The Beatles get back with a little help from Disney & Peter Jackson

After uncovering 57 hours of unseen footage, a new film documentary by acclaimed film director Peter Jackson will be released this month, covering The Beatles' recording sessions for Let It Be, the subsequent planning of a live concert and the resulting abridged famous rooftop show. I must be honest, the sheer volume of media excitement around this has been intriguing and raised as many eyebrows as heartbeats; afterall wasn't Let It Be the most maligned Beatles' album? Weren't Beatles' supposedly at war at this point?

      As is generally the case, the truth is far murkier and more complex than the publicly believed narrative. Certainly, the starters for ten of the teaser trailer and then the more recently released official trailer just show what the fuss is all about, with arguably the then four most famous people on the planet having the time of their lives in full bright colour, in the rehearsal room, in the same room for far longer than any of us realised. In short, it is Beatles' heaven. Or is it?

      Given the scarcity of footage of the fab four playing any footage - whether it is rehearsing, recording or playing to an audience - was almost certainly going to make apple scruffs giddy with excitement and the money men go "kerrching!" and it is hard to believe it took this long to uncover it. Step forward superfan Peter Jackson who suggested he could selflessly trawl through hours and hours of tape.

      Whilst ostensibly it is Beatles' heaven, of the footage and transcripts I've seen there's actually very little going on. For example with the extended conversation printed in this month's Mojo Magazine. A page long and primarily a two way conversation between the de facto band leaders Lennon & McCartney about the point of them being there, it actually gives us very little other than a lot indecision and "you knows", Lennon undoubtedly slowed down by his heroin addiction at the time, McCartney just unsure of how to see this big idea of a concert movie to fruition given the indifference that surrounds him. Add to that the fact we know the resulting music was decidedly mixed - at least to Beatles' standards - and I can't help wondering whether it does deserve as much attention as it's getting? How much of this is genuinely important?

      The answer is surely that it is genuinely important insofar as it's a historical artifact, a visual almost unique evidence of a once great, truly great British institution knowing it's 'best' days are behind them, in terms of fame, in terms of ambition and ultimately relationships. So the title of the original album is apt, it is to let it be, sit back and enjoy four musicians sitting together, being friends and enjoying each others company. Yes they had disagreements but don't all marriages have those? George did walk out, Ringo does often look fed up, but hey that's life isn't it? And yes the original album was much maligned but that's as much due to bad timing - it was released the month after Paul McCartney's quit the group to legally separate him from new manager Allen Klein's dubious practises - as poor songs and (Phil Spector's abhorrent) production. Compared to their classic Abbey Road it was a sad farewell but this film ensures they have the last laugh, indeed they have a laugh, as Paul McCartney self-deprecatingly refers to in the film, that after fifty years we're still crazy about them and their enduring songs.