around with director Richard Lester, who went on to direct two classic ‘Superman’ movies of the 1980s. Some of the set's 'extras'—soldiers of the British Army's 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, complete with their tanks and weapons—are also seen in the footage. 'Unseen footage' of the Beatles—perhaps the most well-documented band in history—is incredibly rare, making the discovery of such a film a unique moment in popular music history. In fine condition.
The sequence for 'I Need You' was shot near Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, from May 3–5, 1965, and portrays the Beatles miming to the track in a makeshift outdoor recording studio, surrounded by armed soldiers of the British Army's 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and their Centurion tanks. In the movie's plot, Ringo Starr is being targeted for assassination by a mysterious cult so the band performs under Royal Artillery protection. George Harrison wrote 'I Need You' about Pattie Boyd, and he would go on to marry her in January 1966. Reflecting on the quality of Harrison's song, producer George Martin said: 'He has got something to say as a songwriter, and I hope he keeps it up.'
Help! made its Royal World Premiere at the London Pavilion Theatre on July 29, 1965; its soundtrack, released as the Beatles' fifth studio album on August 6th, includes such classics as 'Help!,' 'Ticket to Ride,' and 'Yesterday.' Although the Beatles were initially dissatisfied with the movie, they came to admire it and its influence. Reflecting on the production of Help! in 1980, John Lennon said: 'I realize, looking back, how advanced it was. It was a precursor to the Batman 'Pow! Wow!' on TV—that kind of stuff. But [Lester] never explained it to us. Partly, maybe, because we hadn't spent a lot of time together between A Hard Day's Night and Help!, and partly because we were smoking marijuana for breakfast during that period. Nobody could communicate with us, it was all glazed eyes and giggling all the time. In our own world. It's like doing nothing most of the time, but still having to rise at 7 am, so we became bored.' Today, Help! is credited with influencing the development of music videos.
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