1 DVD Fab Productions Professional Master 16mm footage > ? Transfer > ? Author > DVD NTSC 4:3 84:10m
Fab Productions Yes Yes Multiple 1
Produced by British underground DVD compilers "British Lions" and sold by American bootleg DVD brand "FAB Productions" is a new version of the Let It Be movie, which boasts to have a near complete, uncropped version of the film. The movie makers seem to be under the impression that the official laser disc and video cassette versions (USA) were somehow cropped in comparison to the theatrical release of this film. Could well be, I've never seen this film in a movie theatre. However, my understanding is that the theatrical release was a 35mm film blown up (and zoomed in) from the original 16mm footage.
The US laser disc and video cassette editions are simply transfers from that one. Whereas the original 16mm cut of the movie was shown on TV in Germany in the early nineties (and later became an official looking bootleg VHS cassette, complete with german subtitles). Be that as it may, British Lions and FAB Productions have now made an effort to bring us a version of the film with as little cropping as possible. 95% of the movie is presented with a bigger picture frame than the one we are familiar with from the earlier DVD's made from the laser disc. There are two songs from the rooftop sequence where no uncropped footage has been found, and they are presented here as we remember them. The uncropped footage has been collected from various sources, we are told. In general, the picture is a little bit brighter than the laser disc edition. Sometimes it's also a little fuzzier, has more jagged edges and there are occasional video cassette tape artifacts. All in all though, it's an enjoyable edition - but one that I feel can still be improved on. There's a feature which compares the laser disc edition to the uncropped edition, which shows you just how much of a bigger picture this version gives us.
The entire DVD uses various sources throughout the film.
Remastered clips that have appeared from different Apple promos
The German TV broadcast
Clips from an old ABC TV special (Beatles Revolution)
The good thing is the entire film looks better The bad is the quality of the pix fluctuates throughout the film and since the croppings of the prints vary, the pix has a tenancy to "snap" (zoom in and out of the print) at various times. You really notice less when the print sources change at the timing of scene changes.
They tried to remaster the audio,,,, some of the remastered clips have such a higher rec level, that the audio stands out too much compared to the rest of the film.
there are 2 sections of the DVD that cover comparisons of the different prints.
Another bonus clip shows the rooftop performance in widescreen with a little computer SWF animation lifted from the recreated rooftop performance from the Beatles website.
