The Wicker Man (1973)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1973
Running Times: 87 mins     102 mins
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Eastmancolor
Ratio:
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Robin Hardy

PRODUCTION
Copyright: © MCMLXXIII [1973] British Lion Film Productions Limited
Production Companies: British Lion presents a Peter Snell production
Producer: Peter Snell
Production Manager: Ted Morley
Unit Manager: Mike Gowans

SCRIPT
Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer
Story: The Ritual By David Pinner (uncredited)

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Jake Wright
Continuity: Sue Merry

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Harry Waxman
2nd Unit Photography: Peter Allwork
Camera Operator: Jimmy Devis
Focus: Mike Drew
Stills: John Brown

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Eric Boyd-Perkins
Assistant Editor: Denis Whitehouse

MUSIC
Music Composed by: Paul Giovanni
Associate Musical Director: Gary Carpenter

SONGS AND ADDITIONAL MUSIC
Music Performed By: Magnet

"Corn Rigs"
Sung by Paul Giovanni

SOUND
Sound: Robin Gregory, Bob Jones
Sound Editor: Vernon Messenger

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costume Design: Sue Yelland
Wardrobe Supervisor: Masada Wilmot
Make-up: Billy Partleton
Hairdresser: Ian Dorman

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Seamus Flannery

OTHER CREW
Choreographer: Stewart Hopps
Production Secretary: Beryl Harvey
Publicity: Frank Law
Marketing Consultant: Craig Miller (uncredited)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Producer would like to thank The Lord Summerisle and the people of his island off the west coast of Scotland for this privileged insight into their religious practices and for their generous co-operatiom in the making of this film.

LOCATIONS
Made entirely on location in Scotland [Burrowhead, Isle of Whithorn, Scotland, UK; Dumfries, Scotland, UK; Galloway, Scotland, UK; Plockton, Highlands, Scotland, UK; St Ninian's Cave, Physgill, Luce Bay, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK]
Location Manager: Jilda Smith

CASTING
Casting Director: Maggie Cartier

CAST

Starring
Edward Woodward (Sergeant Neil Howie)
Britt Ekland (Willow Macgregor)
Diane Cilento (Miss Rose)
Ingrid Pitt (librarian)

and
Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle

Featuring
Roy Boyd (Broome)
Lesley Mackie (Daisy)
Walter Carr (schoolmaster)
Irene Sunter (Mrs May Morrison)
Lindsay Kemp (Alder MacGregor)
Ian Campbell (Oak)
Kevin Collins (old fisherman)
Aubrey Morris (old gardener/gravedigger)
Russell Waters (harbour master)
Donald Eccles (T.H. Lennox)
Geraldine Cowper (Rowan Morrison)

Leslie Blackater (hairdresser)
Peter Brewis (musician)
Barbara Ann Brown (woman with baby)
Juliet Cadzow (villager on Summerisle)
Ross Campbell (communicant)
Penny Cluer (Gillie)
Michael Cole (musician)
Ian Cutler (musician)
Myra Forsyth (Mrs Grimmond)
John Hallam (PC McTaggart)
Alison Hughes (fiancée to Howie)
Charles Kearney (butcher)
Fiona Kennedy (Holly)
John MacGregor (baker)
Jimmy MacKenzie (Briar)
Jennifer Martin (Myrtle Morrison)
Bernard Murray (musician)
Helen Norman (villager on Summerisle)
Lorraine Peters (girl on grave)
Tony Roper (postman)
John Sharp (Doctor Ewan)
Elizabeth Sinclair (villager on Summerisle)
Andrew Tompkins (musician)
Ian Wilson (communicant)
Richard Wren (Ash Buchanan)
John Young (fishmonger)

PLOT SUMMARY

When a young girl disappears from the remote Scottish island of Summarisle, the deeply Christian Sergeant Howie is sent to investigate. He's appalled by the community's neo-pagan ways and their open displays of sexuality. He comes to suspect that the missing girl has been sacrificed by the locals - but there's much worse horror waiting for the devout and virginal Sergeant Howie...

The jewel in the crown of British horror, The Wicker Man is a truly remarkable film, one that's quite unique. Stunning performances, a script that reveals more nuances with every viewing and flawless direction combine to make this an essential film for any self-respecting genre fan. Relish it for its originality, its intelligence and its still shocking finale.

UK
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
DVD Distributor: Anchor Bay

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Brothers
Video Distributor: Media

Australia
Rating: R

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R

1974
3rd Festival du Film Fantastique, Paris
Grand Prix - winner

1979
Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films, USA (Saturn Awards)
Best Actor (Christopher Lee) - nominated
Best Director (Robin Hardy) - nominated
Best Horror Film - nominated
Best Music (Paul Giovanni) - nominated
Best Writing (Anthony Shaffer) - nominated

2001
August
21: USA - DVD release (Anchor Bay (DVD 11422))

December
31: UK - television broadcast (on Channel Four)

2002
February
25: UK - DVD release (Anchor Bay)

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Le dieu d'osier - French Belgian title
De gevlochten god - French Belgiian title
O Homem de Palha - Brazilian title
Uhrijuhla - Finnish title

Flesh to touch...Flesh to burn! Don't keep the Wicker Man waiting!

