For nearly half a century a film of one of Aretha Franklin's most iconic performances has been gathering dust unseen by her millions of fans, but it could now finally be released.

The documentary movie - Amazing Grace - features the Queen of Soul singing two gospel concerts at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles in 1972.

It was shot by the Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack and is said, by the small number of people who have seen it, to be one of the greatest concert movies of all time, an Oscar contender if it were to be shown publicly. One person who has seen it called it "jaw dropping".

Franklin, who died on Thursday aged 76, had been locked in a long legal battle over the film, several times coming close to allowing its release, only to change her mind.

A person with knowledge of the saga told The Telegraph: "The movie will come out. It seems the family is interested in it coming out."