Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 'Let It Be' is coming!

[Lord Reith]

Assuming that Michael has final say I'd like to imagine it's 4:3 because the Furmanek remaster (seen on HMC) was 4:3 and the unreleased Smeaton remaster (seen in Living in the Material World and McCartney 321.) was also 4:3

If it were coming out on dvd instead of going to streaming, I'd guess that it would certainly be in 4:3 But Disney are likely to reject a 4:3 version, which creates a problem because then they'd also say "Our customers expect to see the same thing on the disc as they did on streaming". So then you'd need a two disc set, with the 4:3 version as an "extra" but then you've also got Disney saying "no extras" and Apple having a track record of not including extras worth a damn anyway. So unless MLH has some serious clout and digs his heels in and says "4:3 or nothing" then the prospects look poor to my mind. It would be a little bit sad if we waited all these years and then we get a cropped image as opposed to the full one on 1+ and Anthology.

As it stands I only ever watched Get Back once and I can't imagine myself watching LIB more than once either, but the nerdy part of me likes to see things done right and it bothers me when they get screwed up because of "the masses demand this and that" when the masses don't know anything and don't give a damn. Just do it right and have faith that audiences will make the adjustment.

[Fun 4 None]

Assuming that Michael has final say I'd like to imagine it's 4:3 because the Furmanek remaster (seen on HMC) was 4:3 and the unreleased Smeaton remaster (seen in Living in the Material World and McCartney 321.) was also 4:3

If it were coming out on dvd instead of going to streaming, I'd guess that it would certainly be in 4:3 But Disney are likely to reject a 4:3 version, which creates a problem because then they'd also say "Our customers expect to see the same thing on the disc as they did on streaming". So then you'd need a two disc set, with the 4:3 version as an "extra" but then you've also got Disney saying "no extras" and Apple having a track record of not including extras worth a damn anyway. So unless MLH has some serious clout and digs his heels in and says "4:3 or nothing" then the prospects look poor to my mind. It would be a little bit sad if we waited all these years and then we get a cropped image as opposed to the full one on 1+ and Anthology.

As it stands I only ever watched Get Back once and I can't imagine myself watching LIB more than once either, but the nerdy part of me likes to see things done right and it bothers me when they get screwed up because of "the masses demand this and that" when the masses don't know anything and don't give a damn. Just do it right and have faith that audiences will make the adjustment.

Keep in mind, Michael Lindsay Hogg's Rock and Roll Circus 4K release was 4:3.

[Choking Smoker]

I think the answer is that because they had used film (even if it wasn't 35mm) instead of video tape they had the option to change their minds and apparently they did and their artistic choice wasn't to release it in 4:3 ratio.

They shot on 16mm because there wasn’t much budget, don’t forget they started at Twickenham because it was already booked for the Magic Christian and it thus was ‘for free’ so to say. And they only shot a few hours tops per day, often much less, hence why PJ had to use a bag of tricks to align at least some of the image with accompanying audio, but often had to resort to montages because there simply wasn’t much film to use. This was done on the cheap, even for shooting film, let alone how far out it would have been to record on video, certainly in ‘69.

And the choice to release as a widescreen movie was not artistically, Klein decided to do this and the widescreen format was chosen because else it wouldn’t run in regular theaters that didn’t show ‘Academy Ratio’ flicks anymore unless on special occasions (like the rerun of a classic).

So do you think they are considering releasing MLH's Let it Be or MLH's Let it Be as it 'Should' have been? Actually I'm with Klein on this one, once the decision to release it as a movie had been made then people expect cinema to be a widescreen experience, back in the days of 4:3 TV sets it would have been even more unique to the cinema experience.

Hopefully we can have it both ways, it certainly wouldn't be a difficult thing for them to provide a full frame version but I'll totally understand it if it's just the released cinema aspect ratio.

[harrylime]

First-most I expect it to be just like the previous restorations and the promos on 1+, so a straight transfer with minimal corrections except for the regular dirt and scratches fixed. Then secondly we might expect a widescreen version, like R&R Circus as was mentioned, but as that requires a replication of the frame-by-frame matting I find it less likely for them to have put that effort in (or better said: spending more money on a release that won’t sell that great anyway). I expect costs to be a much bigger factor than some kind of ‘how it should have been’ whatever that means.

