Three years after he blew the minds of Fab Four fans with his The Beatles: Get Back series, director Peter Jackson dips back into the Beatle bag on May 8 with a re-release of Michael Lindsay-Hogg's legendary 1970 documentary Let it be.
The film chronicling the final days of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr will be available for the first time in more than 50 years when it premieres exclusively on Disney+ on May 8.
According to a statement, the film, recorded in the midst of the group's breakup, “now takes its rightful place in the band's history. Once viewed through a darker lens, the film now comes to light through its restoration and the resulting revelations” in Jackson's 2021 Emmy-winning documentary.
“Let it be it was due out in October/November 1969, but wasn't released until April 1970. A month before its release, the Beatles officially broke up. And so people went to see Let it be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, “I'll never see the Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,” director Lindsay-Hogg said in a statement. “And it darkened the perception of the film a lot. But, really, how often do you see artists of this caliber working together to make songs that they hear in their head. And then you get on the roof and you see their excitement and camaraderie and sheer joy playing together as a team again and you know, as we do now, that it was the last time, and we see it with a full understanding of who they were and still are and a bit pungent. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do Come backusing all the footage I had taken 50 years ago.”
Yes, the restored one Let it be features footage that appeared Get Back, taking viewers to the Apple Corps studio and rooftop in London in January 1969 for the quartet's last live performance. It also involves the band in the studio writing and recording Let it be album. In the wake of rave reviews for Jackson's series, and with the support of Lindsay-Hogg, Apple Corps asked Jackson's Park Road Post Production team to restore Let it be from the original 16mm negative, a process that also involved remastering the film's audio using the same MAL de-mix technology used in Come back.
“I am absolutely thrilled that Michael's film, Let it be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” Jackson said in a statement. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael's outtakes for Come backand I always thought so Let it be required for its completion Come back history. In three parts, we showed Michael and the Beatles filming a ground-breaking new documentary and Let it be it's this documentary – the movie they released in 1970. Now I think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and reinforce each other: Let it be it is the culmination of it Come backwhile Come back provides a vital missing context for Let it be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was incredibly helpful and kind as I did Come backand it's only fitting that his original film has the final say… it looks and sounds a lot better than it did in 1970.
On Monday, ahead of the announcement — and six months after the Fabs released their last song, the brooding “Now and Then” — the Beatles' website teased “There will be an answer,” a lyric from “Let It” of 1970 It is.” The post was accompanied by four blank frames positioned to resemble the Let it be album art, as well as what appeared to be a cryptic clue, “At last…” and the Disney+ and Apple Corps logos.
Although Let it be premiered in theaters in 1970 and released on home video formats in the early 1980s, it has never been officially released on DVD, Blu-ray or streaming.
