First public screening of the “Let It Be” Film

Four Cavern girls mourn the passing of the old mop-haired Beatles

The Beatles are dead. The mop-haired group who rocked Merseyside and the rest of the world in the Sixties wrapped themselves up in a great roll of film and died to-day in the middle of Liverpool.

And there to see it were four of the girls who were caught up and swept along by that tide of emotion known as “Beatlemania.”

In their new film, “Let It Be,” there is none of the attraction of the old Beatles, which made girls flock to the Cavern when the group first exploded on to the scene.

Miss Doreen Stott, aged 21, of Delaware Crescent, Kirkby, saw the film and said: “Once we would go anywhere to see them. They were fantastic. But not now. They have changed completely and I don’t think they can ever go back. Their music is still fantastic and I still think they are the greatest group ever, but now they have dragged their personal life right out in public and spoiled it all.”

It’s the Beatles’ hairy image and way-out gear that put Miss Anita Anders, aged 22, off the new-style group.

Anita, of The Hawthorns, Netherton Estate, said: “I don’t like the way they look. They seem to be more individual as well. Not a group any more. All of them are separate and there isn’t the same feeling about them, although their music is still the best.”

Mrs. Pam McLaughlin, aged 26, of Hahnemann Road, Walton, said: “I think they get rather monotonous now. At first, when they changed, it was a novelty, but now they are out of touch you can’t associate yourself with them. At first they were ordinary, but money seems to have spoiled them and they have gone their separate ways.”

Mrs. Pat Moore, of Paton Street, Kirkdale, said: “Before, we could identify ourselves with them, but we can’t now. We may be older now, but they don’t seem ordinary any more. They seem sort of above us. Paul is still wonderful, though, with those great big brown eyes. I could look at him all day.”

The new film is to have a gala premiere tomorrow night at the Gaumont Theatre, Camden Street, Liverpool.

From Liverpool Echo – May 19, 1970

An occasion for sadness: Obituary on the Beatles

I ALWAYS feel sad writing obituary notices. So, perhaps you will forgive the occasional slight sob that you might detect in this review of The Beatles’ new film, Let It Be. Because it is an occasion for sadness.

Watching this eighty-one minute-long, U-certificated account of The Beatles making their latest LP I felt that I was sitting at the deathbed of one of the greatest group talents ever to escape from the trivial treadmill of so much pop music.

After all, theirs was the revolution that was to spin off so many other talents and experiments. They were generators as well as innovators — like able Liverpool lads who gave point and purpose and a pavement-poetry into this particular musical scene.

What emerges so definitely in this aimlessly-organised film, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, is that Paul, John, George and Ringo are going their very separate ways.

Paul talks incessantly and enthusiastically, sparking ideas. But nobody seems to listen. John — shadowed everywhere by Yoko Ono — only comes to life when giving vent to some great blues shouting. Ringo sits quietly, looking like some amiable, bored vulture. George seems to be contemplating some inward tension as taut as the strings he plucks so superbly.

As a documentary the film lacks any sense of style. An argument between George and Paul ignites for a moment, but is quickly damped down.

That kind of revelation of character is obviously considered too real for a film that is merely a long commercial for their LP. After all, The Beatles are the executive producers.

What is revealed though, as I say, is the distance between the four. Those stories about Paul and John and the group’s breakup are here given substance.

Of course the film has interest, especially to those who cannot believe that I was in at the death, those who like their immortals to remain forever fixed in the pop Parthenon.

So I regret the passing of an institution. As I regret that this film should be judged as the most suitable hearse for that institution.

From Liverpool Daily Post (Merseyside edition), May 21, 1970