Weirdhouse Cinema: Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: The Wicker Man (1973) - Part 2

In this classic episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe discuss the monumental 1973 British folk horror film “The Wicker Man,” directed by Robin Hardy, written by Anthony Shaffer and starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. (Part 2 of 2) (originally published 5/9/2025)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, Welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is Rob Lamb.
As promised, since we're on vacation, this is going to
be part two of two in our look at nineteen
seventy three's The wicker Man. We just re aired part
one on Monday, and so here is the second half. Enjoy.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
And this is Joe McCormick, and we're back with part
two of our Weird House Cinema feature on the nineteen
seventy three British folk horror classic The wicker Man, starring
Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward and Diane Chillento. Normally on Weird
House we keep it to one episode per movie, but
we figured we would have more than usual to say

(01:00):
about The wicker Man, especially since it's one of my
personal favorite films. I don't know, is it one of
yours too, Rob, I don't want to speak for you.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, I would say it's in there somewhere. You know.
It's a film that I used to own on VHS
that had a profound impact on me when I first
watched it, and even though I hadn't seen it in
many years before rewatching it for this episode, it certainly
has resonated with me.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, So if we were going to do it in
one episode, I think there was extreme danger of that
becoming like a three hour episode. So it's a good
thing we split it up. So we aired part one
last week. If you haven't heard part one, please go
back and listen to that first. And also if you
haven't seen the film, let me reiterate what I said
last time. As always, there are going to be extensive

(01:45):
spoilers in our discussion. We usually talk about the plot
in pretty great detail, and The wicker Man is a
movie that I think really benefits from viewing with no
fore knowledge or as little for knowledge as possible. So
if you have an appetite or this kind of thing,
if you're comfortable with seventies full horror themes. In general,
R rated content are rated in terms of sex and violence. Strangely,

(02:08):
I don't recall much foul language in the movie. If
any they say fallis that's true. Yeah, But as long
as you're comfortable with that kind of material, and it's
the sort of thing you'd be into, I would recommend
watching this movie without reading anything or listening any further.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
All right, you've been warned.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
So last time, of course, we talked about the cast
and crew, the connections, and we discussed some general thoughts
about what makes The Wickerman unique. For instance, the question
what genre is this? It's often called a horror movie,
but I think that is based largely on the last
five to ten minutes of the film. For most of

(02:48):
the movies run time, it really doesn't feel like horror.
It feels more like a religiously themed mystery musical. So
it really is kind of its own genre. There is
no other movie quite like it. We also talked about
the way it creates this tangled garden of religious themes,
with the strained interactions between Christianity and some strange variant

(03:12):
of Celtic Paganism. Seems to be partially made up for
the movie, and it achieves a lot of thoughtful commentary
without ever reaching an overly simplistic message. It's not like
a thesis movie. We talked about the weird and from
my perspective, refreshingly unusual character dynamics. For example, it's a

(03:34):
detective story, but the detective protagonist is largely unlikable. He's rude, puritanical,
high handed, and not even especially skilled at detective work,
you know, kind of contrasting with the Sherlock Holmes how
he sergeant, how he misses a lot of things in
his investigation, and yet he seems to be possibly the

(03:55):
only person in the movie who's actually trying to help
an endangered child. On the other and you've got the
structural antagonists of the detective story, like the local Pagans
of summer Isle, mostly rendered as friendly, fascinating, thoughtful, even
joyful souls, and yet we're constantly suspicious that they're up
to something terrible. So it really always kind of keeps

(04:18):
you off balance.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
You know. I had a thought I wonder First of all,
I was wondering if anyone has ever pulled a reverse
wicker Man in a film. But then this idea solidified
a little bit, and I realized I would kind of
like to see a show in which a detective from
a secluded pagan island comes to the mainland to investigate

(04:39):
a crime, and we get this sort of fish out
of water tail. But in this case, the detective is
really good at what they do, but they're also you know,
they're they're bringing a totally different mindset and you know
they're handling frogs and whatnot. I think there's a lot
of room for amusement there.

Speaker 3 (04:58):
I mean, I would love that, but I think that
would be a lot more similar to the kind of
detective heroes we're used to, a kind of oh yeah,
a smart, a smart, admirable in some way, likable, outsider protagonist.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yes, for the most part. But the twist in this
is he or she or they solves every case with
human sacrifice. That's how we arrive. It's formulaic, you'll get
the same thing every episode, But I think people could
get behind it.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
People want something they can count on. I mean that's
part of you know, people like the murder mystery because
it's like it's got a surprise every time. But it's
also a very a very familiar format, So it's both
surprising and familiar every time. I think that's part of
the appeal. So so yeah, I think you're onto something.
We also talked last time extensively about the role of

(05:48):
music in The wicker Man and the fact that the
movie features not only in scene diegetic music where the
characters stand around, playing musical instruments and singing songs. But
it actually has several scenes that are essentially musical numbers,
like in a musical movie, where the characters break the
fourth wall sing directly into the camera and they're singing

(06:10):
along to music playing not in the world of the movie,
but on the soundtrack. So I don't know, it's just
like again, not another horror movie like that I can
think of.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, it really does stand alone.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
But that gets us caught up to today. So, Robert,
are you ready to talk about the plot of the Wickerman.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, let's get into it.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
We are going to be. But by the way, this
came up last time, that there are multiple cuts of
the movie out there. I think we're going to be
talking about what's known as the final cut, which was
released in twenty thirteen. Any notes on the history of
the different cuts you want to talk about. If not,
that's okay.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
I mean, I'll be honest. Once there are more than
two cuts of a film, in consideration, I begin to
lose interest in the whole situation. Like if there are
two cuts, I can get more into it, like which
one's the good cut, which one's the bad one? What
does this one, say versus this one. But when there
are three or more, it gets a little annoying for me.
But with the Wickerman, yeah, there are also these added drinkles.

(07:09):
There are all these loose ends of hearsay and perhaps
even movie myth about lost and destroyed footage, and I'm
not sure where the truth ultimately lies on all of it.
But yeah, essentially we have three cuts to consider, the
original theatrical cut eighty eight minutes, the director's cut ninety
nine minutes, said to be more of like a work print,
and then the final cut ninety four minutes, And this

(07:30):
has been this is said to be the director's preferred
cut of the picture. So I thought it was great
works for me, and I think the only if memory serves.
The only thing we're really missing out on from that
full ninety nine minute cut is some preliminary stuff with
Howie before he leaves for the island.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Oh, I don't know if we need that.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, there's plenty to go on to know about him
and the world he came from.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Do we need to see him getting called into the
Chief's office and being like, I got a case for you. Yeah,
I need you back on the force. I don't know that.
I don't know that's what's in there.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, you know, check what check for details about the
runtime before you watch it, but I think the final
cut is widely available. This may be, in fact the
primary means of watching it these days.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
So we begin on a black screen with an image
of a godlike face carved in a wooden disc, suggesting
Celtic folk art as it's supposed to be, I think,
a god of the sun with dreamy, placid upturned eyes.
And then the camera zooms through the darkness to the
wooden face, and when it gets closer and eventually fills

(08:40):
the screen, we can make out that the god's mouth
is ever so slightly bent into this little smile, not
like he's beaming with happiness, but instead like like he
knows something, like he's got a little joke. At least
that's how it looks to me.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, yeah, this is will We will come to know
this des Nuanna. However, it is just a super weird
opening for this picture. This just appears out of darkness
without commentary, and you know, we later get the idea
that it's a solar deity, but at the time it's
like it is he at least part arboreal. Is he

(09:17):
fungal because he has this very woody look. And I
do agree with you about the about the face. You know,
the face is sublime and all knowing calm, but also
a little bit smug.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yeah, And once you've seen the whole movie and the ending,
I think the the image of him having a little
private joke that's in this ever so slight smile, that
makes more sense.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
This is also the god of the teletuppies. Right. Isn't
there a sun face that they also worship?

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Is there?

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Really? I think so? Yeah, there's like a there there's
like a child's face on the sun, and they worship it.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
I think is that part of the fundamentalist Christian complaint
against them?

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Probably?

