The Original 'Let It Be' Film Is Finally Coming To Streaming

TV & Film

Apr 18

At last, Beatles fans will finally be able to see the original Let It Be film in all its glory. Earlier this week, the band’s Facebook page posted a cryptic message that read “At last” and showed an image of a blank poster with four squares, presumably for the four members of the group. Keen-eyed Beatlemaniacs noticed that it resembled the poster for the 1970 film, and they would soon be proven right.

It was soon announced that the film would be coming to Disney+. This marks the first time Let It Be has been available on any home media format since the 1980s. The movie has been remastered and restored by Peter Jackson and his team from the original 16mm film source. Michael Lindsay-Hogg gave Jackson his full approval and support, though he did request that the footage have a more “filmic” look rather than the digital look of the Get Back miniseries.

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Let It Be mystery poster — Image Source: Facebook

Lindsay-Hogg hopes that this re-release will give viewers a new perspective on his work, stating, "’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, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs. And then you get to the roof and you see their excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with ‘Get Back,’using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”

Peter Jackson views Get Back and Let It Be as companion pieces and always hoped to see the original film re-released once he started working on the Get Back project. Jackson felt that he “was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for 'Get Back,’” and felt that it was only natural for the original film to be released to “complete the ‘Get Back’ story.” Regardless of how the film was viewed upon its original release, it’s clear that both Lindsay-Hogg and Jackson are hoping to change the perception of the film from being about The Beatles breaking up to a band working together. Let It Be will re-premiere on Disney+ on May 8th.

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