Last March one of my Sunday night Movies was The Wicker Man a film I have enjoyed since I saw it on HBO back in 1979. Now when I watched it last year it was the ‘director’s cut.’ In actuality I’m not sure if this represents the director’s true visions but I know it is the closest surviving print of that version. Sadly, the studio accidentally destroyed the negative this cut was made from a 1″ videotape duplicate, so the visuals suffer.

Late laste year or early this year I picked up the theatrical cut on DVD so that I could have all the bonus material. (the boxed set I had purchased seven or eight years ago came with two discs, one with teh bonus material and the theatrical cut and the second disc with this ‘director’s cut’, sadly only one disc worked.)

Of course I had to watch the theatrical cut in addition to the bonus materials.

I am so torn. In a perfect world there would be a high quality print with material from both cuts. I can’t honestly say if one is better than the other. Each stresses different points, and each omits scenes that I think are really really important.

(Ignore the fact that there was an American *ah hem* remake. That was pure garbage and ignored the themes of the film replacing them with its own misogynistic malevolence.)

I doubt that there are many fi any people reading my blog who has seen both, but if there are, do you have a preference and if so why?

What I am really excited about is next year….