Filming “Help!” in the Bahamas • Day 2

The previous day, The Beatles had begun shooting scenes for their second film, “Help!“, on New Providence Island in The Bahamas. They would remain on the island for 14 days, working without a single day off.

On this second day, the group undertook their first full day of filming, working to a schedule of 8:30 am to 5:30 pm — a routine they would follow throughout their two-week stay.

Filming took place on Interfield Road, close to Nassau International Airport, where all four Beatles were filmed cycling, the palm-lined road lending a suitably tropical backdrop to one of the film’s recurring exterior motifs. They would return to the same road in the following days to shoot further cycling sequences.

The day-to-day filming activity in the Bahamas is drawn from “The Complete Beatles Chronicle” by Mark Lewisohn.

The problem was that we went to the Bahamas to film all the hot scenes, and it was freezing. We had to ride around and run around in shirts and trousers, and it was absolutely bloody cold.

Ringo Starr – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

And they couldn’t get tanned, because afterwards they had to go to Europe to shoot scenes that would appear earlier in the movie. They always had to sit in the shade or wear hats.

Neil Aspinall – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

Going further

The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years

With greatly expanded text, this is the most revealing and frank personal 30-year chronicle of the group ever written. Insider Barry Miles covers the Beatles story from childhood to the break-up of the group.

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