Let It Be Film - end of an era

[Lord Reith]

You gotta wonder why it suddenly disappeared from the world in the mid 80s. I mean, was it that bad that Apple had to "cancel" it? It all just seems so stupid, keeping a movie hidden for 40 years. I mean, Help, that vanished for a while but it was less than ten years. 40 years is a total joke.

Not to mention all the other things apple have kept hidden for decades. I think of all the fans who've bitten the dust before they ever got a chance to see any of this stuff. So who's it all for? A few aging diehards like us and some kids who have an attention span of 15 seconds? And if it is suitable for release now, why not way back in the 90s when it would actually have been a major event?

[FestVideoRoom]

You gotta wonder why it suddenly disappeared from the world in the mid 80s. I mean, was it that bad that Apple had to "cancel" it? It all just seems so stupid, keeping a movie hidden for 40 years. I mean, Help, that vanished for a while but it was less than ten years. 40 years is a total joke.

Well, as we all know, there was an official release planned by Apple in 1992: the now heavily-bootlegged Ron Furmanek restoration. Few people have seen the title card that precedes that version, but it pegs what presumably is the mastering date as Mar 31 of that year. The reason for its cancellation is somewhat nebulous, but it has generally been assumed that George Harrison vetoed the release. Who knows? Could have been McCartney. Could have been Ringo. Could have been Yoko. Could have been the I Ching. But 1992 would have been perfectly reasonable -- and only a decade after it first disappeared from store shelves.

Even to this day, Ringo is disparaging of the film... and perhaps properly so. We've all seen it: it's gloomy, depressing and despite Disney's best efforts to tart up the trailer, joyless. But that's not really the point -- after all, Help! isn't exactly a documentary and ALSO despite McCartney's best spin, Magical Mystery Tour is barely watchable without serious chemical assistance. The point is that The Freaking Beatles made three feature films (OK, four if you count Yellow Submarine) and this is one of them. It needs to be available. Period.

I've said for years and years on end that putting The Lost Lennon Tapes on the radio was Yoko's unintentional creation of a cottage industry for bootleggers, and the unavailability of Let it Be (or until recently, the Get Back LP, the Christmas singles and here comes One Hand Clapping) has been more of the same. Yes, we all love the bootleggers and the tape traders and everyone else whose work makes our lives a lot more interesting... and NOT having the film on the marketplace for so long won't take a dime of revenue away from the rightful owners: most of us are already demanding a Blu-Ray or UHD release with the immortal words of Philip J. Fry on our lips: "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" But the very real consequence of all this stupidity can be tallied up with the names of all of the close friends in this community that I and many of you have had over the years who passed away waiting for this day to come. The way The Beatles and their organization(s) have treated their own fanbase so cavalierly over these intervening decades has been shameful.

So they're finally starting to do the right things. Great. But this should have happened a LONG time ago.

Ironically, just a few days ago Paul McCartney -- in Brooklyn for a museum exhibition of his 1964 photographs -- gave a shout out to his fan "Adrienne from Brooklyn," responding to her teenaged self captured on film in 1964 in a clip included in Ron Howard's film Eight Days a Week. Too little, too late: Adrienne passed away in 1992. You know: when Let it Be was SUPPOSED to be reissued.

[joguema]

At 68, I must be the oldest member here - on this thread, anyway.

No, you're not, as I'm 72 and I know of at least 1 member, who is 76 years old.

[Ziggy C]

I echo the sentiment of general disappointment expressed by LR. Mainly that the supposed target fan base is those who lived through it the first time around. And sadly, many have passed on. It makes zero sense to me, either, why this feature would be shelved for so long. Yeah, it's dreary and gloomy, an all-around downer of a film except for the rooftop concert and perhaps a few small bits in the studio.

I'd certainly hate to think that the perpetual shelving of this feature would be due to the selfishness of the Beatles.

It's a real head-scratcher. Certainly not an isolated head-scratcher. There have been many missed opportunities for major money-grabs these past couple years. But what about the fans who didn't live long enough....

[rael_bass]

I think they will release on 2025 a remastered/enhanced version of the Anthology Video, with all the sessions of the Threetles + Jeff Lynne included. Bluray and Dvd of course, so Let it be can't be the last release of the Beatles.

[Wogew]

We've all seen it: it's gloomy, depressing and despite Disney's best efforts to tart up the trailer, joyless.

I beg to differ. I was first able to see it on a bootleg VHS cassette in 1984, and I never felt it gloomy or negative. It was full of joy! Here's a review from a female Norwegian fan who first saw it in 1970 and only saw it again this Monday at a screening for fans in Oslo:

The movie is a gem! I saw it at the Vega cinema yesterday, and was actually a bit shocked to experience a wonderful film, so far from the depressing image of the film I have borne with me since 1970. I think I must then have been influenced by the breakup, by the conflict when Paul publicly delivered his "resignation" and a fairly unanimous body of critics who was hung up on anything that could be interpreted negatively. Because the experience I had of the movie Let It Be yesterday was so shockingly different than expected. This movie is very good! It is tightly structured, it gives us an insight into a creative process without repeating certain elements to the point of being boring (like Get Back), it gives us personal glimpses of the people ("our boys") and a lot of good music with some very nice features . ! And the concert on the roof is absolutely royal! And since it is a film narrative and not a concert, we get glimpses of the audience on the street, who stand as if chained and listen while they look up. They probably don't even know that they are witnessing the departure of our century's most celebrated and beloved musicians. But we who watch know that. It is historic. The dream is over. The walrus was Paul. Women and men, young and old, all as one with warm feelings for The Beatles. It was a final greeting from the fab four to the fans. And I, for my part, was moved. And I realized that this is a film gem that still has something new to say to us. For all these years, this film has been almost disgraced and something you would rather forget. But I just have to admit that I was wrong. High quality in all aspects.
Enjoy!

