Unseen Footage of the Beatles on ‘Help!’ Set Unearthed
Unseen footage of the Beatles on the set of their 1965 movie Help! will soon go on sale after the 8mm film was unearthed after 50 years in storage.
Actor Leo McKern, who played the evil swami Clang in the Beatles‘ second feature-length film, shot the 8mm film while on the set of Help! The Beatles appear in 10 minutes of the footage, which has an asking price of approximately $45,000.
“This is footage taken in 1965 of people who at the time were the most famous people on earth at the pinnacle of their collective career,” books dealer Neil Pearson, who is selling the footage, told Reuters.
McKern reportedly filmed the Beatles during the Help! “snow scenes” in the Austrian Alps, with the group tobogganing and messing around with their stunt doubles on set.
There is also footage of candid behind-the-scenes moments between band members, including Paul McCartney smoking a cigarette and taking photographs.
The 8mm reel contains footage of McKern playing with his then-10-year-old daughter Abigail on the Help! set, as well as the Beatles’ then-wives and girlfriends on set, the Guardian reports. Leo McKern died in 2002. The “snow scenes” footage remained in the family’s garage until Pearson unearthed it while sorting through the McKern family’s collection of children’s literature.
Snippets of McKern’s footage will premiere Friday night on BBC1’s The One Show, with Abigail McKern and a pair of Help! cast members – actress Eleanor Bron and the man who played McCartney’s stunt double – discussing the 1965 movie and the unearthed film.