The Beatles’ iconic documentary film ‘Let It Be’ is set to be made available on Disney+ for the first time in more than 50 years.
Helmed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the original 1970 film – which was released in tandem with the 12th and final studio album by the ‘Penny Lane’ hitmakers – will be on the streaming platform from May 8, 2024, after years of fans struggling to watch it and having to make do with bootleg versions.
The film shows the band working on the seminal LP in January 1969 at London’s Twickenham Film Studios and was released one month before the legendary Liverpool group met its demise, and it has been fully restored with more context coming to light following Peter Jackson’s 2021 Disney series, ‘The Beatles: Get Back’, with unseen footage in the new film.
Lindsay-Hogg says the timing of the release “very much darkened the perception of the film,” and he says fans will see the “joy and happiness” when the band took to Apple Corps on Savile Row for rehearsals and the iconic rooftop concert that became their final performance as a group.
Apple Corps got Jackson’s Park Road Post Production to “dive into a meticulous restoration of the film from the original 16mm negative,” and used the same technology used in the ‘Get Back’ series.
Lindsay-Hogg commented: “Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the 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,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film. But in fact, there’s a great deal of joy and happiness and creation going on, and ‘Let It Be’ is – especially when you get to the roof, and you see the exchange and the way that they look at each other – essentially a happy and ‘up’ movie. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with ‘Get Back,’ using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
Jackson added: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, ‘Let It Be,’ has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades.
“I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for ‘Get Back,’ and I’ve always thought that ‘Let It Be’ is needed to complete the ‘Get Back’ story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and ‘Let It Be’ is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: ‘Let It Be’ is the climax of ‘Get Back,’ while ‘Get Back’ provides a vital missing context for ‘Let It Be.’ Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made ‘Get Back,’ and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word…looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
Fans of The Fab Four can see Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, and the late John Lennon and George Harrison alongside the late Billy Preston, the only musician to be given a credit on a Beatles recording after he played the piano on ‘Get Back’.
‘Let It Be’ will debut exclusively on Disney+ May 8, 2024.