Let It Be (film)

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Movie
German title let it be
Original title let it be
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1970
length 81 minutes
Rod
Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg
production Neil Aspinall
Mal Evans
music The Beatles
camera Anthony B. Richmond
cut Tony Lenny
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Yellow Submarine
(1968)

Successor  →
The Beatles: The First US Visit
(1991)

Let It Be is a documentary about the Beatles directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969 and released in 1970. He shows the Beatles rehearsing and working in the studio for a new album. The film received an Oscar in 1971 for best film music (Original Song Score) .

The title track was recorded by the Beatles while they were shooting for the film on January 31, 1969. The song Let It Be appeared on the album of the same name . An alternate version of the song was released as a single .

Emergence

Savile Row 3 , location of the last live performance

After the recordings for the album The Beatles , which were marked by disputes between the musicians, the group found itself in a difficult phase at the beginning of 1969. For Paul McCartney , who had increasingly become the driving force of the Beatles after the death of manager Brian Epstein , a return to artistic roots seemed a way out of the crisis. After the Beatles had only worked in the studio since 1966, McCartney wanted to play "live" with the Beatles again. John Lennon showed little enthusiasm and George Harrison categorically refused to tour again, but was ready to work on a film. McCartney's idea of ​​returning to the origins of the Beatles gave rise to the title Get Back , which the film initially carried. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was hired as a director after previously working with The Beatles on commercials (music videos) for Paperback Writer , Rain , Hey Jude and Revolution .

On January 2, 1969, the Beatles first went to London's Twickenham Film Studios to rehearse new titles for appearance on a live television show. These samples were also filmed. The disputes within the group continued, however, and on January 10, 1969, there was a scandal when George Harrison annoyed the filming left, on the grounds that McCartney was constantly criticizing him. Harrison returned after a few days, but the idea of ​​performing live in front of a television audience was dropped. In order to still be able to use the material that had already been shot, it was decided to make a documentary instead, which should show the Beatles working on their new album.

On January 16, 1969, the last recordings took place in Twickenham . The Beatles found the atmosphere of the film set to be cold and artistically uninspiring and decided to continue work in their new studio on Savile Row  3 instead . On January 22, 1969, the studio was poorly equipped with studio equipment borrowed from EMI and the Beatles continued their rehearsals and recordings. From then on they were supported by the keyboardist Billy Preston , who not only set important musical accents, but whose presence also had a positive effect on the atmosphere in the studio.

On January 26, 1969, it was decided to give a concert on the roof of the Apple Corps headquarters . This was a compromise solution , because on the one hand it was still possible to realize the original concept of a live performance, on the other hand the public was excluded from a direct encounter with the group. Four days later, all the necessary preparations were done and the Beatles - also here supported by Billy Preston - went to the roof and played some of the titles they had worked out in advance during the 40-minute rooftop concert . About half of the performance can be seen in the film, as some songs were played several times and only one version was selected, whereby the - then - title track Get Back appears twice and opens and ends the performance. In between the tracks Don't Let Me Down , I've Got A Feeling , The One After 909 and Dig A Pony were played. During the performance, the film shows the reactions of surprised passers-by and finally the termination of the concert by the London police.

The film ends with the January 30 roof concert, but the final scenes of the film were shot on January 31, 1969. In this final recording session, the tracks that were unsuitable for the rooftop performance were recorded, such as the piano pieces The Long and Winding Road and Let It Be , as well as the acoustic guitar piece Two of Us .

A rough cut of the film Get Back was shown on July 20, 1969 for the Beatles. Lindsay-Hogg recalled that the rough cut was about an hour longer than the published version. Many scenes of John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, as well as scenes depicting conflicts, were removed from the film at the request of the Beatles. John Lennon complained about the final version that it mainly focused on Paul McCartney. Lindsay-Hogg did not show in the film that George Harrison left the group for a short time, so no recordings of the three remaining jamming Beatles were used. The conflict between McCartney and Harrison was retained in the final cut. In early 1970 it was decided to change the planned name of the film and the accompanying album from Get Back to Let It Be .

The Beatles were obviously happy when work on this project was finished. They left it to the producer Glyn Johns and then Phil Spector to take care of the completion of the album for the film, which finally appeared on May 8, 1970 as Let It Be after much quarrels .