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Yeah, they're they're paganism. It's the Wickerman, the wicker Tubb. Yes,
all right, Well, anyway we come into the prologue. Now
this cut does have some things with Sergeant Howie before
he leaves for the island, but it doesn't have him
like at the station like we were joking about it. Instead,
we begin by hearing Christian churchgoers singing a hymn which

(10:17):
is based on the words of Psalm twenty three that's
the one that says the Lord's my shepherd, shall I
shall not want? He makes me to lie down by
green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, and so
forth and so text on the black screen tells us Sunday,
the twenty ninth of April nineteen seventy three, the camera
comes up on a church congregation singing from their hymnal.

(10:40):
The man in the middle of the frame is Sergeant Howie,
our protagonist, played by Edward Woodward. I would say modestly
handsome Scottish police detective of about forty I think he's
in his early forties, dressed in a suit for church,
and there's a woman standing next to him sharing his hymnal. Rob,
did you take this woman to be his fiance?

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah? Yeah, that's that's the impression I got based on
this scene, and then some some stuff that the character
says later on.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah. So they trade a little smile in between lines
of the song, and then the camera pulls back and
shows us the whole congregation. It's a lot of it's
a lot of very old people with white and gray hair.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
You know.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
It's a maybe stereotypically old church crowd, especially for people
of the like the mainline Protestant denominations.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yeah, yeah, not to be confused with the afternoon service
where they have the rock band. This is this is
the other one where all the old people go.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
And the song goes on. After we see our characters here,
it goes on where they're singing. He leadeth me, he
leadeth me. The quiet waters by. And I can't help
but notice a thing that is often pointed out about
singing and a lot of mainline Protestant Christian denominations. The
singing does not sound especially joyful. It's kind of you know,
it's kind of wrote and robotic. The quiets by.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Yeah, this must be a John Wesley him.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Huh, yeah, I think so. But again based on the
words Psalm twenty three, which will come up again in
the end of the movie. Anyway, after the hymn, Sergeant
Howie gets up to deliver a reading from the scripture.
And he's not the priest. This is just a lay reading.
He gets up and he reads, in front of everyone,
I have received of the Lord that which also I

(12:25):
delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night
in which he was betrayed, took bread and when he
had given thanks, he broke it and said, take eat.
This is my body which is broken for you. This
do in remembrance of me. I love that little inversion
and that this.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Do not do this. I think this is a director's
cameo as well. I believe this is Robin Hardy, if memory.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Serves Robin Hardy doing what.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
As the pastor of the preacher.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
Here, oh, I see the priest in the church. Okay, oh,
And here also we see Sergeant how Hee taking communion
himself in a cut of way, how he says, and
after the same manner, he also took the cup when
he had eaten, saying, this cup is the new covenant
in my blood. This oft as you drink in remembrance
of me, for as often as you eat this bread

(13:13):
and drink this wine, you do show the Lord's death
till he comes again. Then we cut to black. Next
sound of seagulls and airplane propellers spinning up, and bagpipes
that just blasting on into the bagpipes, and the credits
begin to play. So as the credits play, we see
Sergeant Howie climb into a single engine prop seaplane and

(13:37):
take off from a bay on the Scottish coast. He's
flying out over the waters to a remote island, and
we see him traveling while a beautiful folk song plays.
And there's plenty of use of natural scenery here, which
is truly gorgeous. You've got these silent gray waters, rocky
islands with green pastures and very sharp cliffs and outcroppings,

(13:59):
and Sergeant how he flies over all this until eventually
he reaches an island where we see large fertile fields
and rows of trees and orchards. And here the music changes.
It goes from the first folk song that plays into
corn rigs and barley rigs. Rob, how much have you
been singing this one?

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah? I played the soundtrack quite a bit while making
notes for this episode, so I did catch myself humming
at a few times. And I rather like this tune.
It has a strong seventies folk vibe that puts me
in the mind of artist like Tom Rush.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
I'm not going to sing it, but just to read
for some of the lyrics. It was upon a Lamas
night when corn rigs are Bonnie beneath the moon's unclouded light.
I held a while to Annie. The time went by
with careless heed till tween the late and early, with
small persuasions. She agreed to see me through the barley
corn rigs and barley rigs and corn rigs are Bonnie.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah. This song, like many of the others, is primarily
concerned with fertility, here painted with a little bit of
human sexuality and also some agricultural practices. This trend will continue.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
So Sergeant Howie lands his seaplane in the waters of
the summerle Harbor, and all around the little village here
we see pink flowers blooming on black tree limbs, green hedges,
but also a kind of gray on gray palette of
the cold sea and the cobbled stone streets by the dock.
There are several old men standing around watching the plane land,

(15:30):
just sort of gawking without saying anything, And we can
hear seagulls calling in the distance. And there is a
very strong atmosphere right at the beginning here, I think,
created in part by the sort of hollow soundscape, like
there's lapping water, the seagulls, kind of a faint echo everywhere.
This place is at once both desolate and lush, both

(15:53):
welcoming and a bit stand offish. That great sense of
ambivalence that you get through much of the movie begins
right here.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Yeah, a sense of like, well this is beautiful, but
is life possible here? Do people live here? Well, yes
they do, We do see them, but they are a
bit hostile, respectfully to the newcomer.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
First line of the movie is Sergeant Howie yelling, will
you send a dinghy please? He's out of the boat
and he keeps yelling for a dinghy. In the middle
of his line, he gets out of megaphone and starts
yelling at them for the dinghy, and the guy's standing
around at the edge of the harbor call back as
if they didn't hear what he said, and they say, hello, sir,

(16:35):
have you lost your bearings? Kind of like are you
supposed to be here? And how he calls back into
his megaphone that yes, he's supposed to be here. He's
trying to reach Summerle and he triples down on his
request for a dinghy. They first try to tell him
that he cannot land without written permission from Lord Summerle,
and this is a theme that will repeat quite often.

(16:55):
But Sergeant Howie, now getting annoyed, says that he's a
police officer and they must allow him to come ashore.
He must have that dinghy. So they send the dinghy out.
And I like the dinghy too. It's got little decorations
on it.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, it's got an eye on it, as if to
ward away evil. And I've read that this just happened
to be the dinghy that was available, Like they didn't
decorate this or anything. This is just an accurate taste
of local decoration.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Okay. So Sergeant Howie comes ashore and as I said,
there are a bunch of old men just kind of
standing around. He explains his business to the harbormaster. He
says that he is a representative of the West Highland
Police and that he has been summoned to the island
by an anonymous note that he received in the mail
saying that a twelve year old girl named Rowan Morrison

(17:52):
had gone missing. He is here to investigate the matter.
The note also came with a picture of the missing girl.
How He takes out the photo and he shows it
to the men gathered around the harbor. They all pass
it around, they take a look, and they all agree
in the end they have never seen her before. The
note also says that Rowan is the daughter of someone
named May Morrison. Confusingly, the old men standing here first

(18:17):
act like they don't know who that is, but then
suddenly one of them says, oh, May Morrison, Yes, she
runs the post office. And then all of the guys
remember May. They're all like, oh, yeah, May Oh. But
as Howie is walking away, I guess to go to
the post office, the harbormaster calls out that's not May's daughter.
Though not deterred yet, how he follows up his first lead.

(18:39):
He heads to the post office, and along the way
we see him passing some very beautiful gardens. They are
these blushing flowers and even kind of tropical looking plants
and corn rigs and barley riggs play some more, of course,
but along the way we see local residents peeking out
of windows curiously, almost suspiciously at Sergeant Howie as he passes.

