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strange_complexThis was my third viewing of The Wicker Man this year (previous iterations reviewed here), my fourth on the big screen (one previous experience here; the other two were in Oxford before I had a livejournal), and my goodness-only-knows-how-manyth all told. But given that this is its anniversary year, that it's supposedly been restored to its 'original' form, that a bunch of lovely friends were going along to see it too, that the showing was followed by a Q&A session with none other than the director Robin Hardy, and that it all took place in this building...
...I was hardly going to miss out on the chance.
The showing was part of this year's Grimmfest, and constituted the northern premiere of the newly-restored, re-released version of the film. Despite the best advance efforts of a Facebook page to imply that this would include the lost cutting-room footage allegedly buried beneath the M4, what it actually is is a cleaned-up print of the so-called 'middle version' - that is, the version put together from an early preview copy sent to Roger Corman, and released in America in 1977 (there's a full explanation of all the different available versions here). So we got to see footage which I have never seen on the big screen before, or indeed at all in such a good-quality print, like the 'Gently Johnny' sequence, and that was good. Call me a curmudgeonly old grump, though, but as far as I'm concerned this is not the 'final cut' of the film. I care about story and character a lot more than I care about picture quality, and on that basis the only true version of The Wicker Man in my mind is the one which contains absolutely all of the surviving footage.
Curiously, such a cut doesn't actually exist, since despite its name the so-called 'long version' for some reason omits two key scenes which are present in the short and middle versions - a brief shot of villagers watering graves at night-time, and a longer scene (with dialogue) in which Willow brings Sergeant Howie a cup of tea the morning after her naked seduction dance. But even without those scenes (which we did get to see in Stockport), the long version is still in my view markedly superior to the middle version. It includes several scenes of Sergeant Howie going about his ordinary policing business on the mainland before he ever receives a letter about a missing girl on Summerisle, which I think do a lot to establish his character and build up sympathy with him before throwing him into the strange and alien environment of the island, and it also does not cut random lines out of some of the song sequences, completely throwing off the rhythm of the music. So I began the film feeling rather disappointed at the absence of the early mainland scenes, and continued in much the same state of mind throughout.
This is a pity, because I truly love this film, and wanted to enjoy it. I'm sure being stressed about my Dad, falling foul of Stockport's one-way system on the way there, and as a consequence missing the chance to eat properly before the film didn't help, but I would have liked to enjoy watching a restored anniversary version of what is still my favourite film of all time better than I actually did in practice, even if it doesn't contain absolutely all of the available footage. But there it is. I did at least enjoy seeing it with good friends, and the experience of sitting in a huge auditorium-full of people who laughed appreciatively in all the right places.
Afterwards, Robin Hardy was ushered onto the stage as promised for the Q&A session, and in fact it turned out to be his birthday that very evening. So we had the unexpected pleasure of singing 'Happy Birthday' to him en masse as he was presented with a cake. I didn't have particularly high hopes for the Q&A itself to be honest, as I have seen enough on-screen interviews with Robin Hardy already to be well aware that he is a rambling narcissist with a distinctly over-inflated view of his own contribution to the success of the film. Such he proved, with the result that only two audience members actually got the chance to put questions to him (both male, which rather annoyed me), and my raised hand with its attendant question about the way the real-life culture and landscape of Dumfries and Galloway had informed the film was overlooked. Oh well, I only really raised it because I knew it was likely to be the only chance I ever got to speak to Robin Hardy (who is 84 now) anyway. I already knew what he would be likely to say in reply from my own reading and my recent holiday touring around the filming locations.
I haven't yet bought the DVD of the restored version, and indeed am not sure I ever will given that the box set of the long and short versions which I already have includes every single second of footage it contains, albeit not always in such high quality. What I would buy is what I'll call the 'ultimate mash-up' version of the film - that is, all of the high-quality footage from this middle version, but supplemented with everything it doesn't include from the long version, and with the watering graves footage restored to its rightful context in the scene when Howie digs up Rowan's grave, rather than amongst the night-time orgy scenes which he sees during his first night on the island. That version could presumably be thrown together quite easily now by anyone with a bit of decent processing-power and some editing software (perhaps even including me if I could be bothered), so I am hoping it is only a matter of time before it becomes available. Then, then will I finally be satisfied... well, at least until any of that genuinely-missing cutting-room floor footage actually does turn up (I can dream!).
