The Beatles’ 1970 ‘Let It Be’ documentary to be re-released on Disney+

nme.com:

The Beatles’ classic 1970 documentary film Let It Be on May 8, NME can exclusively announce.The film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, was first released in cinemas 54 years ago and has been difficult to obtain since – prompting considerable bootlegging.

It features footage of the Fab Four while they were writing and recording their 12th and final studio album of the same name in January 1969 at London’s Twickenham Film Studios.Later in the film, the band moves to the headquarters of their company Apple Corps on Savile Row for further rehearsals and the iconic rooftop concert – the four Beatles’ last performance together as a group.As he did for the 2022 docuseries Get Back, which features extra archive material from the Let It Be shoot, acclaimed filmmaker Peter Jackson has used state-of-the-art digital technology to restore the 55-year-old film reels to crisp, modern quality.“Over the years, the original [film] print probably hasn’t been looked after that well and it didn’t look that good anymore,” Lindsay-Hogg told NME. “When Peter got involved [for Get Back] – and thank God he did – he had to do restoration on the original footage that was used in Let It Be [as well as the archive material].

And so when the idea of [re-releasing] Let It Be came up again [after Get Back was released], a lot of the work had already been done.”The cut of the film remains the same, though Lindsay-Hogg and his director of photography, Anthony Richmond, wanted Let It Be to retain some of its “filmic” charm after restoration work – and asked Jackson to change the presentation slightly from how it looked in Get Back. “Peter had chosen a more digital look which looked almost contemporaneous,” said Lindsay-Hogg.