Publicity
poster for The Wicker Man: The Final Cut,
a 40th-anniversary extended restoration of the original cinema-released
version of this movie, which in 2013 was shown in cinemas and also released on DVD
(© Robin Hardy/British Lion Films/StudioCanal)
On 10 June 2019, I watched the official
DVD of The Director's Cut version of
the cult 1970s British folk horror movie The
Wicker Man, containing several extra minutes of restored footage that had
been cut from the 89-minute-long cinema-released version. In fact, as I duly
discovered, there is nothing spectacular present in that additional footage,
but it does enhance the continuity of certain scenes.
NB – The
remainder of this review contains spoilers, so please do not read any further if
you don't want to know the plot of this movie.
Directed by Robin Hardy, released in
1973, with a screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, and inspired by David Pinner's 1967
novel Ritual, The Wicker Man is a fascinating movie, unquestionably. Yet,
ironically for such a famous horror film, there is a conspicuous lack of horror
until the climactic 10 minutes or so. This is when all suddenly becomes
hideously clear to poor deluded Police Sergeant Neil Howie (played by Edward
Woodward), a devout Christian from the Scottish mainland, as he witnesses the
gigantic hollow Wicker Man awaiting him, in which he is to be imprisoned and
then burnt alive within it as a human sacrifice, together with a collection of
similarly imprisoned livestock sacrifices.
The inhabitants of the small, remote Hebridean
island of Summerisle, and most especially their ruling Lord (played by
Christopher Lee), have been playing Sgt Howie for a fool, in every sense, ever
since he arrived there in search of a supposed missing child, Rowan Morrison.
There was no missing child, Rowan was simply hidden – but had served as a decoy
to lure him to Summerisle. This is because as he is still a virgin despite his
age, as he is also in their eyes a fool, yet by representing the Law he has
what they deem to be the power of a king, and as he came to Summerisle
voluntarily, the pagan islanders consider him to have fulfilled all four of
their nature gods' crucial requirements for constituting the perfect sacrifice
needed by them in their bid to gain the gods' benevolence and thus procure from
them a bountiful fruit crop next year, following several years of failed crops.
Or at least, this is what they hope.
Prior to that dramatic scene, however,
the movie plays along in a very tongue-in-cheek, nudge-nudge, wink-wink manner.
Indeed, it even veers dangerously towards Carry
On-style farce on occasion, particularly in scenes featuring the gorgeous
and frequently disrobed Britt Ekland as the Green Man pub landlord's voluptuous daughter,
Willow MacGregor. However, the truly horrifying Wicker Man denouement fully
vindicates what would have otherwise been an outrageously unwarranted 15
certificate.
So, The
Wicker Man is not so much a movie of two halves as one of 9/10ths vs
1/10th, or thereabouts. Nevertheless, it is certainly a unique, enthralling
film, totally compelling throughout, but never more so than in those scenes
featuring Lee's suavely sinister Lord of this pagan dominion (Lee considered The Wicker Man to be his best movie), scenes
that are extended in The Director's Cut.
Try to picture a Scottish Saruman, and you'll get the idea. Highly recommended.
Incidentally, this movie includes 13 folk
songs, some of which are traditional, others specially composed for it by Paul Giovanni.
Notable among these is 'Willow's Song', a very haunting ballad sung by Britt Ekland's
eponymous character, but with Rachel Verney, not Ekland, providing her singing voice.
Click here
to listen to it on YouTube. A number of music acts have released covers of this
song, and British indie rock group the Mock Turtles released their own version,
entitled 'The Willow Song' (click here to listen
to it), a track that first appeared on their 1989 4-track 'Wicker Man' 12"
EP but which remains my favourite song recorded by them.
Celebrating the 1973 cinema release's 40th
anniversary, in 2013 an extended version of this movie entitled The Wicker Man: The Final Cut was screened
in cinemas and also released on DVD. It is longer than the 1973 version but slightly
shorter than The Director's Cut version. Moreover, the 1973 version is not the original, which was considerably longer,
until upon its studio's pre-release insistence more than 20 minutes of footage (mostly
consisting of mainland-based scenes) were excised. Eventually, a 99-minute version
resulted. Following suggestions by American film producer Roger Corman during a
pre-release screening of it, however, this was then edited down to 87 minutes, and
it is this latter version that was finally released. Tragically, the original full-length
version was subsequently lost and has never been found. Conversely, the 99-minute
version was actually available to purchase in VHS home videocassette format during
the 1980s and 1990s in the USA, but not in the UK.
(In 2006, an American remake was released,
starring Nicholas Cage as the investigating cop and with its setting relocated to
an island off the coast of Washington state, but imho the less said about that movie,
the better…)
If you've never seen The Wicker Man (how is that even possible??), be sure to click here
to watch an official trailer on YouTube that will surely fire up your interest!
And to view a complete listing of all of my
Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly
accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!
Front
cover of the official DVD of The Wicker Man:
The Director's Cut, as owned by me (© Robin Hardy/British Lion Films/StudioCanal)
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