if its going to look like the original grainy mess no thanks ,At times it looks stunning,but its still 16mm shot indoors
Indeed! Plus you can subtitle everything else via the Disney+ subtitles. But of course the audio should be much clearer than the boots anyway, thanks to the new software PJ used to isolate & remix sound elements from the mono recordings.
Just finished Part 1, and this certainly calmed my fears of 6 hours of content being plodding. I've never listened to the nagra reels or anything so much of this stuff is new to me. I was very impressed that they took No Pakistanis/Commonwealth head-on and provided context for them.
Only watched about 2/3 before I couldn't stay awake any longer but some impressions so far: Yay the Third Man theme!! I too wish there were more full performances. Crushed that the 6th January trial concert got breezed through - their playing is great. Cool to see all the libations... I love Mal. Where the heck are the oldies??? Too expensive to license? Draw too much focus away from the narrative? I wanted the 3rd January Elvis/Perkins medley, dammit!
I was amused to see the warning at the beginning of the film that there would be scenes of people smoking.
Probably right - about the narrative considerations nixing the oldies. Peter Jackson said he prioritised story over music (in the TWST podcast) unfortunately....
Loving part 1 so far! So exciting to see this beautiful footage. One unexpected fun tangent was seeing George's Hari Krishna friend in the studio and being reminded of my various visits to Bhaktivedanta Manor in Lechmore Heath -the village is also a big location site used in The Avengers and many ITC spy shows so I've had a few reasons to visit. One day while I was wandering around the green I ran into one of the old-timers from the temple (Dutch guy; I don't remember his name now), who gave me a book and talked a bit about George and the history of the place. It was really a sweet interaction. Ever since, I've enjoyed stopping inside the manor grounds to see the large garden dedicated to George. Great place to visit if you are in the area.
When licensing oldies for video (unlike for audio where you can automatically get a license for a set royalty), composers can charge any price they want and can seek approval over the version to be used (most of these are crap versions) and over the content of the work as a whole. And a lot of the oldies here are really played for only a few seconds. So they would have been paying high fees and possibly giving approval rights to lots of entities to show things that did not add much value. And while the list of the oldies they played is enticing, if you listened through them all you would find at least 95% really unworthy of release. Also who knows if they shot video of any given one.
I've watched almost two hours so far and can't believe there is another 45 minutes still! I want to take my time and enjoy all this. Great stuff. It doesn't seem to be the big whitewash that some feared it would be. The famous "fight" with George comes off instead as more Paul having a bout of insecurity. What's being presented is pretty much what we've all heard on the boots, only with fantastic footage. I really can't believe there are HOURS more to go!
True, about the footage bit. I have heard some but certainly not all - I would call Crackin' Up, Hi Heel Sneakers, Honey Hush, Hippy Hippy Shake, Hitch Hike, Sure To Fall and Lucille release-worthy from Jan 2-10.
I kept saying to myself, "omg, he's actually doing what I hoped and prayed he would but never expected, a total nerdfest. Finally, a music film made for me." [sniffle]
I get a kick out of him. It's almost like Get Back is a scripted play, and just like you have to have a band member temporarily quit, you also have someone in the annoying director role. Lindsay-Hogg's suggestion that after George left, they could still have their concert but just say that George couldn't make it because he was sick for instance.
The Pitchfork review mentions that there’s a significant amount of jams on rock ‘n’ roll oldies in the second part. Which makes sense if the narrative is that the sessions got significantly better tension wise once they went back to Apple Studios, as some spirited oldies jams would definitely show that.
Strange. Completely different perspective for me. Of everyone on set, he seems the most enthusiastic to get something monumental, visual, and dramatic. I think he's a bit flabbergasted because the film studio is booked, the crew is hired, and the dates are set, but... the actual idea for the project has not been finalized (!). He was under the impression that the major concert that this project was leading to was going to be the most important of this whole project... and no one else seems that concerned. He's desperately looking for an "arc." He's thinking in terms of "visual" -- that's why the "Paperback Writer," "Rain," "Hey Jude," and "Revolution" videos are quite interesting and compelling.
Watching Paul react to some of the songs in the Dick James catalog, I've got a feeling he (Paul) began to realize the value aspect of owning music publishing. Dick James sending drinking glasses to George as a present and then commenting that they are 'suitable for drinking or throwing' was surprising.