(19:00):
But when he gets to the post office, this we
alluded to at the end of the last episode. This
ain't just a post office. It is a combination post
office and confection Err.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
That's right, yeah, And like like you were saying, I
love the shop, love all the details here, you know,
it feels very lived in and legitimate. I imagine they
took out like an actual storefront of some sort here
and you filled it up with all these custom suits.
And I don't know, I don't know the full story
on these. Some of these feel they just look too

(19:31):
good to not also be some sort of traditional pagan
treat of one sort or another, some sort of traditional
cake and cookie.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Yeah, edible psychedelic toad cakes, little little chocolate rams heads
with yellow eyes, I don't know what those What are
these like black and yellow discs, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
They look kind of like Saturn, also kind of like
the eye of Sauron. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
And then there are just like lollipops and stuff. There's
some stuff that is not very representative.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
Yeah, some of just sweets for sweets sake. Other stuff
we can already tell has some sort of ritual significance.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Anyway, how he goes into the shop. He's sort of
checking out the sweets, and a woman's voice calls out
from the back saying good afternoon. So a woman comes
out and having been looking at some cakes shaped like rabbits,
Sergeant Howie tries to pay a compliment. He says, I
like your rabbits, and the woman who runs the shop,
May Morrison, says, those are hairs, not silly old rabbits,

(20:26):
lovely march hares, shouldn't you know. The woman meets Sergeant
Howie and they introduce themselves. This is indeed May Morrison,
and she's curious to know what this is about. Sergeant
Howie says that he's here to see about her missing daughter,
but May reacts with bafflement. She says she does have
a daughter, but her daughter is not missing. She looks

(20:48):
at the photo that how he brought and says this
is not her daughter, and how He tries to keep digging,
but May just says, I tell you no, and then laughs,
and then takes him into the back of the shop
to her residence, where she introduces him to her daughter, Myrtle,
who indeed looks nothing like the girl in the photograph.
The girl is in the middle of drawing this big

(21:10):
rabbit or I guess maybe it's a hair not a rabbit,
big hair on sketch paper, and Mey gets called away
to the front of the shop by the bell, and
so Sergeant Howie is just left alone with Myrtle here.
So he squats down to talk with her. First she
hands him a paint brush and this gets paint all
over his hands. The first of there is a running

(21:31):
theme in the movie that people who apparently mean no
harm and are in fact being quite friendly, just constantly
in little ways kind of blemish or annoy or humiliate
Sergeant Howie by like handing him a paint brush brush
side first, and he just gets brown paint all over
his hands.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, this is it's kind of the physical embodiment of
what goes on with ideas that are conveyed to him,
you know, because people will just in a very friendly tone,
like give them give him a little bit of insight
into what they believe here on Summer Isle and how
they go about their lives, and it's it. We're to
infer that there is no malice meant by these statements,

(22:14):
but they often, you know, they often poke him the
wrong way and sometimes provoke him to some embarrassing sequences
where we'll get into examples as we go.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
Yeah, but so how he's still trying to get some
information makes sense of this confusing situation that he's come
in to. So he asks Myrtle, do you know Rowan,
and Myrtle says, in the fields, she runs and plays
there all day. And he says, oh, do you think
she'll be coming back for tea? And Myrtle says tea.
Hairs don't have tea. Silly. So, according to Myrtle, Rowan

(22:49):
is a hare. And how he keeps trying to get
confirmation on this, and she's like, of course she's a hair.
She has a lovely time. So this inquiry is off
to a strange start. Later that evening we see Sergeant
Howie wandering around. He has to find lodgings on the
island while he is on the case, so he makes
his way to the local inn. I get the sense

(23:10):
that this is the only local inn. There's probably just one,
and this is the green Man Inn. And wow, the
sign on this place, by the way, is amazing. So
it is one of the kind of wild man green
man motifs that you will find in the British Isles.
But the eyes on the green Man are first of all,

(23:32):
it's just like a vegetation head, you know, the kind
of the green night. But then the eyes are these sunken,
spiraling down concentric circles of brass or gold that look
like they're like the structure of Dante's Inferno. But they're
going down and these like gold metal pits. It looks insane.

Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, absolutely overflowing with psychedelic pagan mischief. I also want
to note this is something that I made. No several times,
we're more likely to say the wicker Man, but every
time I feel like, especially Christopher Lee, says the wicker Man,
he says the wicker Man. And when they talk about

(24:14):
the green Man in, they say the green Man in.
So I just noted that found it interesting. Yeah, like
when they speak of Batman in that way, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Do you know where Batman is now?

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (24:29):
He flies through the caves. He has a lovely time.
So when Sergeant Howie arrives, the pub is hoppin. It
looks like a good time. It is full of people
drinking lively music. But the music stops as soon as
he walks in. It's like that scene in a western,
you know, where the wrong guy walks into the saloon
and the piano player eh oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
And this is a great scene too, because we have
a lot of musicians and non actors in this scene.
So this is definitely one of those scenes where they
was talking about in the last episode that really has
that authentic feel to it. You kind of feel like
you're in a documentary here and these are these are
just the locals, like we are in a very authentic setting.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
Yeah. So Howie goes up to the counter and he
meets the innkeeper. And this guy has such suspicious energy.
We mentioned him last time. This is Alder McGregor, the landlord,
the innkeeper, and he's he's just got this raised die bro.
He's like, you're a policeman.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
I yeah, yeah, this is Lindsay Kemp. Yeah, fun, fun performance.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Yeah, he's great. So Sergeant Howie requests a room for
the night and a hot supper, and the landlord calls
his daughter to the counter to show Sergeant Howie to
his room. Here we meet another one of the main
characters in the movie, played by Britt Eklund in the
role of Willow McGregor, the quote landlord's daughter and on

(25:52):
cue as she comes into the room. First of all,
when she comes into the room and meets Howie, she
like gives him a real good like look up and down,
and all the locals start singing a dirty pub song
about her, and I want to be clear, Willow seems
not to mind the dirty pub song. As soon as
she sees Sergeant Howie, she looks at him with this
mischievous smile, like, yes, I am going to make this

(26:15):
Christian do some sinning. And I think it's the harbor
master who starts singing the song, and the lyrics begins saying,
much has been said of the strumpets of your of
winches and body house queens by the score, But I
sing of a baggage that we all adore, the landlord's daughter.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
And if it were not already clear, Sergeant Howie has
landed on the hornist island in the British Isles.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
Yes. Now, something I want to note about the tone
of this scene, which I think is interesting. In another context,
you could imagine that this exact song, this horny drinking song,
with the same lyrics, would have more of the quality
of an insult, like it would have more of a

(27:00):
a misogynist tone and a kind of insult to the
woman that the song is about. And somehow to me,
this scene does not feel like it has any implication
of that kind. There's obviously humor in the song, but
it actually does not feel like the characters understand the
song to be at Willow's expense. Instead, the song feels

(27:23):
like it is genuinely meant as a kind of cheeky
celebration of a woman who is beloved by the pub community,
and she seems to be reveling in this adoration. She's
like smiling and laughing and dancing along.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, I agree. I'm left after this scene, in particular,
I'm left with an impression of a very sex positive
culture here on Summer Isle and the way it hits
given that this again was filmed in seventy two, came
out like seventy three. Initially, I assume this is bringing
in a lot of like sixties free love energy along
with these older pagan vibes, pre Christian vibes. But yeah,

(27:57):
this is an island where we're already getting the idea
that sex is no sin, but rather the chiefest of
virtues to be celebrated as such. And to someone like Howie,
for whom sex is original sin, this just absolutely flips
his universe on its head, because it quickly becomes obvious
that this is not just a young folks thing or

(28:18):
a subgroup thing. Everyone here on Summer Aisle has this worldview.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah, everybody's having a great time. It's a lot of
old people in the pub. They all love this. Another
thing that I think is kind of interesting about the
tone of this song and the way the characters seem
to feel and understand it, especially given what we learn
later about the history of the island. It almost feels
like this song could be a relic from a different

(28:45):
time from people with different values, and now the words
and melody are still being sung, but by people who
understand them differently.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
Yeah, but anyway, everybody starts singing and dancing. The pub is,
by the way, like half of the patrons have musical instruments.
Some of the dance moves not so much in this scene,
but we will see in later scenes are basically wrestling moves,
Like they'll be playing music and people are like picking
each other up in the air as if to do
a suplex or something.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Yeah, there are a lot of clearly, as this crowd
really gets into their cups, there are some tests of
strength involved. Yeah, nobody has This is where everyone is
going tonight, and there is no second location. Well, there's
one possible second location. There is the field. There's also
the cemetery, but we'll get into that later.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
Yeah, So, as the song about the landlord's daughter is
really heating up, Sergeant Howie is just like, stop all
this nonsense. He starts rapping on the counter to make
everybody shut up and listen to him, total scold, And
once everybody is finally quiet, he tells them he's a
policeman and that he is looking for a child named
Rowan Morrison and if anyone has knowledge of her whereabouts,

(29:56):
they should come speak with him. And it's funny because, like,
if you force your self to think about it, like
his business is important. He is actually trying to solve
what's going on within an apparently missing child who people
are like giving him weird, conflicting information about, and yet
it feels like this is completely inappropriate behavior on his part.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah yeah, I mean part of it is that so far,
no one has acknowledged that anyone is actually missing, So
like maybe we're inclined to forgive them a bit more
for just not answering any of his questions all that night,
because I mean, so far, we're to assume that, well,
there's no kid missing, Like what you're just going to
shout out us some more about this, But we can't
help you.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
So while Sergeant Howie is showing the photo to everyone,
we also see some photos up on the wall of
the Green Man in from each of the ten years past. Actually,
there's a photo of the harvest festival featuring a girl
who is the Queen of the Harvest. I'm not sure
if this is supposed to be the same as the
Queen of the May Festival crowned the Queen of the