Click here if you would like view this entry in light text on a dark background.
...I was hardly going to miss out on the chance.
The showing was part of this year's Grimmfest, and constituted the northern premiere of the newly-restored, re-released version of the film. Despite the best advance efforts of a Facebook page to imply that this would include the lost cutting-room footage allegedly buried beneath the M4, what it actually is is a cleaned-up print of the so-called 'middle version' - that is, the version put together from an early preview copy sent to Roger Corman, and released in America in 1977 (there's a full explanation of all the different available versions here). So we got to see footage which I have never seen on the big screen before, or indeed at all in such a good-quality print, like the 'Gently Johnny' sequence, and that was good. Call me a curmudgeonly old grump, though, but as far as I'm concerned this is not the 'final cut' of the film. I care about story and character a lot more than I care about picture quality, and on that basis the only true version of The Wicker Man in my mind is the one which contains absolutely all of the surviving footage.
Curiously, such a cut doesn't actually exist, since despite its name the so-called 'long version' for some reason omits two key scenes which are present in the short and middle versions - a brief shot of villagers watering graves at night-time, and a longer scene (with dialogue) in which Willow brings Sergeant Howie a cup of tea the morning after her naked seduction dance. But even without those scenes (which we did get to see in Stockport), the long version is still in my view markedly superior to the middle version. It includes several scenes of Sergeant Howie going about his ordinary policing business on the mainland before he ever receives a letter about a missing girl on Summerisle, which I think do a lot to establish his character and build up sympathy with him before throwing him into the strange and alien environment of the island, and it also does not cut random lines out of some of the song sequences, completely throwing off the rhythm of the music. So I began the film feeling rather disappointed at the absence of the early mainland scenes, and continued in much the same state of mind throughout.
This is a pity, because I truly love this film, and wanted to enjoy it. I'm sure being stressed about my Dad, falling foul of Stockport's one-way system on the way there, and as a consequence missing the chance to eat properly before the film didn't help, but I would have liked to enjoy watching a restored anniversary version of what is still my favourite film of all time better than I actually did in practice, even if it doesn't contain absolutely all of the available footage. But there it is. I did at least enjoy seeing it with good friends, and the experience of sitting in a huge auditorium-full of people who laughed appreciatively in all the right places.
Afterwards, Robin Hardy was ushered onto the stage as promised for the Q&A session, and in fact it turned out to be his birthday that very evening. So we had the unexpected pleasure of singing 'Happy Birthday' to him en masse as he was presented with a cake. I didn't have particularly high hopes for the Q&A itself to be honest, as I have seen enough on-screen interviews with Robin Hardy already to be well aware that he is a rambling narcissist with a distinctly over-inflated view of his own contribution to the success of the film. Such he proved, with the result that only two audience members actually got the chance to put questions to him (both male, which rather annoyed me), and my raised hand with its attendant question about the way the real-life culture and landscape of Dumfries and Galloway had informed the film was overlooked. Oh well, I only really raised it because I knew it was likely to be the only chance I ever got to speak to Robin Hardy (who is 84 now) anyway. I already knew what he would be likely to say in reply from my own reading and my recent holiday touring around the filming locations.
I haven't yet bought the DVD of the restored version, and indeed am not sure I ever will given that the box set of the long and short versions which I already have includes every single second of footage it contains, albeit not always in such high quality. What I would buy is what I'll call the 'ultimate mash-up' version of the film - that is, all of the high-quality footage from this middle version, but supplemented with everything it doesn't include from the long version, and with the watering graves footage restored to its rightful context in the scene when Howie digs up Rowan's grave, rather than amongst the night-time orgy scenes which he sees during his first night on the island. That version could presumably be thrown together quite easily now by anyone with a bit of decent processing-power and some editing software (perhaps even including me if I could be bothered), so I am hoping it is only a matter of time before it becomes available. Then, then will I finally be satisfied... well, at least until any of that genuinely-missing cutting-room floor footage actually does turn up (I can dream!).
Click here if you would like view this entry in light text on a dark background.
