Missing 1970s Beatles Documentary ‘Let It Be’ Shall Stream Via Disney+. First Time In 50 Yrs!

Missing 1970s Beatles Documentary ‘Let It Be’ Shall Stream Via Disney+. First Time In 50 Yrs!

"Disney+ is adding to its library of music documentaries, bringing a long lost Beatles doc to its slate.

The streaming service is adding the 1970 film Let It Be to its platform, beginning May 8, 2024. It will be the first time that the film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, has been made available to watch in 50 years.

Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production restored the film, with Lindsay-Hogg’s support, allowing for its rerelease. Jackson, of course, directed the 2021 documentary for Disney+ The Beatles: Get Back.

Let It Be follows The Beatles as they record the aforementioned album, and as they perform for what would be their final time as a group.

Disney says that the background and story provided by Get Back allows for the film to be more fully appreciated, with Jackson and Lindsay-Hogg now voicing support for people to see both projects in a more complete context.

“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,” Lindsay-Hogg said in a statement. 

The director added, “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 the 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.”

“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” added Jackson. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story… The two projects support and enhance each other: Let It Be is the climax of Get Back, while Get Back provides a vital missing context for Let It Be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made Get Back, and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word…looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”" - Hollywoodreporter.com