Let It Be ***½ (1970, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr) – Classic Movie Review 4875

Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s candid, award-winning 1970 British music documentary Let It Be is 81 minutes of Beatles bliss, photographed shot in 16mm in Technicolor by Anthony B Richmond, and edited down from hundreds of hours of raw footage. Lindsay-Hogg’s first cut ran for 210 minutes but this 81-minute cinema release version was edited in the absence of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, with much John and Yoko footage cut out. Lennon said: ‘The camera work was set up to show Paul and not to show anybody else’ and ‘The people that cut it, cut it as Paul is God and we’re just lyin’ around’.

It won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score for The Beatles and a Grammy for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

It is an essential collector’s item for fans of The Beatles, who are caught on camera making a back to basics album at Twickenham Film Studios while busy breaking up, but still find time to play their last concert together on a London rooftop, an unannounced lunchtime concert on the roof of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, Mayfair, London, in January 1969. On 30 January, the Beatles played with keyboardist Billy Preston on the rooftop in the cold wind for 42 minutes, about half of which has ended up in the film. The Beatles are seen closing the concert with a reprise of Get Back as the police arrive to shut the show down.

Let It Be features John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who also provide the music and executive produce the film, and Yoko Ono. The songs include Let It Be, Don’t Let Me Down, The Long and Winding Road, Two of Us,  Dig A Pony, Across the Universe, I Me Mine, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Dig It, I’ve Got a Feeling, One After 909, For You Blue, and Get Back.

Phil Spector is the music producer. McCartney hated Spector’s changes to his songs but Lennon disliked the original performances, and was satisfied with Spector’s work. Lennon said: ‘When I heard it, I didn’t puke.’

The former Apple Building, 3 Savile Row, Mayfair, London.

It was released on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc in 1981 but has not been officially available since the Eighties, although original and bootleg copies of the early Eighties home video releases still circulate after much bootlegging of the film, on VHS and then on DVD, derived from copies of the Eighties releases. So, yes, it is available on DVD.

Let It Be is directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, runs 81 minutes, is made by Apple Corps, is released by United Artists, is shot in Technicolor by Anthony B Richmond, is produced by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Neil Aspinall, Allen Klein and Mal Evans, with music by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, and Film Editing by Tony Lenny.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 4875

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com