Following the recent book on Conan the Barbarian, author John Walsh turns his attention to one of the greatest British films ever, Robin Hardy’s 1973 movie The Wicker Man. You’d likely think there’s nothing left to be said about the bone-fide cult classic, but Walsh manages to take us through the making of the picture while shedding some new light onto the classic.
As with his previous releases, Walsh takes us through every stage of the film’s production, and there are plenty of interviews with the creatives – including the late director Robin Hardy – who tell the troubles they overcame to get the firm favourite into the world. An interesting addition is author David Pinner, who wrote the novel Ritual, which formed the basis of the story developed by Anthony Shaffer and Hardy. The interview he gives is both informative and entertaining. We also get some insight into real-life pagan rites, particularly those involving large men-shaped structures, adding more elements of reality to the tale.
Reproducing images that have been largely unseen for decades, the book provides more than enough to keep even the most hardened of fans (this writer included) satisfied. It’s arguably the most in-depth of Walsh’s ‘Official Story of’ books to date, and each page is a revelation. It also covers the movie’s rebirth (in keeping with the film’s theme), with a handy graphic detailing the varying shots in the three separate cuts of the movie and some more scenes that never made any cut and are now presumably lost.
For fans of The Wicker Man, this is a must-buy, but it’s also highly recommended to anyone who loves cinema, as it tells a universally relatable story of the struggle to get a certain vision up on the screen.