(31:01):
May and then she also is the Queen of the
Harvest Festival, or it's different girls. I'm not sure, but anyway,
it'll have like a girl with like a wreath of
flowers on her hair, and she'll be surrounded by crates
of fruit and other produce the harvest of the island.
The photo from last year's harvest festival is missing. All
of the other photos are lined up, but how He

(31:21):
asks about it, and the landlord says that the frame
was broken and it's being repaired anyway. Time for supper.
We cut away to Howie eating and we see his
food which looks gross, so we just hear him mutter disgusting.
He's got like a little cut of meat on his plate,
and then some beans that look blue and then some
canned boiled potatoes. It does not look like a very

(31:42):
good plate of food. Willow comes in to clear his plate,
and she's like, what's the matter. Aren't you hungry? And
how He says yes, he says he's hungry, but he
says that most of the food I've had, the farmhouse soup,
the potatoes, broad beans all come out of a can.
Broad Beans in their natural state aren't usually turquois, are they?

(32:04):
And Willow says, oh, this is the part where Willow
just like looks at him and she goes, some things
in their natural state have the most vivid colors.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, she was laying it on a bit thick here,
but I do love the continued botanical sexual themes here.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Also, Willow asked him you want any Do you wan
any dessert? She says, do you want afters he asks
for an apple, but she says, no apples, they don't
have any. And Sergeant how He is shocked by this.
He's like, well, I thought Summerle was famous for its
fruit and vegetables. Your apples are what you do here,
that's your whole thing. And she says, sorry, I expect

(32:39):
they've all been exported. You can have peaches and cream
if you like Sergeant. Sergeant how he asks if it
will come from a can, and Willow nods, oh. But
she also gives him another sexy stinger. She's like, cheer
up food. Isn't everything in life? You know?

Speaker 1 (32:56):
I love this little scene made me start thinking about
religion as fruit here, with Christianity Howie's Christianity being the
canned fruit from a distant land introduced here. While the
pagan beliefs are of the soil and of the people,
they're like the crops that are grown locally, or at

(33:16):
least at this point in the film. That's how it
may seem. Things may seem different later on.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
That is interesting. I didn't think of that. I wonder
how that interfaces with the fact that the local fruits
have failed in the last harvest.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Exactly. Yeah, And I think again, that's one of the
great things about this film is you can kind of
drop in at different points and it makes you think
about things in one direction, and the new information will
kind of make you consider the alternate argument. So this
is just yeah, this is one of those moments right
here where everything you think you might understand about the

(33:54):
balance is going to shift later on.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Though, Actually I got ahead of things because we actually
don't know at this point in the movie that the
last harvest failed yet.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
Yeah, as far as we know at this point, this
is just an island where the apples are bountiful, and
for some reason they're serving this guy can potatoes.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, maybe it's just superfluous disrespect for how we even
though they're being very nice to him. And again, yeah,
most people are being very nice to him. I should
just say that again, Like he's gotten a little bit
of an icy reception here and there, but it's you know,
they're they're welcoming him.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
Their vibe is just very different than his too, Like
he's still on the case, on the job, and no
one else is working exactly, I mean except for the
people working in the pub. Everyone else here is out
for a good time.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
Yeah. The people working in the pub seem like they're
partying in the pub at the same time.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
We work hard, we play hard at the same time simultaneously.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
Anyway, right after this, Howie decides to go out for
a walk. This is, by the way, right after Willow
told him, you know, there's more to life than food.
So he goes out for a walk on the lane
outside the inn, and he discovers in the fields outside
there just happens to be an orgy taking place. Dozens
of people are out having passionate sex in the grass,

(35:11):
and how he is incredibly startled by this. Next, he
comes to the edge of the old churchyard and peeks
over the stone wall, and he sees people in the
graveyard with watering cans, watering graves in the moonlight, and
he sees a naked woman sitting on another grave and sobbing. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
Yeah, Stephen King's character from Sleepwalkers would not approve of them.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Yeah, I don't need this action, yea. So how He
goes back to the inn, clearly disturbed. He something is
not right with this place from his perspective. He quickly
gets his key goes up to his room. Now Here

(35:54):
we get a deleted scene of the first night at
the inn. Later that night, while Howie is alone in
his room writing in his notebook, we hear a deep
voice outside the window calling out it's the voice of
Christopher Lee. And we hear Christopher Lee saying, Willow McGregor,
I have the honor to present you Ash Buchanan. And

(36:18):
then outside the window. We look down and we see
there stands christ forher Lee in the role of Lord Somerle.
I can't remember. Is he dressed in a kilt in
this sees yeah, with kinda the Scottish dress, with like
a pouch of some kind. And then there's a young
man standing beside him. Willow comes to the window and

(36:39):
she is overjoyed to see them. She's laughing and she says,
come on up, Ash Buchanan, and Lord Somerle says another
sacrifice at the altar of Aphrodite. So Willow is the
goddess of love in the local mythology. They also have
a conversation of how she needs to be ready for
Tomorrow's tomorrow, the day of a more serious offering, and

(37:03):
the people in the pub downstairs by the way are
singing a song about sex. This is not a rowdy
drinking song this time. It's kind of a soft, sad
minor key song. Sounds like it could be by Nick Drake.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Also, this is the part I think we talked about
this in the last episode. The once deleted scene now
restored where Christopher Lee looks at slugs, Yes, and he's
like staring at slugs crawling on a leaf, and he says,
I think I could turn and live with animals. They
are so placid and self contained. They do not lie

(37:36):
awake in the dark and weep for their sins. They
do not make me sick discussing their duty to God.
Not one of them kneels to another or to his
own kind that lived thousands of years ago. Not one
of them is respectable or unhappy all over the earth.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah, it's really nice. I love this sequence. I've noted
that some folks online disagree and think that this scene
kind of like messes with the pace of the picture.
And I mean, I can maybe acknowledge some ways it
might do that a little bit, but I feel like
the benefits of it outweigh any negatives, you know, because

(38:15):
we get kind of a we get a little more
about the sort of outlook that the locals have about
their place and relationship to nature, about like the value
that they place on willow and on sex in the community.
So I think it's all it's all an upside here.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
Yeah, I can see both sides about the scene. Having
seen the movie without it as well, I can see
how it does sort of disrupt the slow build towards
the first meeting with Christopher Lee. And it also sort
of it reveals more about the island's culture earlier on,
and because without the scene you get a very very

(38:58):
nice slow build the revelations about what's going on up
to the payoff. So I see that point. But also
I just really like the scene, and so I kind
of hate to lose it.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
I think the first time I saw this film on television,
I suspect this sequence was missing. And on top of that,
I'm not sure what else might have been cut for
length on TP, so that's a possible fourth different cut.
I always always forget to include that. Yeah, anytime you
have something for cable television back in the day, or
certainly broadcast television, there's the chance that something else has

(39:32):
been cut or sometimes added, depending on what run time
you're trying to hit.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
You know, another thing regarding the care free, sex positive
culture of the island that I wanted to talk about,
Maybe this is a good place to bring it up,
because I don't know where else to bring it up.
I think this story would play differently if as soon
as Sergeant Howie arrived on the island, we were seeing

(39:59):
lots of like hot young people in diaphanous gowns, or
people dancing around naked with flowers in their hair, but
we don't see that. Instead, to the extent that we
get any of that, it comes much later in the story,
and that is not generally the local fashion, at least
not for the for the day to day. The characters

(40:19):
that we meet early on are mostly older, windburned, gray
haired people with a kind of wooly authentically rural Scotland
in the seventies fashion sense. It's not woodstock out here,
at least not early on. Early on, it's just it's
lots of old people apparently living a kind of dowdy

(40:39):
Scottish village life.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Yeah, it's it's firmly established that this is not a
generational thing here. Then there are some nods later on
to the fact that the older members of the community
are more likely to have biblical names, biblical first names,
as opposed to the younger people who all have names
like Rowan and so forth, and it's you know, it's
more botanical in nature. But yeah, I think this is

(41:02):
a great point anyway.

