ON THE TRAIL OF THE WICKER MAN (Robin Hardy)

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

I watched this on my Blu Ray player today,and with the exception of the 'spliced' footage,it looked beautiful.

Roll on October for the Blu Ray release.

Interesting to note that Ingrid Pitt thought the chopped version was okay....

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by The Reaper Man

Interesting to note that Ingrid Pitt thought the chopped version was okay!

She seemed a bit dismissive of the film too. Weird really. Britt Ekland doesn't mention it much in her autobiography either, but that's because she spends most if it slagging off Peter Sellers.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

Here's some shots of that original shooting script I mentioned previously.
I reckon Christopher Lee is correct when he claims there is still footage missing,as there are MANY scenes in this script which don't appear in either version of the film.....

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

The location below will be familiar to you all....

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by The Reaper Man

I reckon Christopher Lee is correct when he claims there is still footage missing,as there are MANY scenes in this script which don't appear in either version of the film.....

He mentions it again in his updated memoirs......

My good cheer gradually ebbed away as I remarked that one great piece after another had gone missing. Cuts are unavoidable but some of these seemed like amateur butchery. It wasn't merely that I personally had had some good lines shaved off, but entire parts, excellently played, had gone. The doctor. The chemist. The baker. The fishmonger. These had been created by marvellous Scottish actors in considerable scenes, not just group appearances.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

The characters you've mentioned there Vince,all have rather considerably larger parts than seen.

So Lord Summerisle may not be potty after all.

[vincenzo]

If I remember correctly the doctor was John Sharp (originally intended for Patrick Newell aka 'Mother' in The Avengers), and even in the Director's Cut he's seen for barely a minute.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

For example THE BAKER....

INT:BAKER'S SHOP DAY

The baker's shop is piled high with newly baked,flat loaves impressed with the face of the Sun God.
Howie is searching the shop,watched laconically by the baker,who is one of the six swordsmen we have previously seen in the courtyard of the inn.
Howie moves to the back of the shop and stops behind a huge iron door set in the wall.

HOWIE
What's in here?

BAKER
That's my oven.Would you be thinking I've toasted the little girl up in it?

HOWIE
Open it.

BAKER
I don't like opening my oven when she's cooling.

He moves to bar the way to his oven but Howie thrusts him aside and opens the oven.
Insert oven.Inside the oven is a long coffin shaped baking tin about seven feet in length.Howie stares at it for a long moment before reaching to remove it.
He burns his hands and is forced to look around for,find,and put on a pair of oven gloves.With their help he takes out the huge baking tin and lays it on a table.He removes the top to reveal the figure of John Barleycorn (a symbolical corn figure usually made from plaited sheaves)baked in bread and filling the tin.
The baker laughs.

HOWIE
What's this?

BAKER
The life of the fields--John Barleycorn.

HOWIE
(Furious)
I've warned you baker.If this girl is harmed,I'll have the lot of you.

We stay on the thoughtful face as Howie leaves the shop.


Now although we DO see the baker in the film and some of the above dialogue IS spoken.It would appear these scenes have been shortened,further adding credence to Lee's claims.

I don't doubt him for a minute.The Wicker Man was one of his favourite films and he's highly unlikely to forget or imagine these things.....

[vincenzo]

I'd have to check but that seems to have been reduced to basically the 'John Barleycorn' line.

Britt Ekland said that Dumfries & Galloway was 'the most dismal place on creation', and British Lion director Michael Deeley said the film was 'one of the ten worst I've ever seen'.

And we thought there were only three stooges....

[vincenzo]

The BBFC had no problems with it. They also mention a longer print in the case study here.

"Inhabitants, even of spoof islands, in the United Kingdom are not really given to burning constables and cattle".