Wicker Man, The (1973)

The Wicker Man (1973), directed by Robin Hardy.

A Scottish policeman flies to an island to investigate a missing girl. The locals are friendly but unhelpful and don't seem to take his authority seriously. Bit by bit he notices signs of pagan nature worship and finally out and out orgiastic heathenism, an affront to his staunch Christian convictions. He is sorely tempted by the luscious and willing landlord's daughter (yeow!) but begins to suspect the missing young girl is still alive and awaits an awful fate...

My sense of the film has changed over the years. When I was young it was easy to dislike Edward Woodward's "Christian copper" as stiff, intolerant and ungenerous. But he is there to investigate a missing person and when he believes Rowan is alive and intended for human sacrifice, he tries to rescue her, making him a real hero.

Similarly, the islanders are appealing at first: good humored and happy with their ways, free and easy with sex and the cycles of life and death as reflected in their nature gods. But their game with the policeman is cruel. They not only trap him but the women have to mock him in the end, no matter their comments about "reverencing" him in the ritual.

Now I'm struck by how much the horror film elements, so eerie and delicious at first, have fallen away. The story seems to be about complementary and competing visions of "Sacrifice". As the awful truth is revealed and we race to the burning, the two factions (Sgt Howie alone vs all the islanders) both achieve their exultant ends. The pagans are honestly jubilant, and assure him that he achieves his Christian ends as a martyr at the same time.

It's true. It's traumatic for him but that could not be otherwise. At the end he even achieves a type of prophetic witness and we believe his prediction that Lord Summerisle will be "next".

This is the eerie structure of the story: that the two visions are in conflict and cooperation at the same time.

Notes:

• The makers were inspired by Hammer horror films, but wanted to make something that broke the rules about noble heroes and evil villains.

• The folky music fits the time and place and is seductive after a while.

• Christopher Lee said the studio hated the final product ("One of the ten worst films we've ever seen") and tried to bury it. He called up all the London film reviewers, they saw it and the reviews were very positive.

• Britt Ekland, last seen in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) -- also with Christopher Lee -- does some of her own nudity, but also has a body double. She didn't mind showing her boobs, but for some reason wanted someone else for her backside and they brought in a dancer from Glasgow. (Later: I'm told Ekland thought her own rear was too flat).

• The "nude" women jumping over the fire are also dancers, and you can see they are wearing body stockings.

• This time I noticed two elements that involve the viewer in unsettling ways: (1) naked Ekland singing her seduction song ("the things I'll give to you...") while looking right at us, and (2) the Wicker Man filled with animals and birds for burning. As long as it is just the policeman it seems acceptable as a horror/fantasy, but adding the animals makes it seem almost too real.

• Note the anonymous letter and photo of Rowan were addressed to Sgt Howie personally. They wanted him specifically.

• Woodward said his first sighting of the Wicker Man itself is as shown in the film. No acting required?

• The final shot of the burning turret collapsing in front of the setting sun: they had planned to do that as a process shot but captured it with real photography on the day itself, saving a ton of money.

• Real locations, real locals.

• Lord Summerisle's "I could turn and live with the animals..." is from Walt Whitman.

• They say Sgt Howie's final prayers ("do not put me out of mind forever...") are those of Sir Walter Raleigh before his execution.

• The film has a complicated editing and release history. I saw both "short" and "long" versions on film, and the same two versions appeared on DVD, or least I presumed they were the same. To make life difficult, the short version had better image quality than the long, but the long had a valuable, passionate commentary track with a film scholar, the director, Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee.

• The short version omitted the pre-island segments and condensed his stay on the island to one night instead of two, cutting much good material.

• The North American Blu-ray is the "Final Cut" and is shorter than the "long" version. The most noticeable omission is the loss of the police station segment at the beginning. But we get both nights on the island and the "initiation" of the young man by the landlord's daughter. For much more, see this analysis at movie-censorship.com (thanks Phantom Stranger). Also: The Various Versions of the Wicker Man.

Available on Blu-ray. It's never looked better, and some images are quite good, although the dark scenes are still pretty poor. The subtitles help with the song lyrics. No commentary track, which is a good reason to hang on to the "director's cut" DVD. Or you can import a 3-disc set from the UK which seems to have "everything".