...A totally corrupt shocker from the author of Sleuth and Frenzy!

SEE ALSO
Darklands (1997)
Fast Show Live, The (1998)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Burnt Offerings: The Cult of the Wicker Man (2001)
Many Faces of Christopher Lee, The (1996)
Seriously Funny: An Argument for Comedy (1996)
Shallow Grave (1994)
Wicker Man Enigma, The (2001)

PERIODICALS

American Cinematographer vol.83 no.2 (February 2002) pp.16,18 (UK)
DVD review (DVD playback by Chris Pizzello)

Cinefantastique vol.5 no.2 (October 1976) p.35 (USA)
review

Cinefantastique vol.6 no.3 (December 1977) pp.4-18, 32-46 (USA)
illustrated article (by David Bartholomew)

Cinefantastique vol.6/7 no.4/1 (April 1978) p.60 (USA)
letter

CinemaTV Today no.10003 (21 October 1972) p.11 (UK)
credits

CinemaTV Today no.10062 (15 December 1973) p.20 (UK)
review

Classic Television no.5 (June 1998) pp.10-25 (UK)
illustrated article (British Film: The Classic Television top 100)

Empire no.109 (July 1998) p.132 (UK)
illustrated soundtrack review (Music sountracks etc.)

Empire no.228 (June 2008) pp.94-101 (UK)
illustrated article (True originals by Simon Crook)

Film Comment vol.13 no.6 (November 1977) pp.29-31 (USA)
article (The industry: something wicker this way comes by Stuart Byron)

Film Comment vol.14 no.2 (March 1978) p.78 (USA)
note

Film Review Special (August 1996) pp.19-24 (UK)
credits, article (by Stephen Applebaum)

Film Score Monthly vol.7 no.8 (October 2002) pp.45-46 (USA)
illustrated soundtrack review (Score: reviews of current releases on CD Nick Joy)

Films and Filming vol.20 no.7 (April 1974) p.47 (UK)
review

Films and Filming no.409 (October 1988) p.47 (UK)
article

Films in Review 31 May 1980 pp.312-313 (USA)
review (by Tom Rogers)

Flesh and Blood no.2 pp.5-6 (UK)
credits, review

Flesh and Blood no.3 (September 1994) p.43 (UK)
credits, review

The Hollywood Reporter vol.231 no.18 (9 May 1974) p.3 (USA)
credits, review

The Hollywood Reporter vol.255 no.22 (15 February 1979) pp.3, 27 (USA)
note

The Hollywood Reporter vol.255 no.24 (20 February 1979) pp.3, 8 (USA)
review

The Hollywood Reporter vol.261 no.9 (3 April 1980) pp.1, 4 (USA)
note

Is It Uncut? no.3 pp.25-26 (UK)
illustrated review

Journal of British Cinema and Television vol.2 no.2 (December 2005) pp.377-379 (UK)
illustrated soundtrack review (CD reviews by David Huckvale)

Journal of Popular British Cinema no.5 (April 2002) pp.166-170 (UK)
illustrated book review of The Wicker Man: the Morbid Ingenuities (by Julian Petley)

The Listener vol.119 no.3061 (5 May 1988) p.34 (UK)
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.41 no.480 (January 1974) p.16 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Music from the Movies no.35/36 (December 2002) pp.69-70 (GB)
illustrated soundtrack review (Film music review: archival by Steve Woolston)

The Nation no.230 (19 April 1980) p.476
review (by Robert Hatch)

Radio Times vol.257 no.3362 (7 May 1988) p.16 (UK)
illustrated article (In the picture by Derek Winnert)

Radio Times vol.257 no.3365 (28 May 1988) p.96 (UK)
letter

Shivers no.56 p.39 (UK)
review

Sight & Sound vol.4 no.3 (March 1994) p.63 (UK)
video review

Sight & Sound vol.5 no.8 (August 1995) pp.28-29 (UK)
illustrated article (The Wicker Man and others by Anthony Shaffer)

Sight & Sound vol.12 no.7 (July 2002) p.62 (UK)
DVD review (Home movies: reviews by Geoffrey Macnab)

Stage Screen and Radio (May 2005) pp.12-13, 26 (UK)
illustrated article (The Wicker Man - mystery solved by Janice Turner)

Time Out no.862 (25 February 1987) p.32 (UK)
illustrated interview with Robin Hardy

Variety 15 May 1974 p.24 (USA)
credits, review

BOOKS

Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Horror (2nd edition) p.287
credits, review

English Gothic pp.139, 198, 199, 208-11, 209, 241, 244
credits, review

Ten Years of Terror pp.6, 8, 18, 102, 118, 143, 204-205, 223, 288, 289
credits, review

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

KEYWORDS

paganism, disguises, the occult, rituals, religion, human sacrifice, the supernatural, islands, children, police, nobility, dancing, the sea, boats, wicker men

Last Updated: 28 March, 2009