What I would rather worry about is the color correction, as that was basically botched on MMT, and knowing that there isn’t a proper color negative left, I do hope that they won’t opt for either the Technicolorish overcompensation as on Get Back nor ‘pick a side’ and end up with either lobster faces as on MMT or the ‘whiter shade of pale’ as on the released footage prior to Get Back. Ideally they would use some kind of intelligent correction that can use whatever objective information there’s left in the source material, like the color palette on the clapper boards. But again, every effort equals money spent and I wouldn’t expect that happening that easily.

[tymime]

If it were coming out on dvd instead of going to streaming, I'd guess that it would certainly be in 4:3 But Disney are likely to reject a 4:3 version, which creates a problem because then they'd also say "Our customers expect to see the same thing on the disc as they did on streaming". So then you'd need a two disc set, with the 4:3 version as an "extra" but then you've also got Disney saying "no extras" and Apple having a track record of not including extras worth a damn anyway. So unless MLH has some serious clout and digs his heels in and says "4:3 or nothing" then the prospects look poor to my mind. It would be a little bit sad if we waited all these years and then we get a cropped image as opposed to the full one on 1+ and Anthology.

As it stands I only ever watched Get Back once and I can't imagine myself watching LIB more than once either, but the nerdy part of me likes to see things done right and it bothers me when they get screwed up because of "the masses demand this and that" when the masses don't know anything and don't give a damn. Just do it right and have faith that audiences will make the adjustment.

Disney has been hit or miss about putting out films in their original aspect ratio on Disney+ (take a look at the fuss made over The Simpsons being cropped a few years ago for example), so which one they'll use for LIB is a bit of a mystery.

[Fun 4 None]

First-most I expect it to be just like the previous restorations and the promos on 1+, so a straight transfer with minimal corrections except for the regular dirt and scratches fixed. Then secondly we might expect a widescreen version, like R&R Circus as was mentioned, but as that requires a replication of the frame-by-frame matting I find it less likely for them to have put that effort in (or better said: spending more money on a release that won’t sell that great anyway). I expect costs to be a much bigger factor than some kind of ‘how it should have been’ whatever that means.

What I would rather worry about is the color correction, as that was basically botched on MMT, and knowing that there isn’t a proper color negative left, I do hope that they won’t opt for either the Technicolorish overcompensation as on Get Back nor ‘pick a side’ and end up with either lobster faces as on MMT or the ‘whiter shade of pale’ as on the released footage prior to Get Back. Ideally they would use some kind of intelligent correction that can use whatever objective information there’s left in the source material, like the color palette on the clapper boards. But again, every effort equals money spent and I wouldn’t expect that happening that easily.

Apple lost the negative to MMT so what they released in 2012 was a print and thus had faded colors. As far as we all know, they do still have the negative to the Let it Be film.

[Bazilnerk]

Nobody can win, however it's done, you can guarantee someone here will say it isn't right or they could have done it better.

[harrylime]

Apple lost the negative to MMT so what they released in 2012 was a print and thus had faded colors.

Of course, but faded prints aren't an irregular occurrence for restored movies and they seldom look like how MMT looks. It seems they went with a less than optimal restoration company, same for Penny Lane with the floating riding jackets. Like someone mentioned above, if this would have been from Criterion it would have been done properly.

As far as we all know, they do still have the negative to the Let it Be film.

True, but I have no doubt that the restorations up until now have been from that same negative, and everything that came out so far has been pale, especially noticeable in the rooftop scenes. Pre-Get Back HD footage like the DLMD promo has the colors already slightly boosted, making Maureen's rain coat and George's shirt out stand out, but the skin tones aren't too bad, a little yellowish/orangey but not bothersome. IGAF preview from Get Back has them more natural but of course it has all the other awful sharpening and what not filters applied. That's why I keep my fingers crossed they didn't go overboard on this.

[silvercup67]

I expect that it will look exactly like Peter Jackson's version. But it will be edited to match the original structure of Let it Be.

[sam004]

I am excited to see this.
I watched my 'copy' today, just to get ready.

And of course someone will take this and PJ's work and combine
it in to a very nice piece when coupled together.