Page 1 of The Wicker Man
DVDs & Films Forum
Just finished reading a great book about the making of this classic chiller and its subsequent shocking treatment at the hands of the distributors, and it got me thinking about a special as-complete-as-possible edition that I heard mention of towards the end of last year, possibly by Anchor Bay or Criterion. Has anyone heard anything or have any information as to a release date / features etc?
Another favourite film of mine, but I only have the 84 minute UK version - I`m sure BBC2 showed the longest version available (102 mins) several years back, could have kicked myself for not taping it...
cant help, but this is a quaility movie for those who havent seen it. i too would like to know of its dvd existence. and as for that song `how do` with brit englund seducing edward woodward, phwwoarr. incidentally the sneakerpimps released a version of the song on one of their albums...
Of course it`s not Britt Ekland`s body (that was a model) and it`s not Britt Ekland`s voice (that was a singer and, separately, a voice over actress), but nevertheless it is an extremely erotic scene.
With regard to the DVD release, an announcement was made last year regarding a fuller edit than had previously been seen making it onto the shiny disc. The source of this near-as-dammit complete version was Martin Scorsese`s film library catalogue and, unfortunately, when they came to look on the shelves they found the same old TV edit.
The film has such a cult following, however, that I`m sure it`s only a matter of time before we see a DVD release. The longer edit certainly exists (I`ve got it on video) and now that they`ve remastered the sound for that brilliant CD release, it`s halfway there. It`s Christopher Lee`s favourite of all his films, so there should be no problem getting him to do an audio commentary. And Channel 4 did a brilliant `Wicker Man` documentary not so long ago.
There we are, put all that on and it`ll sell like hot cakes!
Anchor Bay`s website lists a two disc special edition version of The Wicker Man to be released in "Mid 2001" including standard and "extended" versions.
I heard that Christopher Lee himself is backing a (maybe the same one?) DVD release of the film, so it might have some nice extras in there too.
I caught an extended version on Film Four last year - it was cribbed from a video version (complete with the video logo!) but contained a lot of excellent new material. The picture quality wasn`t up to much, but given that the rumors sugges the original film was burnt, beggars can`t be choosers.
RE: The Wicker Man
"The original film was burnt"
No, jesus christ no.
Amazon.com have a 2 disc set and a `normal` edition both on pre-release for August 21st...not sure what they`ll have...hopefully a `restored` version?
"The original film was burnt"
I read that it was buried by a motorway somewhere. Anyway, can`t wait.
Fans should check out the links in the Internet Movie Database to read about the various versions of this great film.
http://us.imdb.com/TUrls?MSC+0070917
"I read that it was buried by a motorway somewhere."
The original film cans were sold for in-fill to the Department of Transport, who used them to extend the M40.
"It`s disgusting!"
shame they could not dothe same for the movie DOGMa as it truely is s*** !!