Like the album, the film was only released in cinemas after the Beatles split up. In the USA the premiere was on May 13, 1970, a week later on May 20 the premiere was in the British film theaters in London and Liverpool .

On April 15, 1971, the Beatles received an Oscar for the film Let It Be in the category Best Score , the award was accepted by Quincy Jones .

Reviews

"Wistful swan song for the leading beat band of the 1960s, whose members present themselves in front of the camera as listless lone fighters."

- Lexicon of international film

"By no means exciting in its design, rather interesting because of the musical and social-historical conclusions that the Beatles themselves draw about themselves."

- Protestant film observer

The Beatles on the making of the film

The following quotes by the Beatles and George Martin are from The Beatles Anthology and reflect their opinions and memories:

Paul McCartney: “We started Let It Be at Twickenham Studios in January 1969, back then under the working title Get Back. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was the unit manager at the time. We planned to show the Beatles rehearsing how they jam together and develop their pieces. And in the end we wanted to do a big final concert somewhere. People should see how the whole process works. I remember having an idea for the last scene back then. The end should hold us tight for a long time and then transition into our appearance. We originally intended to board an ocean liner and then sail away from the world. But we ended up at Twickenham Studios. "

George Martin: "The Beatles said: 'Let's make a completely new album, the songs of which nobody knows and do it in front of an audience.' A great idea, but nowhere in England could you have an open air concert in February and there was no room to host the Beatles and all of their entourage. California came to mind, but it turned out to be too expensive. We thought about going to Marrakech and just taking people with us . But the suggestion also failed. In the end, despite everything, we were left empty-handed. So they moved to Twickenham Film Studios to do their plays and I went with them. There was a lot of discussion and little agreement. At that time they seemed like a rudderless ship. The four of them didn't like each other very much anymore, and there was constant friction between them. "

George Harrison: “I think the original idea came from Paul. We wanted to rehearse a few new songs, then find a suitable location for the performance and finally record the pieces from the new album on a live performance. First practice the melodies and then record them in the studio without post-processing. "

Paul McCartney: “Over time, I convinced the others of Let It Be. Then we got into a terrible argument and it looked like we could just show the separation. That would probably have been a better story, a sad one, but at least honest. What actually happened while we were working there was that the film showed our group breaking up. We didn't even notice that the Beatles were coming to an end. "

John Lennon: “Filming Let It Be was hell. When it came out, many complained that Yoko looked awful in it. But even the biggest Beatles fan would not have lasted for six weeks full of tension and stress. That was the worst session ever. "

George Harrison: “We never had much personal life, and now they even film us rehearsing. One day I and Paul had an argument. That is also recorded in the film. "

Paul McCartney: "When I look back on the film work today, I understand that you can get the impression that I was a bit in the foreground and pushed the others too much."

John Lennon: “It was just awful. And we were also filmed the whole time. I just wanted them to go away. We met at eight in the morning and couldn't start right away. Not even at ten and sometimes not at all in this strange place. "

Ringo Starr: “The rehearsal days dragged on endlessly, and there was a lot of boredom. Twickenham wasn't really in a good mood. The hall looked like an oversized barn. So we preferred to move to the new studios in Apple's basement for the rest of the recordings. You felt right at home, and it was all ours. "

George Harrison on Billy Preston: “Billy came down to the basement with me [Apple Studios] and I said, 'Hey, do you remember Billy? Here he is in full life size. He could play the piano. ' So he sat down at the electric piano and the atmosphere in the room immediately improved by 100 percent. "

Paul McCartney: “We were looking for the right ending to the movie and it all boiled down to,“ How can we finish this in two weeks? ”Someone suggested we go up on the roof of the building and give a concert there. "

George Harrison: “So we're up on the roof to see our live idea through. Firstly, it seemed easier to us than going anywhere else, and secondly, no one had done anything like this before us. So it would be interesting to see what happened after we started playing. A nice little study of society. We put a camera in the Apple lobby - behind a window so no one could see it - and we filmed the people who came in. All sorts of people appeared, including the police, and they said: 'It's not possible! You have to stop immediately! You can't do that! '“

Paul McCartney: “At some point Mal informed us that the police were on their way here. We said to him, 'We won't stop playing.' Then he said: 'Then they will arrest you.' - What a great ending for a film. "

George Martin: "The whole time I feared that I would be allowed to spend the night at the nearest police station because of public disturbances."

