Liger

I'm currently going through an intense period of interest in all things Beatles (this tends to come around about once every 2 or 3 years, in a near-consistent cycle of obssession which also takes in the likes of The Who, Scott Walker and even the earliest days of Adam and the Ants, to name but a few, but which this time has a grip on my attention like never before).

Anyway, I'm posting here, not to wax lyrical about how great this band is, but rather to ask whether anyone can help in my quest to find lost or forgotten films and/or broadcasts about the lads from Liverpool.

As a youngster I remember watching films such as Richard Marquand's 'Birth of the Beatles' and seeing the broadcast of what I seem to recall was a BBC Omnibus drama / documentary, marking what I think must have been the 5-year anniversary of Lennon's death, starring Bernard Hill as Lennon. There was also an interesting ITV documentary about the making of the Sgt Pepper album(shown, I suppose in 1987, and entitled 'It was 20 Years Ago Today'), which I remember had 3D animated sequences emulating the Sgt Pepper sleeve. I recorded all of these, but appear to have kept none.

Another title I remember fondly, was the Malcolm McDowell-narrated 'The Compleat Beatles', which I watched and rewatched so many times as a kid I know it almost inside out. However, I was lucky enough to find a great quality ex-rental cassette of this for £4 recently, so am not looking for this. Similarly I have commercially available titles such as 'Backbeat' and 'John & Yoko: a Love Story'.

Without wanting to pitch in with a ridiculously open-ended request (for anything ever made), I would be very grateful for any feedback from anyone who shares my interest, but who was a little smarter than I was when it came to preserving their off-air TV recordings...

Many thanks,
Sam

ChristineCB

I understand there have been historic reservations by the Beatles about releasing LET IT BE, although bootlegs of the films circulate among their fans. I have yet to understand why they think the commercial release of a good remastered version would injure their image - all of their fans know about bickering and arguments. Their non-fans aren't going to buy it anyway - who do they think they're protecting their oh-so-dear image from?!!

After watching the Ed Sullivan TV Show DVDs, I am amazed by the incredibly poor sound systems, the awful camera and lighting technology, and the Miami's audience almost complete lack of reaction - "rattling their jewelry" would have been too much.

Or perhaps I should be surprised that the 3D cut-outs were so life-like?

willothewisp

I have the 20 Yrs Ago Today documentary and the Bernard Hill Lennon tv play plusa few other bits and pieces you might like.

PM me if interested :-)

Liger

I'm given to understand that it was primarily George Harrison who objected to the release of the LET IT BE film (citing it as a dark time in his life). As such, it could well be that there is no longer such resistence from the Beatle camp.

Also, recent activities (such as the arrest of bootleggers in Amsterdam and the UK a few years back, and the recovery of the days' worth of 'Nagra' tapes on which the 'Get Back' sessions were recorded) suggest that there's possibly more to come from this era from Apple (restored / remastered DVD?), and that the recent 'Let It Be... Naked' CD isn't it.

Strikes me that January 2009 would be a good time to re-release the film, and some of the officially unreleased sesssions too, as it would mark the 40th anniversary of the recordings.

Obviously, I'm hoping something will happen sooner, rather than later though!

image45

I have a small audio recording of the lads chatting about what they saw on BBC 2 the night before from 1969. This includes the 'Out of the Unknown' episode ~ Immortality Inc that is now missing from the BBC archives as they wiped the master 625 PAL tape and no other copies were retained.
Very random but nice all the same.

"Seya next time!"

sheriff_bart

i remember reading an article some years ago about the let it be film and the footage that exists of it.
it appears the film company that shot the movie just kept the cameras rolling and there is supposed to be somewhere in the region of 48 hours of footage.
they were if i recall going to hand it over to the BFI for preservation but i can't seem to find anything on it since.
wonder where it is now.

sippog

Somebody posted a link here a while back to MP3 versions of the Beatles christmas messages - the ones distributed on flexidisc to their official fans. If you can find them, they're a fascinating mini-history of the group.

The early messages, presumably dashed off in the studio after sessions, are the best demonstration I've heard of their scouse wit and genuine originality. By 1969, you get "phoned in" versions; heavily mixed and overdubbed; with sour digs by Lennon at the others for not accepting Yoko.

It tells the whole Beatles story in miniature.

ChristineCB

And the Big Pink tapes during Harrison's stay in Woodstock during 1968 with Clapton, Dylan, The Band, Leon Russell, Delaney & Bonnie and that crowd.

MarcMorris

There were also a whole heap of 60s Beatles cartoons, too.

Nucleus Films:
DVD Releasing + Extras Production

willothewisp

I have all The Beatles animated series, they're really fun!

CALF28

I was in a 'Pound' shop (everything £1.00) the other day and bought a DVD of 'The Beatles, A Long and winding Road'. Ther was also a DVD about Lennon which I din't buy. If you have one of these pound shops near you it might be worth checking it out. There was also some classic British films and documentaries, only a QUID each!!!!!!!

ChristineCB

I forgot about the Beatles cartoons - some 30-odd, I believe. 40? Something like that. I was amazed to see they trimmed verses out of many (all?) of the songs. Very interesting. I guess they had to make room for more commercials.

spliffy

Here's a few rarities that I have in the 'vaults':

South Bank Show: John Lennon: The Dream Is Over (1986)
South Bank Show: The Making Of Sgt. Pepper (1992)
The Beatles: All You Need Is Ca$h (1995)
The Real John Lennon (2000)

..also The Who in

Whole Scene Going (1966)

...and The Walker Brothers in the German

Beat Club (1965?)

If you are interested, and have anything interesting to exchange, please let me know.