Is 'Let it Be' DVD finally coming?

I don't doubt that Yoko has little or no affection for the film, but she allowed several such clips to be included in the Anthology.

 

Don't you think Yoko is already used to being a target for the past 47 years?
It's amusing to think that if Yoko DID want the film released, anti-Yoko people would say she's out for attention because she's in it; otherwise, she is the one stick in the mud who's "holding up the movie".

BTW, I think John looks like the cool guy by knowing when to give it up in looking indifferent, as Paul is trying to sell him on something that's already reached its expiration date.

Nobody looks especially "good" in LET IT BE... some even think Paul comes off badly as being "bossy" (I don't agree).

 

Presumably when Yoko is no more, her controlling share of Apple will pass to Sean. It will be interesting to see what his approach is, he is clearly very close to Yoko and loves her dearly, I wonder if he will sanction releases that his Mother didn't want?

 

I remember going to California when I was 20 and had a limited amount of money on me for 3 weeks. I saw the Let It Be video in a rental store (in 1989). I asked if I could buy it, they said yes for $70. I bought it and didn't have much money for the rest of my time in CA. I sold it in 2002 but I had tacked on a clip after the film from a bootleg of Let It Be outtakes where Yoko is singing the day George quit. I figure someone would be blown away at that being on their store bought copy.

 

LOL that is awesome !

 

Just release it already while there's still enough people interested in buying a deluxe blu-ray boxed set.

 

I'll buy the new HMC when its released. If its as good as The SHEA! remaster Ron did, it will be good enough for me .

 

Nah, she'll cast a spell on Sean and make him do her bidding. (Just like the spell she cast on John to do likewise)

And to jeatleboe - it's a joke, son.

 

jeatleboe is no longer with us. At least not as jeatleboe, anyway...

 

Some interesting screencaps comparing the HMC version to a couple of others over on the Wog Blog: http://wogew.blogspot.com/2016/02/let-it-be-comparison.html

While it appears to indeed be the '92 restoration and the overall video quality is superior to the myriad of stuff that's been out for years from LD or obscure TV airings, it looks like both "variants" of the '92 restoration (HMC versus the clips posted by "Revolver TV") have the same framing, and they both have a significant amount of image cropped off the bottom, to the point of apparently actually cutting off a bit of some of the opening on-screen titles.

Best running guess at the moment is that the copies they got were timecoded and cropped to remove the timecode.

While the HMC version is missing the on-screen end titles, it otherwise appears to have the same framing and video quality as the "Revolver TV" version. In fact, the weird vertical stretch on the "Revolver TV" clips may have been, I'm guessing, in order to stretch it back to a 4x3 aspect ratio.

It looks like the HMC version, due to the cropping, is not quite 4x3 anymore but something closer to 1.66x1. I don't know how this translates to the actual DVD (e.g. is it widescreen then and anamophically enhanced?), as I haven't seen the HMC version yet.

By default, it looks like the HMC version will probably still be the "best" full version of the movie out there until Apple does a legit release. I'm hoping the HMC version might motivate them a bit more.

 

Had a chance to actually watch the "HMC" version, and I think my previous thougts and the screencaps on that site are pretty accurate.

This version looks and sounds by far the best out of all the full length versions floating around. It looks like a couple VHS generations away from the clips seen in "Anthology."

The main issue is the cropping on the bottom of the picture. This leaves the picture with an aspect ratio of around 1.50x1, give or take.

Despite this, I'd still say this would be the version to watch until Apple puts this thing out.

If the thing wasn't cropped, it would be close to perfect in terms of being close to what a 1992 VHS copy of this restoration would have looked like.

 

Thank you for your assessment.
Saying that this looks like a VHS copy a couple of generations away from Anthology clips is the deciding factor for me.
I will NOT be looking to find and purchase this. I have no desire for VHS quality copies in today's era. I will wait...I've waited for all these years, a few more (or 10 more) can't make that much difference.

 

To be clear, it looks better than any official laserdisc or videotape or boot DVD out there.

It looks like the same restoration used for Anthology, but undoubtedly copied into VHS tape before leaking.

There's never going to be something beyond VHS quality until Apple does it officially, unless somehow some first generation digital copy from the 2000s leaks. Considering it took 24 years for a videotape copy of the 1992 restoration to leak, that seems unlikely.

 

Too bad about the crop. It is disappointing, but this still seems to be THE best placeholder until Apple decides to provide us with an authorized release. Especially since I don't have any version at this point - unless there is a better one out there (anyone?).

But, we should keep in mind that there is no assurance that Apple's eventual release will use the full frame, rather than one of the cropped variations (crop of a crop of a crop...).

I have long since made my peace w Apple, with no expectation that their releases will be "correctly" conceived and executed, so I would expect at least one major "miss" for the eventual LET IT BE release.

Unless someone can steer my differently, i am looking forward to getting the HMC as soon as i can.

 

I believe all Apple-sanctioned releases of footage from the film (meaning "Anthology" and the "Beatles 1" Blu-ray/DVD) have used the uncropped 16mm, 4x3 version. The "Anthology" presumably used clips from Furmanek's 1992 restoration, while the "Beatles 1" Blu-ray of course is a more recent HD scan of the negative. I would like to see some "Beatles 1" HD screencaps next to screencaps of the HMC and other versions.

I think every version around has slightly different framing. But I would imagine there's little if anything in the old LD or obscure TV airing versions that isn't in the framing of the "Anthology" or "Beatles 1" clips.

 

Does anyone know why the HMC version has such a blue, bright blue sky? I mean... here's the latest Don't Let Me down and the sky is anything but blue.

 

By 1992, the year of the Furmanek restoration, weren't they already airbrushing out the ciggies from picture sleeves?
Maybe this was compensation. Airbrush out the ciggies, airbrush in a blue sky.
The Beatles did invent weather modification, after all.
Since they weren't going to be performing a live concert in North Africa just as the sun came up over the horizon, well perhaps they could bring a bit of sun and blue sky and "je ne sais quoi" (to quote Ron Nasty) to London on a bleak January day.

 

Whoever did the color timing for the 92 restoration decided on a blue sky rather typical London grey.

 

Maybe the new Apple color timing is wrong? It wouldn't be the first time in the last couple of years! Here's a still where the sky looks slightly blue rather than grey:

http://www.feelnumb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/beatles-08.jpg

Derek

 

but according to accounts, the day was gloomy, cloudy, windy. Your typical winter day in London. So why on earth the sky would be so blue instead of grey?


here rather gray.


here we have a tiny spot of blue, just a see-through, but not entirely blue cloudless sky.

I will look around more the Let it Be photo book once I am back home. pictures from there would shed even more light.

 

plus. clips from Anthology and these latest ones are the only ones to reveal very faint but visible artificial lighting from below - something absent on all other versions I've seen.

 

Another thought (forgive me if it's already been raised): By the time Let It Be gets an official release, will the DVD or Blu-Ray even be a viable format? I am thinking they should hustle a little because I assume they could charge more for a physical product (but then I'm not sure what the profit margin would be for a download or whatever versus an actual disc).

 

I, too, doubt we will see a restored version of the Let It Be film so soon. Instead hope for some Savile Row sessions (in stereo) on a couple of CDs sometime, for a Let It Be box set or something.