[.ca] Inside The Wicker Man: The Morbid Ingenuities (ISBN 0283063556)

A day in the life of a fool:
Sorry, that was a Jack Jones title... An invaluable book. I had to get my copy from Amazon UK, but it arrived swiftly and is worth every penny. Anybody who has the double DVD of The Wicker Man, with the interview section, will have some sense of the enormity of the project and the problems that they faced in completing and marketing this classic movie. Allan Brown's superb book obviously goes way beyond that in taking the reader/fan into the very heart of the Wicker Man phenomenon. Everything from the selection of the Locations to the internal politics and squabbling is examined in detail, as is the post-release saga. Brown points out that like any other film, The Wicker Man has its glitches, such as a continuity/editing error in which what appears to be a policeman's leg appears in the cut-to-scene in which the landlord has been left bound and gagged by Howie, in the middle of a later-in-time scene involving the procession. The unknown person's body part enters from the left at the very end of the scene as the camera pans right then left (Use Slow and Step). Similarly, the Fire Dance in which the young women/teenage girls are supposed to be naked was never shot as such because of the restrictions on showing under-aged nudity. So you are left with Summerisle and Howie talking about the children being naked, after a scene in which they are clearly wearing leotards. A ludicrous situation, as the team could have easily used older actresses, which would have been legally and morally acceptable, and the way it was shot, you couldn't tell the age of the actresses anyway. The fact that they didn't re-cast the scene with actual of-age women (the logical choice) is probably symptomatic of the tight schedule that the whole crew was under. This comes across only partially in the DVD documentary, which also barely touches on the conflict between individual team members, some of whom were dissatisfied with Hardy's direction. The book also contains many excellent photos, some of which are stills, others being candid off-camera shots. The Appendices are also very useful, ranging from complete cast and crew lists to Location/Scene charts to script excerpts that never made the movie. Brown also refers to the massive cult following that the movie now enjoys, and to fanzines such as Gail Ashurst's Nuada (she also appears in the interview footage on the DVD). Certainly an essential purchase for the serious Wickerphile. At this time there is a rumour that a Wicker Man re-make is being planned for filming in the States with Nick Cage in the starring role, while Robin Hardy's May Day, starring Christopher Lee should also be filmed this year. All hail the Queen of the May.