Speaker 3 (41:04):
The next day, we check back in with Sergeant Howie
as he continues his investigation and the first thing we
see is that as Sergeant Howie is setting out to
the island schoolhouse, he passes a big celebration out in
a meadow across the way from the school. The boys
of the elementary school are out with their teacher, dancing

(41:24):
around a may pole which is hung with red and
white streamers, and there is a band playing. We've got
a guitar, clarinet, violin, and a very prominent mouth harp
going boying, boying, And here we get another musical number
sung by the school master in a glorious pink shirt
with a wide seventies collar, and the boys are running around.

(41:47):
They're weaving their streamers around the may pole, twisting them
up if I think most people have probably seen that
kind of dance where you go around the maypole and
you weave the you weave the fibers in and out.
The tune of the is it's both lighthearted and sing songy,
but also a little bit eerie. And I'm just gonna
read the lyrics here because they do there are kind

(42:09):
of important for establishing the tone of the movie as
it's developing. So the schoolmaster sings in the woods, there
grew a tree and a fine, fine tree was he
And on that tree there was a limb, and on
that limb there was a branch, and on that branch
there was a nest. And in that nest there was
an egg. And in that egg there was a bird.
And from that bird a feather came, and of that
feather was a bed, and on that bed there was

(42:31):
a girl, and on that girl there was a man.
And from that man there was a seed. And from
that seed there was a boy, and from that boy
there was a man. And for that man there was
a grave. And from that grave there grew a tree.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
This is a great song. This is one I definitely
did catch myself singing a couple of times because it
has just such a nice, jaunty energy to it.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
Yeah yeah. Howie is again obviously weirded out by this,
but he walks past to the schoolhouse where the girls
of the school are sitting at their desks, and as
Sergeant how he walks into the room. The teacher, Miss
Rose played by Diane Cilento, is in the middle of
a lesson. And I love the way Chilento is dressed
for this role because or or at least in the scene,

(43:14):
because on one hand, she looks like a classic proper
school teacher in the conservative fashion. It's like a long
gray wool dress going down to the floor and like
a ruffled white top with this like buttoned up to
the throat with long sleeves. But also at the same
time she's got a big chain necklace with what looks

(43:34):
like some kind of giant talismanic tooth or horn hanging
over her stomach. I don't know if that was I
don't know which that is, but it's good anyway. Miss
Rose is doing her lesson and she asks one of
the students in the class, can you tell us what
the maypole represents? The first girl she calls on doesn't
know the answer, but then everybody else in the class

(43:56):
calls out phallic symbol, and Miss Rose says, quote the
phallic symbol that is correct. It is the image of
the penis, which is venerated in religions such as ours,
as symbolizing the generative force in nature. And here's the
point where suddenly how he interrupts the school. He's like, aha,
right in the school door, and you might think how

(44:18):
he's gonna get right down to business, trying to track
down leads on the Rowan Morrison case, except no he doesn't. Instead,
he pulls Miss Rose aside and he's like, he says,
miss you can be quite sure that I shall report
this to the proper authorities. Everywhere I go on this island,
it seems to me I find degeneracy. There was brawling
in bars, there's indecency in public places, and there is

(44:40):
corruption of the young. And now I see it all
stems from here. It stems from the filth taught here
in this very school room. And Miss Rose, just very calmly,
is like I was unaware that the police got to
set school curriculu. And he's just constantly frustrated and annoyed.
He's like, well, we'll see about that anyway.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
To take this is the great sequence though, and I
would say this is the one that feels just a
few degrees away from being a Monty Python sketch. You know,
certainly some dry comedic energy here, even if it doesn't
like go for big punchline laughs or anything.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
So how he takes over the class and addresses all
the girls. He introduces himself as a police officer, and
he explains that he's looking for a girl named Rowan
Morrison without asking, he erases the lesson that miss Rose
was working on on the blackboard so we can ride
over it. I happened to pause it so I could
copy down what the class was covering before. How he

(45:40):
barged in, this is great. This is what the blackboard said.
The pith of the snailstone preserves the eye from darkness.
The toadstone preserves the newly born from the weird woman.
The hagstone preserves the people from the nightmare.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Oh wow, I think they were about to get to
their lesson about the shadow man. Class is interrupted. First,
I want to go to this school. Do they do
adult education there? I mean, one assumes they get around
to mathematics eventually.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Well, that is a good point. I don't get the
sense from miss Rose that this school only teaches witchcraft.
It seems like they maybe have like a witchcraft class,
But otherwise I think these students are probably getting a
good education. They're learning math and science and history and
all that. But then they're also just this is like
their religious instruction.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Yeah, he just happened to walk in and eavesdrop right
before lunch when they normally cover this stuff.

Speaker 3 (46:39):
Anyway, Howie writes Rowan's name on the blackboard. He passes
her photo around and he asks, do any of you
know Rowan? Everyone in the class says no. Miss Rose says,
there's your answer, Sergeant. If she existed, we would know
of her. But Sergeant Howie is not satisfied. He points
to an empty desk in the middle of the classroom
and asks who sits there. Miss Rose says no one does. Then,

(47:00):
still suspicious, he goes and he flips up the lid
of the desk, and in the cavity inside he is
shocked to see a nail partially hammered into the wood,
protruding up several inches, and it's tied with a thread,
and the other end of the thread is tied around
a beetle who is crawling in circles around the nail.

(47:20):
I would note the visual similarity to the boys running
around the maypole holding the end of the streamers from
just a minute before. And then the girl at the
desk beside says, the little old beadle goes round and round,
always the same way you see, until it ends up
right up tight to the nail, poor old thing. And
Howie is just he's freaked out. He's like, poor old

(47:41):
thing and then whine, God's name do you do it?

Speaker 1 (47:43):
Girl?

Speaker 3 (47:44):
He's yelling at the children, still suspicious, he wants to
see the school registerry. Miss Rose tries to say she
can't share that without permission from Lord Summerle once again
needs Lord Somerle sign off, but how he just ignores her,
barges past, pulls it off the desk and looks through it,
and sure enough, when looking at through the list of students,
he finds the name Rowan Morrison residents the post office.

(48:08):
Now upon finding this, his first reaction appears to be discussed,
discussed at Miss Rose and at the children in the classroom.
He looks up and he points at all of the
children in their desks and he says, you are all
despicable little liars. Rowan Morrison is a schoolmate of yours,
isn't she? And that is her desk, isn't it? And

(48:29):
they all just look completely blank, stone faced at him.
A few kind of avert their eyes to the floor,
but mostly it's just crickets nothing. He tries to threaten
Miss Rose, telling her that he's going to charge her
with obstruction, but she persuades him to step outside with her,
so they can talk, and so she gives the girl

(48:49):
some reading to get back to and they go outside
and she insists that despite how it seems to him
from their perspective, no one was lying to him. Miss
Rose says, I told you plainly, if Rowan Morrison existed,
we would know of her. He's like, what do you
mean by that? You mean she's dead? And Miss Rose says,

(49:09):
you would say so, And Sergeant Howie's just he's like fuming.
He's like, come on, she's either dead or she's not dead.
And I love the way Miss Rose appears to be
navigating this conversation carefully. She's doing her best to authentically
represent her beliefs, so she's not like just caving and

(49:30):
talking about things the way that Howie would like to like.
She's staying in her own mode of speaking about the world.
But she's also trying to be kind of sensitive and accommodating,
accommodating to this irritated policeman who has no patience for her.
So she says, here, we do not use the word
and then she mouths the word dead. She says that

(49:52):
we believe when human life is over, the soul returns
to the trees to the air, to fire, to water,
to animals, so that Roan Morrison has simply returned to
the life forces in another form. Now how he begins
to argue, He's like, he can't believe that they're teaching
the children this stuff. He's like, this is nonsense, it's insane.

