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| Let It Be on DVD? (Page 1 of 2) | | RadioJP on 3/3/08 8:07 AM |
I'd like to know the REAL reasons why "Let It Be", one of the most amazing films of all time has yet to be released on DVD.
| | [Posted by DaveHaber on 3/3/08 8:25 AM] Have you watched it lately? It contains some wonderful musical performances of the Beatles, which as fans we treasure, but in between the songs it really does document the break-up of the band, it's painful to watch in some places. And it really makes George look bad, who was getting very disillusioned with the band at that time, especially in the scene where Paul is trying to tell him what to do in a song, and George says something to the effect of, "I'll play what you want, or I won't play at all if that's what you want." My understanding is that it was George who held up the rerelease of the film all these years, and Olivia now uses her Beatles proxy to continue his wishes. However, the conventional wisdom is that it is in completed, restored form and just sitting on the shelf waiting to be rereleased. So, fans continue to have hope that it will be.
| | [Posted by Binaural on 3/20/08 4:57 PM] It was released on DVD in limited edition. A good friend of mine has a copy that I viewed a few weeks ago.
| | [Posted by DaveHaber on 3/20/08 7:02 PM] Let It Be was released officially on VHS and Laser Disc in the 80's. I don't think it's ever been released legitimately on DVD, any DVD would have to be a bootleg made from the previous VHS or Laser Disc.
| | [Posted by namralos on 3/22/08 1:22 PM] There has never been a "reasonable" version of the Let It Be film available to the public. The version of the film that was released by United Artists on VHS and Betamax in 1981 was a pan-and-scan version of the original movie. No attempt was made to find a "best" version of the 16mm film, and reportedly, some parts were taken from an 8mm copy. This same version was copied onto Laserdisc and RCA Video Disc. In the early-mid 90's, some work was done on compiling a "best" version of the movie, but this was never released. Collectors like the Laser Disc version, but these suffer from "laser rot" -- and they were never proper transfers of the original film to begin with. Many bootlegs are therefore taken from the VHS tape. Allegedly, George objected to the re-release of the film, and Olivia continues that objection. We do know that Neil Aspinall said in an interview some time last year that any potential DVD release would be delayed because it was "controversial" -- possibly indicating the disagreements between the ex-Beatles (and their estates). Maybe it will finally come out on its 100th anniversary! Frank Daniels
| | [Posted by fascher on 3/28/08 7:41 PM] Hi Frank, hanksa for the info.
BTW, it's good to see you here, your Capitol Records page is great. Regards from Oliver (fascher), Germany. ;-)
| | [Posted by RadioJP on 4/1/08 5:14 AM] I really don't understand the reservations any of the Apple principals might be having with releasing Let it Be. I don't think it "documents the breakup of the band"....I also disagree that it's "painful to watch". The part where Paul and George have a little tense argument is a small part of the film. Bottom line is that Let It Be is steeped in reality...not unlike Dylan's "Don't Look Back" (which HAS been released on DVD). All the musical performances are LIVE and the music is amazing. In my opinion, it is the best of their 5 films. Also, for anyone who thinks it's a "painful" film to watch, when Let It Be IS finally released, it's likely that bonus footage will be included. There is enough excellent footage left in the can to make this a 2 or 3 disc set. A lot of the stuff most people have never seen includes The Beatles laughing and carrying on between the tracks. It won an OSCAR for best soundtrack. Every lame movie ever made is available on DVD...why hold back on THE BEATLES' final film featuring actual performances? Apple is making a huge mistake in preventing the release of this film.
| | [Posted by drrobert61 on 5/30/08 4:38 PM] I bought this VHS video in 81 for 79.99 & also bought The Getback video album & winter of discontent (2 disc set ) for 20.00 in PA. & put together ,this is what they should do for this (pending legit )release but I doubt they will ever do it. my point is :watching this stuff, they weren't having that bad of a time in fact they were having a pretty good time after they got out of Twickingham Studios especially George & John.
| | [Posted by Wogew on 11/13/08 2:02 AM] The official USA VHS/Laser disc by United Artists is not a pan-and-scan job, but it's certainly based on the theatrical version, which was presented in 35mm. The movie was shot with 16mm cameras, which meant that the 35mm theatrical release was an overblown, zoomed-in version of what's on the original camera reels.
There are three different versions available on the bootleg DVD market (all Let It Be DVD's are bootlegs), and they look like this: 1. taken from an official USA laser disc
2. taken from a semi-legal german VHS (with german subtitles)
3. taken from the 1982 BBC2 TV screening in the UK. Of these, the laser disc based DVD's presents the most cropped picture, whereas the german version presents the fullest picture. The UK TV version lies somewhere in between, but is probably the best version to watch on a modern widescreen TV.
| | [Posted by millertek on 12/7/08 1:37 AM] They have been teasing us about it for years - we even saw remastered footage in Anthology, so we know it can (or has) been cleaned up. DVDs out today are bootlegged and usually copied from the laserdisk which is from the same source as VHS copies. So it's quality is not so good either...in another post I have photos of my Let It Be VHS from Germany - and it's better then the US copies because it's 'zoomed out' or something as you see more background and people are not so close up and cut off...wierd. There is even some unreleased outtake bootleg out there in B&W with John and Yoko mainly, but that was not even official film footage - but someone with a handheld camera. So - why is not on DVD? many reasons maybe. The Beatles never liked it, because to them it was a sad film about their last days - so maybe it isn't something they consider a priority to focus on. I think they realize it's historic significance now, but who knows.... If they are intending on re-cutting it with more footage, etc - it might be possible nobody has taken on such a task of dealing with it, cutting it, getting the approvals, etc - all the red tape...because of the strange reason that even though nobody should care now 30+ years later, the people involved seem to make it a big deal when they attempt it.
I mean we know during that 30 day period - it ALL was filmed...so there's about 300 hours of film...who decides to watch it and decide what should be added? In my opinion, it is crazy when you think about it...I say release the original film cleaned up and be done with it. That was director Lindsey-Hogg's cut and it still won an Oscar...leave it alone. Other footage? well - it's gotten like the Beach Boys unreleased SMILE sessions - all of the fans demand it and yet there's no clear direction on what to do...I say just put a 2nd DVD with raw misc footage.
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