Starring Paul McCartney & Wings, One Hand Clapping has been beautifully restored and remastered for a limited run on the big screen.

The past few years have been an exciting time for fans of The Beatles. Thanks to Peter Jackson, we’ve seen The Beatles: Get Back and a restoration of Let It Be. The team at WingNut films have now helped restore One Hand Clapping ahead of its big screen run. It’s no surprise that the music sounds absolutely astonishing–thank you, Steve Orchard Giles Martin. If anything, my main complaint is that it is hard to hear the between song dialogue without turning up the volume. MAL can only do so much in de-mixing. The interviews can also be a distraction if you just want to hear the songs. I love listening to the insight–don’t get me wrong–but I also want to hear the songs in their entirety, too. That said, Paul discusses his enjoyment over playing in a band and his writing process. Other band members discuss being in Wings.

Paul McCartney introduces the film and comes back at the end to introduce audiences to previously unreleased in full footage of the Backyard Sessions. We also get some unseen Polaroid photos at the start. As for the Backyard Sessions, Paul plays a few classics, mostly covers, on acoustic guitar. Among them are “Blackpool,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” and “Twenty Flight Rock” to name a few. Not all of the songs on the album are in the film but that’s okay. It’s still a solid product for fans of McCartney’s work. And again, the restoration and remastering are just magnificent here.

I have to be honest in that the film is my first introduction to the new album. I purposely decided to wait until after watching the film before listening to the recently released live in-studio album. What we have in the film is basically the first disc of the album. None of the songs on the second disc are in the film. That’s okay–we’re still getting to enjoy Paul McCartney & Wings on the big screen. Even with restoring the film, it still maintains the video tape look of the mid-1970s. At the time they started recording, Band on the Run was in its seventh consecutive week on top of the UK album charts. Both Jimmy McCulloch and Geoff Britton were new to the Wings at this time. Critically speaking, the Wings had found their sound by this point.

Let me just say, it was a great decision to film the historic recording session at Abbey Road Studios. It’s still weird to think that the August 1974 recording only saw the light of day as a complete album this past summer. Songs have certainly made their way into the limelight as bonus tracks or bootlegs. As far as the film goes, Paul McCartney gets the bulk of the screen time. Much of this is because of how the studios and camera are set up to focus on his singing. More often than not, Linda is right there next to him on piano.

DIRECTOR: David Litchfield
FEATURING: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, Geoff Britton, Howie Casey, Del Newman

Trafalgar Releasing will release One Hand Clapping in theaters on September 26, 2024. Grade: 5/5

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