(50:12):
What about teaching them Christianity? Miss Rose is like, actually,
you know, the children have it much have a much
easier time understanding the concept of reincarnation than of resurrection,
because resurrection involves like the you know, the raising of
rotting bodies. That makes no sense to the children, But
the children's imagination can quite well understand coming back as

(50:33):
other forces in nature. Uh. And again how he's just
like flummixed by this and he has to move on.
So finally he's like, okay, okay, okay, where is Rowan
Morrison's body, her physical body? I want to know where
it is? And she says, you know, it's in what
you would call the churchyard, no longer consecrated to the
Christian religion.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
That does not it does feel like she's baiting him
a little.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Bit with this. Yes, yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Now, as we mentioned already, this is at heart a
horror movie, so we should keep that in mind when
we consider its representation of either you know, Christianity or
any variation on pagan religion here. But I love this
sequence and this idea that for the children, reincarnation just
rings more true and requires less rigorous reprogramming of their

(51:19):
natural inclinations. You know, It's definitely one of the notes
in the film that makes the viewers see Howie and
his world as being one of more more tortured thought
and morals.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Yeah, and it sort of fits with something that Lord
Summerle will say later that suggests, at least the locals
think of it as Paganism is not just their religion,
but they think of it as something that kind of
fits onto human life naturally. It fits us like a glove,
and it's easy to put on and to assume. Whereas

(51:52):
they talk about Howie's religion and about Christianity like it
is a thing that must be kind of like for
into place with great effort and against great resistance.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Yeah. Yeah, and we see some more examples of this
idea as we proceed.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
But okay, so how He finally has his next clue.
He's gonna go look for the grave of Rowan Morrison
in the churchyard, or at least the yard formerly known
as a church. Now remember this was before the night before,
where how we saw people watering, trees growing out of
the grave plots, and naked people getting sad or getting sexy.
So how he walks in and he looks around the

(52:40):
first gravestone he looks at says, hereliath beech Buchanan, protected
by the ejaculation of serpents. Yes, the graveyard is both
ugly and beautiful. It's beautiful in the sense that it's
damp and green, so it's got old stones that have
a kind of stack lately magic. But it's also covered

(53:02):
with this green vegetation, so quite beautiful. But also there
are random piles of junk and debris scattered around. It's
like it is both taken care of and not. Somebody
is watering the grave trees and there's it's kind of
beautifully chaotically gardened in a way, but also nobody is
cleaning up the mess or keeping it tidy.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
Yeah. Yeah, it feels more like a return to nature
and death, which of course is very much what they
seem to be all about here.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
Yeah. So, as how he keeps wandering, he sees one
grave that has what looks like the Jolly Roger engraved
on it. It's skull and crossbones. He also comes across
a woman sitting on a gravestone, holding a baby in
one arm and breastfeeding her while she's rocking back and forth,
and then the other hand she is holding out a
chicken egg as if doing some kind of ritual or magic.

(53:53):
And then finally how he comes to one large stone
grave that's covered in wooden crates with the remains of
rotting fruit and produce. He reacts to this with just
bitter revulsion. He breaks apart one of the crates and
uses two stakes from it to fashion a makeshift cross
and he just leaves that by itself on the tomb,
almost as like a I know, he wouldn't think of

(54:14):
it this way, because he's just like, I'm trying to
reconsecrate this with the one true religion. But it feels
like he's like just giving a middle finger.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Yeah, yeah, that's one way of looking at it. Now.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
Finally we get to the meeting with the groundskeeper. We
flagged the actor who plays the grounds keeper in the
last episode because he's got a real good seething laughter.
This is the same actor who's the guy in a
clockwork orange who gets to tell Alex that he committed murder. You, Alex,
you a little murderer.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Yeah, this is Morris.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
Yes, And how he asks him about the trees on
the graves. The groundskeeper is like, oh, oh, yes, we
plant the trees on the graves, you know, as if
this should be obvious. And how he points to a
tree on an unmarked grave, one with no headstone. He says,
what kind of tree is that? It's a Rowan tree?
Who's grave? Is it Rowan Morrison's? And here there is

(55:07):
a moment of quiet exasperation, I think because of the
contrast between how cagey everybody has been all like denying
that they knew who Rowan was or denying she existed,
and then suddenly the ease with which this guy just
offers up the information.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Mm hmm. It's like I've been He's been trying to
get somebody to just point him to this spot all day, Yeah,
and he keeps getting the run around.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
Yes, But it's also like how he doesn't understand. He's frustrated,
I think because he doesn't understand what exactly he's dealing
with here. He's like, are these people all mad? Are
they participating in a cover up or a conspiracy? Is
it somehow part of their religion to like deny knowing
someone existed once they're dead. He truly, he just doesn't

(55:51):
understand what he's dealing with.

Speaker 1 (55:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (55:53):
Anyway, so they have a little chat about the dryed
and bilical cord hanging from the rowan tree, and eventually
this is the part where Howie is like, where is
your minister? It's almost with the energy of I need
to speak to your manager. Yeah, And this is when
the groundskeeper just starts laughing hysterically about the idea of
a minister and wanders away. Now we get a few
more investigation scenes. I'm not really gonna dwell on these,

(56:16):
but how he briefly goes back to the post office
slash sweet Shop to see may Morrison again, but he
just like tells her they're all raving mad and no
new information is exchanged. He goes to visit the town
librarian played by Ingrid Pitt. He wants to see records
of local deaths, and at first Ingrid Pitt says that
he's going to need permission from Lord Summerle but he

(56:38):
strong arms her into handing it over, and just another
moment we're flagging here is I think it's the name
of Rowan Morrison's grand parents that he sees in the register.
And he's like, oh, these are names from the Bible,
unlike everybody else here, and she's like, oh, yes, they
were very old. Little clue there. He also visits the
chemist slash photographer, mister Lennox. This shop is full of

(57:03):
weird things preserved in jars. You got whole toads, pig fetuses,
stuff like that. How he finds out from him, or
how he finds out that he takes the Harvest festival
photo each year, and how he wants to see the
photo from last year, but Linux does not have a copy.
Does he remember who was in the photo? No? Anyway,
time to go meet Lord summer Isle. So here's like

(57:25):
a big kind of centerpiece scene of the movies, the
first meeting between Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward. Here on
the way, how he rides in a horse drawn buggy
and we get to hear corn rigs and barley rigs again.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
A great song. Might as well play it some more.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
Once it was not enough. We also see plenty of
the local scenery. There are hedges cut into animal shapes
and some just seem to be like phalluses, a lot
of flowers budding fruit trees. There is one scene where
we see pregnant women wandering around in an orchard, touching
the trees and what seems to be a kind of
ritual and speaking of rituals, as we get closer to

(58:02):
Lord Somerle's manner, the music changes into an eerie minor
key flute melody and we see a giant stone circle
like stone hinge positioned atop a hill, and in the
center of this stone circle there is a hearth with
a blazing fire, and all around it are naked young
women performing a religious dance. This ritual is seemingly being

(58:26):
led I think by miss Rose. When this miss Rose
from the school, I think you think you're right, yeah,
And she's now dressed in a white gown wearing a
giant pendant of hammered gold in the shape of the sun,
and the women are singing a song. The lyrics are
take the flame inside you, burn and burn below, fire
seed and fire seed to make the baby grow. And

(58:49):
then they take turns running and leaping over the fire
as the song goes on.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
I like the song here as a nye, Like even
as you recited the lyrics, I can hear the tune
in my head. Yeah yeah. I also should note that
modern Blu ray viewers will note that these dancers are
in fact not naked, but dressed in skin colored tights,
which doesn't detract from the scene at all. But I
just find this kind of thing interesting, like the things
that I'm assuming it might might have been lost, you know,

(59:15):
originally when this was shown theatrically.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
Because originally it would have been grainy enough that in
they're filmed at a distance, so you assume they are naked.
But actually now that there's like high enough definition that
you can yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
And I mean I think I saw this originally on Ane,
and I think I would probably just thought, wow, that
Ani just allows nudity. I think maybe they did allow
just a little bit of nudity on an e versus
other channels.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
Anyway, Howie arrives at Lord Somerle's mansion. Is this technically
a castle, I don't know what counts as a castle.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
I mean, it's it's somewhere in there. There's a lot
of stone, here is.

Speaker 3 (59:52):
Big Lord Somerrel's manner. I wonder what you make of this,
Rob The manor is not decorated like a pagan temple.
It feels like the house of a Scottish lord. There's
a lot of polished wooden furnishings, hunting trophies, big framed
el cantlers and things like that, big paintings on the walls,
suits of armor and heraldry, all that kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Yeah, and it ties in with a lot of what
we've seen regarding this community. They haven't rejected modernity, they
haven't rejected their Scottishness. Uh, they just have this this
other entire aspect of their worldview they have they have
rejected you, Christianity to a large degree, but they haven't

(01:00:37):
set everything aside. They're not they're not living in just
this this you know, this time out of mind and
out of place.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
That's right. And so I remember being kind of surprised
by this. I would have thought, the way they're building
up Lord summer Isle, it's gonna be like he's going
to be the most and the most pagan aesthetically pagan one.
And he might be, I don't know, he might be
the most pagan one. But his house doesn't look like
you know, it doesn't look like a an apothecary, herbalist
shop or something.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
And I think this could easily make you think, well,
maybe he's a hypocrite, maybe he doesn't actually live like this.
But once you get into Lee's performance in these scenes,
I think all of that is dismissed because his performance
that the energy of it. As we talked about in
the last episode, he just has this youthful vigor and enthusiasm.

