Director: Robin Hardy
Writer: Antony Shaffer
Starring: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt
Ekland, Ingrid Pitt
Synopsis: Police sergeant Howie (Woodward) is sent to a remote
Scottish island to search for a missing girl. His inquiry proves fruitless once
he realises the whole town seems to covering something up.
For the meme generation, the
passing mention of The Wicker Man will more likely involve people shouting,
“Aaahh, the bees!” than someone commenting on the classic 1973 horror. Aspects
of Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man have
aged, it must be said, overshadowed somewhat by Nicolas Cage’s modern remake.
To stress, overshadowed in the sense that Cage’s version was so absurdly awful it’s
distinctly soured the title.
The rerelease of the original
aims to rid the memory of the remake, an ambition easily accomplished. The
restored version (having been reviewed on DVD) is not as magnificent as more recent
restorations. It has enhanced the sound and removed the scratches, but colour
grading is not as polished as would be desired.
The special features and the trinity of versions included in the new
release is the defining aspect – a final, complete, Wicker Man.
The Director’s Cut runs
wonderfully smooth – without the jagged flashbacks and clumsy editing seen in
previous versions – a triumphant example of the mystery/detective narrative. As
normal as the form appears, what is included within it is not. The film
features an island of folk-loving townspeople, who are bound together by paganism
unknown to the tragic Howie character.
Woodward as the pious and stoic
lead is terrific. Dogged and doomed, he leads us through a series of interviews
with the islanders, leaving the audience to pick up on things he doesn’t see.
As the patsy, he gains immediate empathy, with the end bitterly upsetting.
Christopher Lee as his foil has little screen-time and achieves a mysterious
quality perfectly fitting for the film. It seems that even as the end answers
some questions, Lee’s Summerisle is still a questionable figure. You get the
satisfaction of knowing and liking one character, and despising and querying
the other. Woodward and Lee made a superb hero/villain duo, immortalised by
their only cinematic coupling in The
Wicker Man.
Heralded the best British horror film by many, The Wicker Man does indeed boast an
exemplary script (by Sleuth author,
Antony Shaffer) and impeccable direction. Woodward and Lee are characteristically
brilliant and the atmosphere each man creates (insecurity and danger, for
example) is timeless. The film will last for decades to come (even if some of
the Morris dancing and folk chants do not), now serviced with its “definitive”
legacy.
****
Also posted on Flickering Myth
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