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THE WICKER MAN

In The Wicker Man, Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) goes to Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of one Rowan Morrison. Once he arrives he find the villagers unwilling to cooperate in his search, stating that there is no Rowan Morrison. The denial of such a person continues with even her supposed mother denying her existence. As the investigation continues, Howie discovers there was in fact a Rowan Morrison and that he is being played the locals. At the same time as this is all going on, Howie becomes more and more disgusted by the people he encounters, principally with their pagan beliefs which contrast strongly with his own, strict Christian ones. The people of Summerisle are freely sexual, bawdy and prone to outbursts of songs riddled with double-entendres as opposed to his uptight nature, fueled by his beliefs. Believing Rowan dead, Howie tries to unravel the why and how while, to his own perception, madness surrounds him.

For many years people have had a few misconceptions about The Wicker Man. One is that this is a Hammer film, which it's not (it's from British Lion). The other is the running time. A cursory look on the web will show many people upset over this Anchor Bay Limited Edition DVD release, for the extended version doesn't run the 102 minutes the previous video versions stated. That is because the previous video versions listed the time inaccurately. The correct running time of the longest cut know to exist is 99 minutes. The initial theatrical cut, which ran on a double bill with Don't Look Now (BFI 100, #8), was 88 minutes - this is the cut available on the general DVD release. The second theatrical cut, which had a longer running time but omitted an opening scene of the sergeant on the mainland, ran 95 minutes. There was a rough cut which ran approximately 120-130 minutes, but that version has been lost; apparently it's under a British freeway along with Hoffa.

Since discussing the pros and cons of The Wicker Man would be spoiler central, I will just state that it is a "fine, fine film indeed" and that my 10-year-old nephew gave it the glowing review of "I didn't understand a Goddamn thing."

That rather vague positive take - while far more in depth, and longer, than anything in the Maltin guide - hopefully will be enough to have you at the video store clamoring for a copy. You will not be disappointed, provided that you're not.

When one notices the word musical mentioned, the immediate effect - for real men - is one of disgust and avoidance, for fear it will lead to theater going and it's inevitable end point, interior decorating. Yet don't be discouraged: the music in this film is used to evoke the spirit and traditions of the pagan beliefs the villagers practice, and a lot of historical research went into this product. Plus the British have always done good with their semi-musicals, like The Ruling Class and O Lucky Man!, both revered classics that utilize their scores to enhance a wry social commentary (by the way, neither film made it on the BFI list - presumably to make space for the far superior Four Weddings and a Funeral [BFI 100, #23] and The Full Monty [BFI 100, #25]). While The Wicker Man doesn't use its score for satire, it does play an important part in contrasting the ribald ways of the residents of Summerisle to repressed prude Howie.

As there are two versions of The Wicker Man one might wonder which is the better. Since current fashion seems to lean towards the idea of the "artists vision," one would be more inclined to feel that the longer version is the best, and for many camps that is the stance. I, however, preferred the shorter version. For one thing, many of the deleted shots were merely unnecessary extensions of scenes - instead of Howie just looking at the tree, now you can see the camera move around the tree. Boy, sure would have felt cheated missing that. The few fully new scenes that are included aren't really that important; in fact, one establishes a character's views to an extent that when you see them later you no longer have the tension of wondering if they are "good" or "bad." The shorter version is tighter and breaks the film down to its essence. The longer version rambles. Die-hard fans may consider this view sacrilege, but to these eyes the shorter was sweeter and the twists and turns were more shocking. Watch the shorter version first which, if you buy the regular disc, is what you'll have to do.

For the Limited Edition, Anchor Bay has continued their marvelous track record - yeah, yeah, yeah, that Halloween DVD that came out at the start of the DVD craze did stink, but they've more then compensated.

In the Limited Edition of The Wicker Man DVD you get both versions of the film on two separate discs the long (99 minutes) and theatrical versions (88 minutes) - in their original 1.85:1 aspect ratio (and enhanced for widescreen TVs). There has been much complaining about the aspect ratio, because the VHS version was the full aperture take, and not the masked version presented here - meaning that on VHS you get more info on the top and bottom. However, since the film was released 1.85:1 you're getting a true presentation of what theatergoers saw.

There is a rather enjoyable featurette, The Wicker Man Enigma, that goes into the creation process and the subsequent problems that led to the film being "buried" only to later, like the phoenix, reemerge from the ashes a respected cult favorite. The last five minutes of the piece has some fans talking about why they love the film and they come across about as interesting as old ladies talking about the pros and cons of various quilting techniques.

As a bonus for Easter Egg hunters, there is an interview conducted by Sterling Smith with star Christopher Lee and producer Peter Snell. Sterling Smith's Abaxas Company redistributed the film in the mid '70s and Sterling has, as a result, become a folk hero. The interview is remarkable in how Snell and Lee, with their superior British educations, are able to tolerate Smith's reliance on the word "um" and his fawning fanboy enthusiasm towards the movie. The Easter Egg is on the theatrical version disc (go to extras, push down past menu, box comes up, hit enter).

There is a theatrical trailer that gives away too much, four one-minute radio spots, a TV spot that looks terrible, and ten 30-second radio spots. For the Limited Edition, the movie comes in a handsome wood box.

The film itself looks pretty good on the short version. It has flat, lower-end stock look and there are noticeable scratches in parts. On the longer version, the "lost" parts are rather disappointing with a loss of definition and too much grain. However, these segments were culled from a positive print and not the original negative, so there was not much that could be done, except lose the longer print.

The audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0 and sounds fine. I never once said, "Damn, this sound is crappy." I'm sure audiophiles will find something to bitch about though.

Warning: some of The Wicker Man DVDs have had problems with DVD rot. This is where the DVD image breaks down and the disc may even stop. To add to the insidiousness of the whole thing, it may take a few plays for this to happen. So watch out.

The Wicker Man, while no The Third Man (BFI 100, #1) or Lawrence of Arabia (BFI 100, #3), is still a solid, intelligent thriller with multiple layers of depth as Christopher Lee told Sterling Smith, it's "like a box within a box within a box." Essentially a mainstay of the Russian novelty industry - and a great piece of entertainment.

A bit of trivia: Britt Ekland, who could not pull off a Scottish Accent, was dubbed by Lesley Mackie. Ekland compensates for this by getting really, really naked, again.