(01:01:25):
This unlike I think any other Christopher Lee performance I've
ever seen any other character I've seen him take on,
and therefore you just totally buy into it. Of course,
this is Summer and of course he believes all these things.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
Oh okay, I was going to ask a question about that,
but you may have answered it in advance, but we
can still discuss later. So how he's waiting to meet
Lord Summerle and he thinks he is alone, like waiting
for I guess for Lord Somerl to come down and
meet him. So he's standing at the window watching the
fir dance across the lawn, But how he's not alone. Instead,

(01:01:58):
suddenly Christopher Lee pops his head out from around the
from around like the corner of a chair, the size
of a panel van. What is going on with this chair?
They made high backed chairs that are just like, I
don't know, needs to be ten feet wide.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
This just this place is full of old castle stuff. Yeah,
I mean it's enormous and unnecessary.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
So, I don't know, Rob, do you want to describe
Christopher Lee's appearance and aura in this scene? He's wearing
like a tweed jacket and a green shirt and he's
just so happy. He's just beaming.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Yeah, God goodness, Yeah, he's he just has this useful energy.
Like I've said, he was I think around fifty at
the time and feels ten years younger than anywhere I've
ever seen it before. Yeah, you know, this is not
Christopher Lee, the Vampire of the Hammer films before and
after this. This is just a guy that's just full

(01:02:51):
of energy, like he's delightful to be in his presence,
or you know, it would be for anyone else other
than Howie here. You know is a bit rough around
the edges of regarding all of this paganism and and optimism,
But yeah, I think optimism is the vibe that he
is exuding the most. It's like, you know, everything is possible,

(01:03:14):
and I'm gonna say yes and to whatever you've come
here to ask. And Howie is also unprepared for that.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
Yeah. Yeah. Also he's got big hair. Did we mentioned, yes,
Christopher Ley not usually with big hair, but here big hair.

Speaker 1 (01:03:28):
Yeah, and this will this will be key compared to
the way his hair looks in a later scene here
that the hair is. You know, he's got a little
bit of gray going on, but it's also not black.
It's not vampire black, but the overall appearance is very
almost almost blonde's he almost appears blonde in the way
that the gray and the brown mixes together. So yeah,

(01:03:51):
just he's beaming. He's like the sun.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
Yeah, his hair is like the radiance around the edge
of the sun. Yeah, kind of like the face of
Nuauto we saw at the beginning. Yeah. But anyway, so
he pops his head around the corner, uh, and he's
he's talking about the young woman dancing naked outside, and
Lord Somerrel says, good, good afternoon, Sergeant Howie. He says,
I trust the sight of the young people refreshes you.

(01:04:16):
And Sergeant how He says, no, sir, it does not
refresh me, but Summerle is unfazed. He recommends that we
all be open to the regenerative influences. And how he
describes the situation. Uh, he explains to Lord Somerle that
he suspects a girl on the island has been the

(01:04:38):
victim of murder and conspiracy to murder, and he needs
Lord Somerle's permission to exhume the body for an autopsy.
And Lord Somerral is like, yes, permission granted, go for it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
Yeah, And so it is totally unprepared to get a
yes here that he kind of just keeps.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Going, yeah, exactly. And so here I want to quote
a good bit of the dialogue because I think you
kind of I need to hear what is said in
this scene to appreciate it. How he's like, your lordship
seems strangely unconcerned and some are all explains He's like, well,
I'm just confident your suspicions are wrong. We don't commit
murder here on Somemore Isle. He says, we're a deeply

(01:05:15):
religious people. And how he is so annoyed. He's like
religious with ruined churches, no ministers, no priests, and children
dancing naked and some aere Al's like, oh, they do
love their divinity lessons, and how he says, but they're naked.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
And to be clear, those looked like those were grown
women dancing around those stones.

Speaker 3 (01:05:38):
Yea he sposed to be. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
How he's like newborn babies dancing naked around the stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
Also, some are ill, he said. He's like, they're naked,
And somewhere All's like, well, naturally, it's too dangerous to
jump through the fire with your clothes on, and how
he's like, what religion are they learning jumping over fires?
And somemore Ile explains, He's like parthenogenesis. It's like what
somewhere else says, you know this is a sexual reproduction

(01:06:08):
without sexual union, and how he goes, oh what is
all this? He's like, you've got fake biology, fake religion, sir.
Have these children never heard of Jesus? And then somewhere
else says himself, the son of a virgin impregnated I
believe by a ghost.

Speaker 1 (01:06:25):
Solid pagan burn right there, solid burn, yeah, yeah, but
I love that. Have these children never heard of Jesus?
Lord somewhere else, did they know it's Christmas at all?

Speaker 3 (01:06:38):
Now there's kind of a break in the tension here
because Christopherle he goes on to explain what's happening. He says,
you know, these girls are jumping naked over the fire
in the hope that the god of the fire will
make them fruitful. And he says, after all, who would
not prefer to bear the child of a god over
that of an Acnes good Autizan and how He again

(01:06:58):
tries to argue, but Lord Samerle says, you know, it's
most important for the young people of the island to
learn that here the old gods are not dead. Now
Howie is very offended. He's like, and what of the
true God? You know, what of him? And Lord Somerrel says,
he's dead. Can't complain, had his chance and in modern parlance,

(01:07:19):
blew it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
This is the first, I think, major overtly stressed note
of religion failing modern humans. And we'll come back to
this in an important way later.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Now Here, Lord Somemrrel begins to explain the backstory of
the island a Sergeant Howie. Now, of course we could
wonder if he is being honest with Sergeant Howie about everything,
but I take it that everything he says here is true.
Yet I don't think he's trying to trick Howie at all.
This seems to me is just like this is the

(01:07:53):
actual backstory of the island.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
Yeah, I don't think up Lord Samerle really lies at all. Well,
there's one kind of big vlie, but everything else he
seems like he's being very truthful about.

Speaker 3 (01:08:05):
So I'm just going to read from a transcription of
the dialogue here because this part's important. This is Lord
Somerle's story. He says, in the last century the islanders
were starving like our neighbors today. They were scratching a
bear subsistence from sheep and sea. Then in eighteen sixty eight,
my grandfather bought this baron island and began to change things.

(01:08:26):
A distinguished Victorian, scientist, agronomist, free thinker, how formidably benevolent.
He seems essentially the face of a man incredulous of
all human good And Sergeant Howie says, very cynical, my
Lord Sammerle says, what attracted my grandfather to the island,
apart from the profuse source of wiry labor that it promised,

(01:08:48):
was the unique combination of volcanic soil and the warm
gulf stream that surrounded it. You see, his experiments had
led him to believe that it was possible to induce
here the successful growth of certain new strains of fruit
that he had developed. So, with typical mid Victorian zeal,
he set to work. The best way of accomplishing this,

(01:09:09):
so it seemed to him, was to rouse the people
from their apathy by giving them back their joyous old gods.
And it is as a result of this worship the
barren island would burgeon and bring forth fruit in great abundance.
What he did, of course, was to develop new cultivars
of hardy fruits suited to local conditions. But of course,

(01:09:30):
to begin with they worked for him because he fed
them and clothed them. But then later, when the trees
started fruiting, it became a very different matter, and the
ministers fled the island, never to return. What my grandfather
had started out of expediency, my father continued out of love.
He brought me up the same way, to reverence the
music and the drama and the rituals of the old gods,

(01:09:53):
to love nature and to fear it, and to rely
on it, and to appease it where necessary. He brought
me up and how he interrupts him, He says, he
brought you up to be a pagan, Somerle says with
a soft smile. He says, a heathen conceivably, but not
I hope an unenlightened one now here, Rob, I think

(01:10:14):
you already answered your take on this question, but I
was going to ask. After this monologue, one might wonder
if the present Lord Somemrle, if Christopher Lee is in
reality more like what he accuses his grandfather of, like
if the paganism of Summerle is something that he cynically