[Spaniard in da Works]

There's a review today, in Variety I think, that says the exact same thing: that seen today It feels more joyful and less gloomy. I don't know, but maybe originally It was seen as gloomier even than It was because people were on a collective downer because the Beatles had broken up.

[FestVideoRoom]

We've all seen it: it's gloomy, depressing and despite Disney's best efforts to tart up the trailer, joyless.

I beg to differ. I was first able to see it on a bootleg VHS cassette in 1984, and I never felt it gloomy or negative. It was full of joy!

I also beg to differ: there was more than a little taste of devil's advocate in that post... getting out ahead of the usual arguments, if you will.

The film is certainly somewhat gloomier than Peter Jackson's documentary plays out the events in SOME regards: even the subdued tone of the color palette lends it that aura. And yet, the very real possibility is that we bring a lot of that baggage (as likely does Ringo) along with us for the ride. Certainly there's no mention in the film of George's quitting the band or the appearance on the scene of Allen Klein... all of which is in the Get Back documentary.

So sure, I'll happily backpedal on that a bit and say that every time I've seen that film WITH AN AUDIENCE -- mostly at Beatlefest back when it was shown in the main ballroom on 16mm film and in my days of running the Video Room up to just a couple of years ago when I decided to retire it for a spell -- it's always received applause and cheers (and yes, the occasional booing and hissing when Yoko appeared onscreen, although that tapered off in recent years).

[Davenicks]

You gotta wonder why it suddenly disappeared from the world in the mid 80s. I mean, was it that bad that Apple had to "cancel" it? It all just seems so stupid, keeping a movie hidden for 40 years. I mean, Help, that vanished for a while but it was less than ten years. 40 years is a total joke.

The new myth, which we see being spun and repeated in lots of the writing about this release, is that "Let It Be got only a limited theatrical release in 1970, after which it remained unavailable to see for decades." The fact is, Let It Be ran in theaters and drive-ins across America for years. Maybe not as extensive in the second run market as Rocky Horror, but it ran a lot. I saw it projected on the wall of the student center in college in the mid 70s. Midnight showings in theaters and at drive-ins on weekends were common. It then had a second life in 1981, when it was released to home video on VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc and CED Video disc. Sure, the mastering was botched, but it sold well and copies were available for sale and in rental stores at least through the 80s.

As a Beatles fan, I have and continue to find respect for them and their work in just about everything they did and do. In 1970, when we had so little access to information about the band and no opportunity to see them perform, Let It Be was a great thing to have.

A Hard Day's Night and Help were professionally produced motion pictures under the umbrella of a major motion picture studio. I love them and whether you do or don't is a matter of taste.

Objectively, Let It Be is not a great motion picture. It was shot on the cheap in a month by a director who was inexperienced in long-form storytelling and was clearly overwhelmed by the chaos swirling around the project and the band, who were all going through A LOT of stuff and kept re-defining what they were doing and why they were doing it. Many more experienced directors would probably have struggled or just walked away. The editing is amateurish and choppy, giving it a lack of pacing and momentum. The only time it picks up is when the Beatles sing and play and that was a precious thing for us at the time that has continued to lead us to overlook a lot of its faults ever since. Both the audio and video were murky and the band had little to no enthusiasm for it even before it was released. Given the personal issues, the morass of legal issues that consumed them for years and the negativity that radiated from the biz at large about the movie, it shouldn't be a big surprise that it was left on the shelf. Except, of course, that there was money to made from making it available and the fact that it took so long to circle back to it is certainly remarkable on that count. Especially for Ringo, and to a lesser extent George, who received far less financially from the Beatles' success than John and Paul.

Peter Jackson has remarked that January 1969 was one of the group's most creative periods and we are lucky to have this documentation of it and how great it has turned out that MLH kept the cameras running as much as he did. I think he's right about that. With the benefit of hindsight, even a casual fan can second-guess many decisions that were made, especially the decision to even attempt this project with all new material on a short timeline, when they'd just barely managed to cobble together the massive White Album + Hey Jude/Revolution project in time for the Christmas 1968 market and had opened fissures and wounds in the process. If only they had devoted that month to polishing and shooting live performances of their 1968 output with maybe a new song or two instead of forcing themselves into coming up with all new material under an onerous deadline...

But they were The Beatles.

Maybe Brian Epstein would have made a difference. John, Paul and George had all become so headstrong by then, he might not have.

Dave in Nashville

[Fun 4 None]

You gotta wonder why it suddenly disappeared from the world in the mid 80s. I mean, was it that bad that Apple had to "cancel" it? It all just seems so stupid, keeping a movie hidden for 40 years. I mean, Help, that vanished for a while but it was less than ten years. 40 years is a total joke.

Not to mention all the other things apple have kept hidden for decades. I think of all the fans who've bitten the dust before they ever got a chance to see any of this stuff. So who's it all for? A few aging diehards like us and some kids who have an attention span of 15 seconds? And if it is suitable for release now, why not way back in the 90s when it would actually have been a major event?

There's definitely been a change over at Apple. To have this, Get Back, and Now and Then all be released is a complete turn of events from the way things were.

People say it's Jeff making different decisions than Neil but I think it's one of the four core parties who made the change.