Over fifty years ago, The Beatles recorded a new documentary featuring them rehearsing and recording songs for the album, “Let It Be”, which would go to become their last album. The documentary features some of the greatest and most well-known Beatles songs, including “The Long and Winding Road”, “Get Back”, and “Let It Be”, all of which are featured in this documentary.

Originally, this documentary was original going to be a series, that followed them in the build up to a big concert, which was going to be broadcasted live, but when that concert got cancelled, the documentary series ended up being reformated into a movie.

While there was no big concert to finish the film off, the group performed on the rooftop of their studio in London and put on a makeshift concert, which caused chaos in the streets of London.

This documentary was released in 1970 and on home video formats in the early 1980s, but it has been generally unavailable for decades. Peter Jackson used lots of the footage that was filmed for this documentary for his Disney+ Original series, “The Beatles: Get Back,” which was restored. From that project, the same technology was used to restore “Let It Be” for its streaming release.

This new version includes an introduction by Peter Jackson and the movie’s director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who talks about the importance of this film and how the footage helped create “Get Back”. And for me, it’s impossible not to compare the two documentaries, since they are both using the same footage and telling the exact same story, however its important to remember, “Let It Be” doesn’t have the benefit of heinsight and changing in documentary making.

Without doubt, if you are a fan of the Beatles, this is a must watch and features some amazing performances, however, in light of the release of “Get Back”, this feels more like a edited highlight compliation. Since “Get Back” is over seven hours long and this movie is only ninety minutes long, it does feel like “Let It Be” skips over all of the interesting parts, since, at the time, many of the members of the band were trying to protect their reputation and didn’t really want people to know the problems affecting the band.

Before watching “Get Back,” I had no clue any of this had happened, bar from seeing a little bit of footage over the years of the infamous rooftop performance. I can’t help but feel that had I not seen “Get Back,” I wouldn’t really know much more since this version doesn’t explain any of the band’s issues during this period.  

With “Get Back” being released fifty years after “Let It Be” was recorded, it had to explain the situation better, especially since a large portion of the Disney+ audience wasn’t born when it was released, so we needed more context about everything.  Whereas “Let It Be” was a promotional piece to go alongside a brand new album release, it is more about promoting their new songs. 

Overall, “Let It Be” is a must for Beatles fans, and it’s great that this original version is available for fans to watch. While “Get Back” suffered from being too long, this original version is more heavily edited and just gives you the best bits without any of the drama. I certainly enjoyed watching this film, and I’m glad it’s available for fans to watch just to enjoy their fantastic performances, just seeing London in the late 1960s in this high-quality footage is always a treat.

Rating – 4 Out Of 5

The Beatles “Let It Be” will be released on Disney+ around the world on Wednesday 8th May 2024.

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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