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Shop our collection of superior artificial Christmas trees at Frontgate, including slim spruces, tall fir trees, and other pre-lit holiday trees. There can be few, if any, film fans in the world who haven't watched, at least once, a low-budget offering from Britain which popped up as a B-movie in 1973 – The. Max Steel Season 1 Episode 3.

The Wicker Man - The Various Versions of "The Wicker Man"There can be few, if any, film fans in the world. Britain which popped up as a B- movie. The Wicker Man. From these lowly beginnings, the film has steadily grown in reputation. Most aficionados.

But first, let's find out. Background. The Wicker Man began life in 1. Christopher. Lee, independent film producer Peter Snell, and writer Anthony "Sleuth" Shaffer, got together. Shaffer. discovered a 1. Ritual by David Pinner, and each of the three members of. Shaffer set to work adapting. It might be suggested.

An old associate of Shaffer, small- time director Robin Hardy, who was convalescing after a heart. Hardy's. house near Maidenhead. During that weekend a framework was developed that ended up being very close. The film would concern a.

Christian police sergeant from the Scottish mainland, and the. Hebridean island called Summerisle. The pagan ways. of the islanders would be conveyed to the audience as they followed Howie's attempts to investigate. Howie would become ever more deeply embroiled in the bizarre. The community's crops have failed and the islanders want Howie as a human sacrifice.

The ultimate point the film was. Howie's religion (albeit a more mainstream one than the islanders'). Unless deities actually exist. The pagan details were to be entirely authentic; Shaffer's main research source being Sir James. George Frazer's 1.

The Golden Bough which details how early myths, rites and pagan. Hardy: "Everything you see in the film is absolutely. The whole series of ceremonies and details that we show have happened at different times. Britain and western Europe. What we did was to bring them all together in one particular. The wicker man itself is quite real. The Druids used the structure to burn their.

What we hoped would fascinate people is not that they would think these things. Europe, but that they would recognise an awful lot of these things as sort. There are so many Christian holidays that are celebrated where there was previously. Easter is one of them, originally it was a hare feast. At Christmas, you set up a.

Christmas tree because that was what the goddess Hera worshipped. Mistletoe is purely Druidic –. Golden Bough. My God, when you decorate your home for Christmas you are using. To complement the authentic on- screen rituals, the film was to be set to an original folk- music. Paul Giovanni, an American musician who had earlier impressed Shaffer.

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on stage in Washington. DC. The finished script was presented to Snell, by this time head of British Lion, and received an. Lion was having its troubles at the time and thus it was asked that "the. Christopher Lee, having been involved in the project from the outset and keen. Hammer Dracula cycle which he felt had typecast him, was cast as the island's. Lord Summerisle. The policeman, Sergeant Neil Howie, was to be played.

Edward Woodward, then fresh from TV's Callan. Woodward was, in fact, third choice for. David Hemmings and Michael York had already turned it down. Ingrid Pitt, another veteran of British horror, was signed on for the role of keeper of the island's. At this time, Pitt was the girlfriend. Rank Organization, George Pinches, and it seems possible that her. Rank into choosing the film for its Odeon cinema chain.

That relationship aside, Anthony Shaffer would also later report that he entered Pitt's. Peter Snell, the film's producer. Diane Cilento (at the time, Mrs Sean Connery; much later to be Mrs Anthony Shaffer) was persuaded. Miss Rose, after Shaffer had. London stage in Big Night. The rest of the casting was more bizarre – mime- troupe leader Lindsay Kemp (later to work in.

Derek Jarman) was drafted to play the innkeeper, and Britt Ekland was chosen to play. Willow. Ekland seemingly could not produce a reasonable Scottish accent. Ekland's dialogue had to to be dubbed in post- production (by Glaswegian actress and. Annie Ross); with Ingrid Pitt – a Pole – already on board, there simply wasn't room for another. Unfortunately, the crude. Willow's voice remains a large flaw in the final film.

