It did not take long for The Beatles to emerge from Liverpool and become the biggest band in the world. Releasing their debut single in 1962, the ‘Mop Tops’ were a global phenomenon within two years. Inevitably, when an artist reaches such an intense level of success and acclaim, with legions of adoring fans falling at their feet, record executives float ideas on how best to capitalise on that success. For a while, during the 1950s and 1960s, rock and roll musicals seemed to be the way to go, leading The Beatles to star in various films over the years.

The Beatles made their breakthrough onto the silver screen with A Hard Day’s Night in 1964, a particularly frantic year for the group, which saw them visit the United States for the very first time, launching their success in America. Although the film was, in essence, an effort to cash in on the prevalence of Beatlemania, its content was revolutionary. Director Richard Lester was instrumental in its revolutionary success, and the film is still hailed by fans of the group decades later.

Given the seemingly universal success of A Hard Day’s Night, it was decided that the band would appear in another film directed by Lester, titled Help! and released a week before the album of the same name. Arguably, the success of the band’s first film was down to its realism, with John, Paul, George, and Ringo playing semi-fictionalised versions of themselves, and the plot centred around the chaos of touring during the peak of Beatlemania. In contrast, Help! featured a pretty bizarre plot and a dramatically inflated budget.

For the uninitiated, the film follows a woman set to be sacrificed by a Thuggee-inspired cult. However, the sacrificial ring—vital to the ceremony—ends up in the hands of Ringo Starr after the woman sends it to him. The cult must then track down the Beatles drummer to retrieve it. The problem? Starr can’t take the ring off—it’s stuck on his finger.

Over the course of the film, the band flees the cult’s wrath, travelling across London and into mainland Europe, all while enlisting the help of a mad scientist who, at one point, temporarily shrinks Paul McCartney.

Taking inspiration both from James Bond and the Marx Brothers, the film did not receive the same widespread acclaim as A Hard Day’s Night. Although it has since become a cult classic among fans, thanks largely to its bizarre storyline and the typically wooden performances of the band members, The Beatles themselves weren’t convinced by the film’s quality either.

Production of the film occurred during a particularly busy time in the band’s existence, and Lester tended to keep them in the dark about the plot and point of the film itself. “Help! was a drag, because we didn’t know what was happening,” Lennon recalled years later. He did note, however, that the onomatopoeic moments in the film were fairly enjoyable. “In fact, Lester was a bit ahead of his time with the ‘Batman’ thing,” he said.

According to the songwriter, the lack of quality in the film was due to the band’s drug habits at the time. “We were on pot by then, and all the best stuff is on the cutting-room floor, with us breaking up and falling about all over the place,” Lennon shared.

Elsewhere, he noted, “We were smoking marijuana for breakfast during that period. Nobody could communicate with us; it was all glazed eyes and giggling all the time.”

While Lennon and the band were critical of their performance in the film, its existence is evocative of their unparalleled popularity during that period. You could even argue that Help! bridged the gap between their teeny-bopper early days and the expansive, often bizarre, drug-influenced sounds of their later years. Either way, the cult film is certainly worth revisiting for fans of the band.