The Wicker Man (Limited Edition)

Rating:
Summary: A great release - and get over the running time issue!
Review: This is a delightful, long-overdue release from Anchor Bay. If you haven't picked it up, do so now. Christopher Lee has said this is his best film, and he may be right. Certainly it's one of the finest 'horror' films of the past few decades.

In response to those who are quibbling over the running time of the extended version, please understand that you can't simply look at the timing stated on the box and assume that you're being cheated of 3 minutes of footage. There are three points to consider with regard to running times: first of all, they are only approximate, particularly with Anchor Bay. I passed up their 'uncut' edition of 'Mark of the Devil' for a long time because the box showed a running time of 90 minutes, and I knew the film actually lasts around 96 minutes. As it turns out, their print does last 96 minutes, so the running time on the box is just a misprint. (Not a particularly good film, and nowhere near the class of 'The Wicker Man', but you get the point, I'm sure.)

Second, the running times listed in some production catalogs refer to prints that never make it into circulation at all. For example, many sources (including reel.com) give 'The Most Dangerous Game' a running time of 78 minutes - but this timing refers to a print that was never released. The extra footage was dropped after preview audiences found it too disturbing, and the fullest version ever released theatrically ran only 63 minutes. So you'd be foolish to pass up Criterion's excellent release of this film because you feel you're being 'cheated' of 15 minutes of footage!

Lastly, there can be subtle differences between the projection speeds of movie theaters and those of video transfers, which in some cases may create a timing difference of up to 4 minutes per hundred. So a disparity between running times does not necessarily mean you're missing anything - although it certainly may.

All of which is simply to say, lighten up. A couple of other reviewers have noted that there are no differences between the 102-minute videotape version and the present 'extended' DVD of the film -- one, in fact, noted that the DVD version is actually 13 seconds longer (!). I applaud the Running Time Quibblers on their arithmetic acumen, but unless they can identify missing footage that was actually part of the 'long' print (and not just the transcripts, which include a number of scenes cut by Hardy and Shaffer themselves, not by the Evil Studio Hacks), I think you can feel fairly safe that you're looking at the most complete print available. So get out there and pick up this set! You won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: CHRISTOPHER LEE RULES!
Review: First, let me say I feel this is the most underated movie of all time! This movie has a history so bizaar you wonder how it's survived! The movie has been butchered over and over and there's so much controversey over who has the COMPLETE version of the film! Well, probably someone does and until they give up the rights, we'll probably never see the entire movie fully restored! But saying that, I still feel this movie is worth buying(especially if you've never seen it at all) just so you can have it in your collection! These reviewers telling you not to buy the movie are only hurting the movie from being seen at all! Even if you could buy the complete version somewhere, it would probably cost you an arm and a leg to get it! So to all of you who haven't seen this picture, buy it! The theatrical version is 88 min. and the extended version is 100 min. The 88 min. version has been remastered and 5.1 sound while the extended version isn't. It's just mono with a VHS quality to the video. If you're interested in the history of this film, the 35 minute documentary on the film is included and it explains the fall of British Lion films and how the film was distributed to america all butchered up! Christopher Lee gives one of his finest performances and Edward Woodward does a fine job as the american sent to investigate the missing young girl. One thing I found humorous in the radio spots for the film is when they mention that "it's the film ROD STEWART doesn't want you to see!"

Britt Ekland is in the movie and she was dating Rod Stewart at the time! All in all, this movie is worth buying and it's for people want something different from what hollywood currently makes today! Also, anyone who puts down ANCHOR BAY entertainment should keep quiet! They do the best job at remastering their movies and that's the bottom line! Also, I didn't see any other major studio trying to get the rights to THE WICKER MAN and if they had, you wouldn't get half of what you get with this Limited edition!

Rating:
Summary: Whiny bitchy reviewers go home! Wickerman LE is it....
Review: Don't be *warned* or thwarted by these 103 minute spoiled sports.
I am a HUGE fan of this film and have it on audio cassette, audio
CD, VHS (the Magnum full version), and now I have the DVD LE set.

I got chills when I viewed the Theatrical 84 minute version!
It contained little bits that I've never seen! Too cool!

The Extended version is utterly the same as the Magnum VHS
version release. I notice very little difference.

What really excited me was the incredible interview footage.

I learned a lot about this film that I never knew.

If anybody is telling you to NOT buy this because it lacks
footage, then the truth (right from the directors mouth) is
that the footage they are looking for does NOT exist.
Otherwise, I think it'd have been released within, oh, the past
thirty years at some point.

