Review for The Wicker Man: 40th Anniversary (4 Discs)

There have been so many releases of ‘The Wicker Man’ on DVD that you’d be forgiven for not really knowing where to start. In fact, if you got really confused you might even end up buying the horrible remake from a few years ago with Nicholas Cage in the Edward Woodward role and that would be a real disaster.



Luckily, for those who are as yet uninitiated into Wickers-world, this set trumps all previous sets as it contains not just one, but three versions of the movie, including a fully restored ‘final cut’. It also has a whole host of extras, many from previous editions, so plenty here to get your teeth into.


The Wicker Man is arguably the finest British horror movie ever made in the UK. But its enduring cult appeal is because it’s actually so much more than just a horror movie. It’s also completely surreal, arguably a conspiracy theory movie, it’s a religious movie, it’s a funny movie and, dammit, it’s a musical too. God knows how it ever got made with all that going on as it sounds, on paper, like a disaster. But it isn't  Far from it. It seems to work on every level. 


So it’s been 40 years (well, 41 but who’s counting) since ‘The Wicker Man’ ran in UK cinemas, playing second fiddle to ‘Don’t Look Now’, arguably another ‘greatest horror film of all time’. (What a double-bill!). Unfortunately, by the time it was released it had been cut and edited within an inch of its life and, perhaps as a result, remained destined to obscurity. 


Years later it gained a growing cult following after endless runs on late night TV stations the world over. As a result of ardent fandom (from the likes of fan-boy Mark Kermode) various versions have been unearthed. The story of where all the original cuts went and various prints is symptomatic of the way so many films were dealt with in the past where, once a run was complete, no one really cared for and stored either the prints or negatives. In fact, rumours abound that all the prints were thrown out during a clear-out at Shepperton studios. Having worked at Pinewood I can well believe it where only the next film seems to carry weight.  A production space is certainly NOT the right place to lovingly store archives, particularly back in the non-digital age. 


So as a result, the last round of releases saw a new extended ‘Director’s Cut’ which re-inserted scenes that had long ago thought lost. But this tie we have something of potentially even greater interest. In 1979, Director Hardy set about creating a definitive cut for the Australian market which was presumed lost forever. Recently unearthed, this was used to create a definitive cut the way the Director had always intended. That version, Hardy declared, should be ‘The Final Cut’. It’s how he had wanted the film to be shown. 


Many of you will know the film, or even have several versions of it already. For those of you that would like to know what all the fuss is about I’ll attempt to run the narrative past you. I will avoid revealing the ending, suffice to say that it will stay with you for a long time after the credits roll.


Edward Woodward (TV’s Callan) plays a stoic and serious Police Sergeant who, as we see at the start of the film, is a devout Christian. He travels to a very remote Scottish island to investigate the supposed disappearance of a young girl, Rowan Morrison, after receiving a note. 


When he gets to Summerisle he is given the cold-shoulder by locals who claim to have never seen the girl. But all Is not what it seems. The locals all seem guarded and he senses that someone is hiding something so he decides to investigate further. He soon realises that the islanders are practicing pagans who are led by Lord Summerisle himself (Christopher Lee looking as mad as a character from Little Britain or The League of Gentlemen TV shows). It seems that the natives are sex mad and young girls can be seen jumping over fire midst the ancient stones. Even very school children are learning about what phallic symbolism is all about and Lord Summerisle himself seems to positively encourage the atmosphere of free-love that dominates the island.
Staying in a local tavern he almost falls for the bewitching charms of the Landlord’s daughter (Britt Ekland) in a scene where his willpower is tested to breaking point.


Piecing together the evidence it dawns on him that the islanders are holding the girl prisoner and intend to sacrifice her to reinvigorate a failing crop. As the May Day festival approaches his search intensifies and he is drawn almost to the point of madness as everyone on the island seems to be part of the conspiracy.


With shades of TV shows like  ‘The Prisoner’ and a potent mix of almost devil-worshipping sexual ritual, it’s compelling viewing, made even more so with the most haunting of scores, with plenty of songs sung by the locals adding to the queasy atmosphere. Indeed the music plays such a critical role in the film’s atmosphere that its soundtrack is included a s a fourth disc, though not included in the review set I received. 


There’s more than a whiff of Hammer glamour with Ingrid Pitt turning in a memorable nude scene in a bath where she uses her sexuality to scare the living daylights out of an unwitting Edward Woodward. Christopher Lee’s presence further adds weight to that association in a role that he personally considered possibly the finest of his career.


The pastoral ‘otherness’ is achieved using natural location rather than lavish studio sets and the whole film looks great as a result. It should be noted that it does retain a fair bit of natural grain which was a film-look favoured in the seventies by many but the print is generally clean and clear – arguably better than ever before. As I was watching the ‘Final Cut’ on DVD I can only assume that it would look even better on Blu-Ray. 


Made at the height of hippydom and prog-rock, nothing is as clear cut as you might imagine. As diabolical as the locals are, I never felt 100% behind Woodward’s authoritarian and Christian righteousness. Indeed, it’s easy to let your sympathies lie with some of the locals like Lee who is fairly convincing in the early part of the film. I think, on balance, most of us would have been slightly less uptight about Willow’s advances but I think that was the point.



Extras on the disc are plentiful though I suspect not particularly new. Certainly Mark Kermode looks at least ten years younger than he did when I recently sat next to him on a flight from Southampton to Edinburgh. Having just read his book ‘It’s only a movie’ I didn’t speak to him for fear that he might ask me what I thought of it. His presenting skills on one of the features here would also illicit an embarrassed look down at your feet. But despite all that I like the guy’s spirit – but now I really do digress.
Here’s what you get, along with a brief appraisal from moi.


DVD Disc One:
· The Final Cut (see above)

· Worshipping The Wicker Man - Famous fans featurette which includes interviews with ‘famous fans’ like Ben Wheatley who clearly rate the film very highly indeed.



· The Music of The Wicker Man Featurette – an assistant engineer (and recent music graduate) recounts the experience of recording and creating the music for the film. Nice tips like asking performers to refrain from ever heartily projecting their voices, giving the whole thing a close-miked whispery quality which really added to the film’s atmosphere. 

· Interview with Robin Hardy – a reasonably contemporary one whilst there is a 1979 interview on another disc.


· Trailer

DVD Disc Two:

· UK Theatrical Cut

· The Director's Cut (with audio commentary)


· Making of Audio Commentary short film – in the studio with baseball cap wearing Mark Kermode, Christopher Lee, Robin Hardy and an elderly looking Edward Woodward. The first question Kermode asks in the commentary gets directed at Lee despite the fact that it should clearly have been asked of Hardy. Lee politely refers it him. That embarrassment aside it all goes splendidly after that.


DVD Disc Three:

· Burnt Offering: The Cult of The Wicker Man - documentary written and presented by Mark Kermode which is actually rather good is a little ‘fan-boy-ish’, It’s certainly very thorough, let down slightly by Kermode’s insistence to present despite being utterly hopeless at doing so. That said, it’s nicely researched, written and put together so all credit to him for that.


· Interview with Christopher Lee and Robin Hardy (1979) – virtually un-watchable TV interview with a local US film critic. A curio only


· Trailer


Disc Four:
· Soundtrack – I'm unable to comment as not received as part of the review set due to copyright issues. I'll simply have to get hold of this separately as the prospects of driving around the misty countryside with this on are just too tempting! 



There are lots of good reasons to pick this up. If you haven't seen the film then you really should. If you have previous sets then maybe an upgrade to the Blu-Ray edition will tempt you to double-dip. Failing all that, the inclusion of the OST should sway you. Marvelous stuff!