Ringo Starr: “But the police just stumbled on the roof and said, 'You have to turn the sound down.' It's a shame, it could have been so great. "

Film music and soundtrack album

The following songs were played in the film, the compositions are, if not stated otherwise, by Lennon / McCartney . The titles following their use in the film:

Twickenham Film Studios

  1. Paul's piano intro
  2. Don't let me down
  3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
  4. Two of Us
  5. I've got a feeling
  6. Oh! Darling
  7. One after 909
  8. Jazz Piano Song (McCartney / Starkey )
  9. Two of Us (Second Version)
  10. Across the universe
  11. Dig a pony
  12. Suzy Parker (Lennon / McCartney / Harrison / Starkey)
  13. I Me Mine (Harrison)

Apple Studio

  2. For You Blue (Harrison)
  3. Bésame mucho ( Consuelo Velázquez / Sunny Skylar )
  4. Octopus's Garden (Starkey)
  5. You've Really Got a Hold on Me ( Smokey Robinson )
  6. The Long and Winding Road
  7. Medley:
  9. Medley:
  11. Dig It
  12. let it be
  13. The Long and Winding Road (Second Version)

Rooftop Concert

  2. Get back
  3. Don't let me down
  4. I've got a feeling
  5. One after 909
  6. Dig a pony
  7. Get Back (Second Version)
  • On May 8, 1970 the soundtrack album Let It Be was released in Germany and Great Britain , in the USA the release took place on May 18, 1970. Due to the remixing and orchestral revision by Phil Spector, the original musical idea was not to make any subsequent changes, as in the Film, dropped.
  • In November 2003, a remixed version of the album was released under the title Let It Be ... Naked , which is an approximation of the original version of the album before the producer Phil Spector provided the recordings with orchestral and choir recordings.

Publication as a video

The film was released in the USA in 1981 on VHS and Betamax cassettes and then on laser disc . It was published in the United States by 20th Century Fox and Magnetic Video Corporation . Production was stopped over the following years.

A few months after the appearance of a VHS cassette in 1984 in Germany and the Netherlands by Warner Home Video , the film was due to legal problems with Apple again taken from the sale. Allegedly, George Harrison wanted to stop the spread of his argument with Paul McCartney.

In 1992, Let It Be was restored by Apple under the direction of Ron Furmanek, and the music was remastered and remixed. In 1997 this new version was supposed to be published by Apple , but it didn't. Excerpts from the 1992 version were shown in the 1995 documentary series Anthology .

The release on DVD has been driven by Neil Aspinall since 2002 , a parallel release with the album Let It Be… Naked did not take place. Michael Lindsay-Hogg announced in an interview that it would be released in a newly restored and remixed version for 2004. It was planned to release the film with an additional DVD with bonus material. Further announced release dates were not realized either.

In a 2007 interview , Neil Aspinall said in a 2007 interview: "The film was so controversial when it first came out. When we were halfway through the restoration, we looked at the outtakes and realized: this stuff is still controversial. It has raised many old problems. "

In 2008 it became known that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr had spoken out against publication. The record company Apple announced on July 31, 2008: "Neither Paul nor Ringo would feel particularly comfortable making a film about the Beatles in which everyone gets on each other's nerves."

Another restoration of the film took place in 2011.

In January 2019, it was announced that Peter Jackson would cut a new film from the 56-hour footage of the Let It Be filming. The music was remixed by Giles Martin . The film, entitled The Beatles: Get Back, was originally scheduled to have its cinema premiere on September 4, 2020. The film Let It Be should also be released shortly after the Jackson film's Blu-ray / DVD release.

In June 2020, the film premiere was postponed to August 27, 2021.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richie Unterberger: The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film. ISBN 0-87930-892-3 , pages 332-333
  2. ↑ Let It Be. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 15, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 363/1970.
  4. ↑ a b c d e The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 315.
  5. ↑ a b c The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 316.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 318.
  7. ^ The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 321.
  8. ↑ Message on Laut.de
  9. ↑ Information on The Beatles: Get Back