I also love the neat little box it came in.

"True" fans will appreciate the gorgeous quality. End of story.

byebye and best wishes!

Rating:
Summary: Burn baby, burn
Review: I looked forward to the Wicker Man but was somewhat
disappoited. I is hardly a "serious thriller" and does not
have the suspense of old Hammer productions. With a few
scenes deleted it could probably get a PG rating. It would
have been controversial had it been released in the 1940's
or 50's but a Bible-quoting policeman investigating a
crime on an island with nude pagans is really corny in
our modern society of secular and jaded cinics.

Rating:
Summary: Extended Version Complete
Review: Yes, ignore those reviewers that don't actually own or compare the various versions, the extended release on the new Wicker Man Limited Edition is actually longer than the supposedly 102 minute Media VHS release. I've watched them side by side and the DVD actually includes an short verbal exchange between Sgt Howie and Mrs. Morrison that is missing from the Media version. Other than that they are identical.

The only misstep I can see is they used the low quality ending credits in the extended version, possibly thinking they would be different. But a side by side comparison of the set's short version and extended version shows they are identical - they should have used the higher quality footage.

I've been waiting for a complete edition of this on DVD for years. Thank you Anchor Bay!

Rating:
Summary: The LE does contain the longest available version
Review: The very indignant folks writing in to say the long version presented in the LE version of Anchor Bay's 'Wicker Man' is incomplete or missing scenes must be engaging in some sort of "I'm cooler than you are" one-upsmanship. Whatever's going on, they're mistaken. As others have pointed out, this is the longest and most complete version of the film that has been released thus far, and is virtually identical with the Magnum "103 minute" version (the box timing of the Magnum release is incorrect.) If complainants can provide details of scenes omitted from the Anchor Bay release that they themselves have seen in other versions (the Magnum, or any other), I'd love for them to back up their claims by posting the information. It must be noted, though, that even this version is apparently far from what Shaffer, Hardy, and Lee intended, as the film was mauled by the studio and the original footage is supposedly lost. But it's the most complete one available.

Rating:
Summary: The DVD Version vs. the Magnum version
Review: I too was pretty horrified to see that this was a 99 minute version and not the '102 minute' Magnum version that I have on tape. However, I did find the reason for this curious discrepancy that enraged some of the reviewers. It has to do with the fact that Magnum included the blank lead time and the "Rated R" bit in their timing of the movie. If you start the Magnum tape right at the bit where the British Lion logo comes up, you'll see that the real running time of the Magnum version is 99 minutes.

My only real complaint is that I didn't see any need to package the cut version. Why not just make the second DVD full of extras such as the soundtrack?

Rating:
Summary: I was wrong! This is the one we've been waiting for!
Review: I posted earlier when I had first bought this set. I've watched it again carefully and done some research -- and yes, the 99 minute "extended version" here is indeed complete! The American video release, despite being variously billed as 102-104 minutes, is in fact 99, just as here. The DVD release, in fact, has some brief scenes that were NOT on the video. Unless some further original footage surfaces, THIS IS THE REAL THING! BUY IT!

Rating:
Summary: All Naysaying Aside...
Review: This Limited Edition does include the version most of us know and love. Have any of the above crybabies documented *which* four minutes were "gutted" from the Extended version presented here? No. I have the old Magnum VHS tape, AND the Republic tape of the short version, and the aspect ratio presented on the DVD is NOT merely a cropped version of either tape. Fans of the film will not deny that the short theatrical cut is a travesty, but the extended version is a pleasure to watch. For those singing the praises of the Magnum tape, consider this: the Extended disc is the same cut, but of better quality. In fact, the DVD eliminates an issue on the tape that I've always found annoying, a cut in the dialogue with May Morrison just before the search of the town. Anchor Bay have again done a bang-up job in bringing us a great release of an excellent, but obscure film.

Rating:
Summary: contrary to other reports here...
Review: the Anchor Bay DVD long version of the Wicker Man is exactly the same length as the rare video tape "long version" released by Magnum in the US many years ago with one exception: there are 13 extra seconds at chapter 20 on the DVD where there was a jump cut probably due to source damage on the original video tape. THIS IS THE MOST COMPLETE VERSION OF THE WICKER MAN EVER RELEASED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. Although the old video tape on Magnum claimed to run 103 minutes on the packaging it actually only ran 99 minutes and change.