Filming took seven weeks during late autumn 1. The shooting was done in some 2. Newton Stewart, Scotland; none of the filming was actually done. Hardy: "In all the towns and villages where we shot, while all the buildings you. Matching up locations, tacking together. I find quite fun to do.""Autumn" was turned into "summer" by employing fake plastic apple trees and by decorating the. Locals were recruited to fill out the crowd scenes, and.

Generally, shooting proceeded smoothly but one minor problem was encountered when some of the. Fortunately, a reassurance from Shaffer soon calmed. Edward Woodward also broke a toe during one scene but due to a combination of cold. The dank and depressing Scottish autumn together with the monotony of the filming began to get. Britt Ekland. Feeling lonely and believing she was being sidelined by most of the other cast. Sunday Express in which she described the film's base.

Newton Stewart, as "the most dismal place in creation.. I've been to. in my life.

Gloom and misery oozed out of the furniture," and added that she found the town to be. The Long Version. The film's editor was Eric Boyd- Perkins who, together with Hardy, finally assembled a cut running.

Long Version or, on the DVDs, "The Director's. Cut" or "The Extended Version"). Whilst most parties seemed satisfied with this, Christopher Lee. Already about 1. 5 minutes of filmed material had been jettisoned.

Two large. sets of sequences went unused. The first showed Howie on the mainland investigating a pub that is. Howie making a bicycle journey to interview a mother on the. Mrs. Grimmond" credit on the titles at the. Christopher Lee's main source of annoyance was that a great deal of the scene. Lord Summerisle explains the history of the island to Howie had also been removed, although. Robin Hardy, this was too wordy and overlong in its original form and would have seriously.

Quite a few other scenes – including most of the songs – were shortened. The Short Version. By this point the troubled British Lion was on the verge of being taken over by EMI. New bosses. were appointed in the form of Barry Spikings and Michael Deeley. Neither was particularly keen on.

Deeley initially refused to release The Wicker Man. Britain, maintaining that it had no market value whatsoever (he famously described it to. Christopher Lee as one of the ten worst films he had ever seen). Shaffer: "If you live, like the.

British Lion, on a diet of things like There's A Girl In My Soup or. On The Buses or Carry On Farting, or whatever those things are called, inevitably.

Snell (who was still at British Lion working out. Deeley's mind by promoting the film as much as possible – it. Cannes Film Festival that year, complete. From these screenings, the film was. Meanwhile, Deeley contacted Roger Corman in Hollywood, who had seen the wicker man prop at Cannes. American distribution, and sent him a. Long Version of the film asking him to suggest changes to improve its marketability.

Corman's suggestions were to aim the film for the American drive- in market. To facilitate this. Corman suggested that the film needed shortening and proposed about 1.

Deeley. realised that shortening the film would also allow it to play as a B- picture (a secondary, supporting. UK. So, following Corman's advice, Deeley. Short Version or, on the. DVDs, "The Theatrical Version"). Parts of the plot were changed around, moving some of the details. Howie's second night on the island (such as Willow's nude dance scene) forward to the first night. All of the remaining footage of Howie on the mainland was deleted, which British Lion had always.

British TV police show Z- Cars. A long sequence involving. Willow was also removed. Hardy: "There was no consultation. This was the way the film was going to be, and – tough titty! Paul. Giovanni: "Whatever you think of the long version, the short one is laughable, very nearly silly.

Juliet of the Spirits Movie Review (1. Fellini lore has it that the master made “Juliet of the Spirits”. Like many husbands, he gave her the gift he really. The movie, starring a sad- eyed Giulietta Masina who fears. Fellini believed the movie turned the tables on his two previous. La Dolce Vita” and "8 1/2,” which were autobiographical. This one, he felt, was about Giulietta.

Watching it, I was reminded of Daryl F. Zanuck, who said, “But enough about me! What did you think of my movie?” “Juliet of the Spirits” is not an attempt to. Masina's point of view, but a bald- faced exercise in Fellini's. When Juliet has fantasies, they're Fellini's fantasies.

