Question about all the Lennon's 'Imagine' footage from 1971

[MarkRJones1970]

I have been wondering, I have no idea why, if anyone knows where John stored the mountain of film filmed during the 'Imagine' sessions? AFAIK, other than the film they made at the time, the rest of it only started to surface long after he died. Was some of it shown in the 'Imagine' doc in 1988? It's been ages since I've watched it so I'm not certain going from memory. Then in 2018 we got the 'Above Us only Sky' doc showing lots of footage never seen before, like John recording his vocal for 'Gimme Some Truth'. Wasn't there yet another doc featuring another load of unseen footage (I seem to remember 2 docs in the last 10 years featured 'Imagine' footage)

Did John and Yoko take all that footage over to America with them when they left the UK for good and store it in their archive in the Dakota or was it left in the UK and stored here. If so, where and with whom?

[fabwill]

I have been wondering, I have no idea why, if anyone knows where John stored the mountain of film filmed during the 'Imagine' sessions? AFAIK, other than the film they made at the time, the rest of it only started to surface long after he died. Was some of it shown in the 'Imagine' doc in 1988? It's been ages since I've watched it so I'm not certain going from memory. Then in 2018 we got the 'Above Us only Sky' doc showing lots of footage never seen before, like John recording his vocal for 'Gimme Some Truth'. Wasn't there yet another doc featuring another load of unseen footage (I seem to remember 2 docs in the last 10 years featured 'Imagine' footage)

Did John and Yoko take all that footage over to America with them when they left the UK for good and store it in their archive in the Dakota or was it left in the UK and stored here. If so, where and with whom?

I have no clue what they did with the footage but it was also used as the basis for the 2000 film Gimme Some Truth. I suspect parts were in The U.S. v John Lennon too. Much more here http://www.beatlesonfilm.com/jl1971.html

I can heartily recommend the blu ray with Imagine and Gimme Some Truth - to my eyes it looks like it was filmed yesterday.

[Hitachi]

Mark, you seriously have to check out the "Beatles on Film" site (which I'm sure you have but then again you wouldn't have asked your question?):
http://www.beatlesonfilm.com/index.html
And this will answer all those sorts of questions as all of John's 1971 footage is broken down day by day and tells you exactly what doco's/films the footage was used in.
I'm sure they would have taken all the film they shot in England with them to the US and assembled the TV special during 1972 in New York.
But to make it all a bit easier to understand:
"Imagine" filming began in England on May 26, 1971 and continued off and on until Sept 12, 1971 in New York.
Footage from the probable hundreds of hours of film have been used in four official documentaries so far:
"Imagine" (original TV special broadcast in December 1972); "Imagine: John Lennon" (1988); "Gimme Some Truth" (2000) and "Above Us Only Sky" (2018).
The original 1972 TV special was commercially released on VHS Video and Laserdisc in 1986 as "Imagine - The Film" in a 60 minute edited version.
In October 2018 it was fully restored & remastered and released on DVD and Blu Ray in its original full length. The original 1972 special is available on bootleg DVD from a early TV broadcast as is a copy taken from the VHS release.

Hope this helps and please spend some time at the "Beatles on Film" site as you will thank me later

[MarkRJones1970]

Mark, you seriously have to check out the "Beatles on Film" site (which I'm sure you have but then again you wouldn't have asked your question?):

Thanks! That's been in my bookmark folder for YEARS!

[A-Caceres]

Well they did use some outtake footage as early as 1984 for some of the Milk and Honey promos.

Maybe Apple Records held all the footage? Anything from 1967-1974 was mostly kept. Also John and Yoko kept material too, knowing that they would request tape dubs of their television appearances.

[Applejam101]

Didn’t John have a whole floor at the Dakota for all of his “stuff”. Maybe that included the Imagine footage.

[silver_2000]

I have been wondering, I have no idea why, if anyone knows where John stored the mountain of film filmed during the 'Imagine' sessions? AFAIK, other than the film they made at the time, the rest of it only started to surface long after he died. Was some of it shown in the 'Imagine' doc in 1988? It's been ages since I've watched it so I'm not certain going from memory. Then in 2018 we got the 'Above Us only Sky' doc showing lots of footage never seen before, like John recording his vocal for 'Gimme Some Truth'. Wasn't there yet another doc featuring another load of unseen footage (I seem to remember 2 docs in the last 10 years featured 'Imagine' footage)

Did John and Yoko take all that footage over to America with them when they left the UK for good and store it in their archive in the Dakota or was it left in the UK and stored here. If so, where and with whom?

The Lennon-estate has so much rare never before seen footage locked away, probably in a room in the Dakota, I remember Seaman writing about a guitar room, all these rare guitars just in a room.

[A-Caceres]

I remember now that there was this video from 1981 of Elliot Mintz filming himself at an editing room going through the filmed archives:

[elvislennon]

During the 2012 Olympics....a children choir sung the first verse of Imagine and then it showed John singing it but face shot. So I am wondering if they was filming the face shot the whole time. It would be good to see it all.

[A-Caceres]

During the 2012 Olympics....a children choir sung the first verse of Imagine and then it showed John singing it but face shot. So I am wondering if they was filming the face shot the whole time. It would be good to see it all.

They did screen the raw footage, unfortunately no one in the audience was filming the screen the whole time.



I wonder if someone can keep it steady and fix the angle. Mostly unbootlegged visual.