That's why at the end it isn't Federico who is burned alive. Advertisement. One clue to the movie's buried message is in the casting.

Giulietta Masina plays Juliet, a chain- smoker with a trim little haircut and an. Sandra Milo plays her neighbor Suzy, dressed flamboyantly. In “8 1/2,”. about a harassed and philandering movie director, the wife is also a. Sandra Milo. who looks exactly as she does here. In “8 1/2,” the director has a daydream in. In “Juliet of the Spirits,” Fellini seems to be suggesting that if. Our. conclusion: She might not be happier, but her husband certainly would be.

The movie is generally considered to mark the beginning of. Fellini's decline. Some feel his great days came in the 1. La Strada” (1. 95.

International success came to him with “La. Dolce Vita” (1. 95. Marcello Mastroianni in his first great role as a.

I think it's Fellini's best movie; others. By the time of “Juliet.

Spirits,” the conventional view has it, Fellini was on autopilot, using. Nina Rota scores to recycle his phantasmagorical. The only later film widely admired is “Amarcord”. Sometimes, however, you get your best look at an artist's style.

Juliet of the Spirits,” Fellini's first film in color. It. is well known that young Federico experienced some kind of psychic fixation. It may not be too much to suggest that the sight of bizarre. Fellini, who. almost always composes the scenes the same way: Characters in background and. Advertisement. In “Juliet,” one of the most delightful parades occurs on the. Juliet has gone with her sisters and their children.

Across the sand, she sees Suzy in procession with her friends, admirers, servants. Later, when Juliet visits.

Suzy shares her philosophy: Marriage is. Juliet should indulge herself with one of the. Suzy can make available, her husband is not worth fretting over, etc.

Suzy's home includes a chute that leads straight from her bed to a swimming. Suzy's lifestyle may or may not be the answer to Juliet's. Fellini might like.

Juliet's liberating experiences also include a seance with a medium. La Dolce Vita), and fears of liturgical punishment (the. What Fellini is doing, not subtly, is returning to. Giulietta Masina was a wonderful actress (see “La Strada” and “Nights. Cabiria”) but is it my imagination, or does she seem unhappy throughout much. Juliet of the Spirits?” Masina and Fellini were said to be going through a. Fellini from a hard- working Italian director to a star who welcomed.

Certainly Fellini does not present her as. She's a house- proud little bourgeois. Hummel figurine, meek, frumpy, sexually timid. As Juliet makes her way through. Advertisement. This perception of Giuiletta/Juliet's withdrawn unhappiness adds.

She's the party pooper. What was she. thinking while she made the film? That first her husband flaunts his taste in. The movie's last shot shows Juliette leaving her storybook. The director and his wife argued. To Fellini, this meant she was free. To. Giulietta Masina, we learn, it meant that she was alone, abandoned and lonely.

This subtext makes the movie more interesting than it would have. Fellini had been more in control of his fugitive thoughts and impulses. And it never less than dazzling to look at. It's all pretty pictures and the. In any Fellini picture and especially those. La Dolce Vita” onward, characters seem to glide as if moving to unheard.

In fact, they were. Fellini, like all Italian directors of his time, did. That meant he was essentially making silent films, and he always had an. The Nina Rota scores often sound like dance music, and. After “Juliet,” Fellini made “Fellini Satyricon” (1. Now. that both of these movies have been re- released in newly mastered and restored. He was a storyteller.

Juliet” movie was. America in 1. 96.

They were in the right show: A head trip, as. Seen in 2. 00. 1, when the party is long over, it's like a streamer from.

Still bright, still gaily waving to echoes of forgotten. Fellini was nominated for 1. Academy Awards, but never won one. In 1. 99. 3, he was given an honorary Oscar, presented by old friends Marcello. Mastroianni and Sophia Loren, and as he accepted it Giulietta wept happily in. He died in October of that year. She survived him by five.