(01:10:35):
impresses upon the ignorant locals but does not believe himself.
That seems to be Howie's interpretation, and you can certainly
see that when you hear kind of the material motivation
of the original Lord Somemryle, and how the same motivations
would be present for the current Lord Summerle. But also
is that really the case? I mean, when he says

(01:10:56):
that it was continued out of love, he seems to
be claiming that he now believes the pagan myth, so
at least he I don't know, he says he at
least reverences them. Whether that means he believes the Celtic
pagan gods literally exist and have power over his fate
or not, I guess it's hard to see how to

(01:11:17):
translate that, but it feels like maybe he does.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
Yeah, I mean that is the vibe I've always gotten,
and I think a lot of it comes from the
nature of Lee's performance here and even what we see
from him much later on in the picture. I feel
like it's it's ultimately, even though there's a shift that
takes place, I think it's consistent. I think that he
truly believes in this faith. But as he's already alluded to,

(01:11:43):
there is, of course this dark side. You know, there
is the fear of nature, there's the terror of nature,
and there's already like this, this realization that to be
a worshiper of a god like this is to also
in age and a certain amount of uncertainty.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Another thing from this
monologue that really strikes me is the way it just
assumes that the people, the locals, the you know, the
wiry labor of the island, in the words of his grandfather,
that the locals are always just going to be ready

(01:12:23):
for paganism again, and that, you know, even though they
had been Christian for many hundreds of years at the
point when his grandfather came along, somehow his grandfather knew
that you could just give them back the pagan gods
that they themselves had never worshiped, and probably their parents
and grandparents had never worshiped for many generations going back.
But at any point it was like it was in

(01:12:45):
their blood. You could just give them the pagan gods
back and they would immediately take them up without any coercion.
Isn't it strange? But that does appear to be sort
of the belief that's present in the movie here.

Speaker 1 (01:12:59):
Yeah, and you know, I don't know that it's ultimately
that disconnected from the reality of places where Christianity was
introduced and ended up replacing traditional beliefs to at least
some extent, because if we as we've seen from various examples,
the old ways never or rarely completely go away. Some

(01:13:20):
aspects of them are folded into this new alien faith
they consumed. Yeah, yeah, so the old gods take on
new you know, slightly new roles or you know, or
something continues to exist at like the folk belief and
folk lore level of things. And therefore, yeah, nothing completely
goes away, and therefore it would be possible perhaps for

(01:13:42):
someone to come free you from these newer ideas and
allow those older ideas to grow fresh.

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
Again, even if the quote newer ideas have been around
for hundreds of years at this point and you've never
known anything else.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
Right, right, And I think you know, Summer, I would
would argue that it's it's in their DNA like it,
and it is it is, and it's a way of
it's a it's a worldview that is more in keeping
with the natural order of the human organism, and therefore,
like we take to it like we take to breath
and to water.

Speaker 3 (01:14:13):
Yeah, And that they believe that they are in fact
the reincarnations of pagans from years past. Yeah, as laundered
through many stages of nature. You know, they have been
the bird and the and its feather and the tree
and everything else. But at some point also they were
their pagan ancestor.

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:14:30):
Well, anyway, how he tries to he tries to burn
Lord Somerl. He's like, well, whatever you believe personally, you
are the subject of a Christian country. And he demands
to be given permission to exhuom Rowan Morrison's body, and
then Lord Somerrel reminds him that he already gave him
permission at the beginning of their conversation. And I love
this moment. It's it's so good. It's like how he

(01:14:54):
he is somehow mentally manufacturing more friction in his investigation
then actually exists.

Speaker 1 (01:15:01):
Yeah, yeah, because he told him yes right away. But yeah,
I just kept arguing with him.

Speaker 3 (01:15:07):
Smerle says. As he's leaving, he's like, it's been a
great pleasure meeting a Christian copper. Okay, I'm looking at
the time now, so I'm realizing I think we need
to be a little more summary as we go on

(01:15:28):
with the rest of the plot, the main event. Yeah, okay,
So Sergeant how He goes and exhumes the what he
believes to be the body of Rowan Morrison. But uh oh,
nobody in there. Well, there is a body, it's not
a human body, it's a dead hair inside the coffin.
So Howie is very, once again, very annoyed. He goes
back to the mansion of Lord Smrle and when he

(01:15:48):
goes there inside Lord Somerle is hanging out with Miss
Rose by the way. They're like drinking wine from a
golden gomblet. She's laying on a big fur pelt on
the floor and they're singing and playing the piano. He's
singing in his big, booming bass voice, and how he
interrupts them by throwing the dead hair from Rowan's grave
on the floor. He demands to know, once again, where

(01:16:09):
is Rowan Morrison? And they're still giving him more run around.
Miss Rose is like, oh, you know, Rowan always did
loves the march hares. I think it's a very fitting transmutation.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
Yeah, Like, what did you expect to find in her
grave but a hair? We already told you. Children have
been telling you that she's a hare now.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, why didn't you just listen to
us the first time? But so Sergeant how he starts
giving them all these threats. He's like, I suspect that
Rowan Morrison has been murdered under circumstances of pagan barbarity,
which I can scarcely bring myself to believe, or taking
place in the twentieth century. So he says, look, I'm
going to go to the mainland. I'm going to get
a bunch more cops and we're going to come back

(01:16:47):
here and do a full inquiry. And Lord Somerle's like, great, okay. Oh,
And he also says at the end day, he's like,
it's just as well that you won't be here tomorrow
to be offended by the sight of our May Day celebrations.
You wouldn't You probably wouldn't like what you're gonna see tomorrow,
with like a big smile and a twinkle in his eye. Now,

(01:17:09):
later that night, how he breaks into the chemist's shop
to like kind of write, like search through his photos,
the one that the chemist said he didn't have, and
he does, in fact find the picture of the harvest
festival from the year previous, and he confirms his suspicions.
It is what he believed. The harvest queen from the
year before was Rowan Morrison. And where there is normally

(01:17:30):
a huge pile of fruit next to the harvest queen,
instead in this photo there are only a few meager
boxes of produce. And he puts it all together. He says,
it's Rowan and the crops failed, So this is his theory.
It was Rowan. Rowan was the harvest queen. The crops
last year were bad, and so they killed Rowan as
a sacrifice. All right, so we're almost to may Day,

(01:17:52):
but first we got to have a scene of a
wretchedly horny may Day eve where Sergeant how He goes
back to the inn and there is a musical number
where Willow again that's britt Eklund, she gets naked and
then sings a song to him through the wall of
the inn, being like, hey, how about it, and he's
he's just in there, being like.

Speaker 1 (01:18:15):
That's that's true. That's that's essentially what happens. But the
music is great. Yeah, the song is Willow's song, and
I would argue it's among the best in the picture.

Speaker 3 (01:18:24):
It's great.

Speaker 1 (01:18:25):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean and then like the physical
performances on both sides of the wall are amazing. It's
just a great musical sequence of juxtapose temptation and denial
on one side with Howie and then on Willow's side,
just unabashed sexual freedom, you know, and this whole sequence
charged with eroticism, but without either of the chief characters

(01:18:47):
ever occupying the same room.

Speaker 3 (01:18:49):
And the next morning they have a meetup. Willow comes
to see him at breakfast and she's like, hey, I
thought you were gonna come see me last night. I
invited you and and he's like, h sorry, I mean
auged to be married. And she's like, oh, well, you
know you're a very gallant fellow sergeant. And he says
it's nothing personal. I just don't believe in it before marriage.
She's like, okay, cool, suit yourself. You really should head

(01:19:12):
back though, before we get May Day festivities started. You
wouldn't like them, not with how you feel.

Speaker 1 (01:19:19):
So there's some important plot stuff going on in this
dialogue exchange, but I also really love Howie's vulnerability and
honesty here, which I think is a nice touch. It's
very much one side because she's still kind of like
taunting and temptacy. But you might expect Howie to have
been really gruff here and like call her out as
a temptress and preach to her on the values of

(01:19:39):
saving yourself for marriage and so forth. But instead we
get this nice scene that you had deliver some important
plot points, but also deepens our understanding of how He's character.

Speaker 3 (01:19:48):
I think Howie at this point is actually exhausted by
like being self righteous at everyone. He's literally tired of it.
He's been self righteous at everyone for like many scenes
in a row, and he's just worn out.

Speaker 1 (01:20:01):
And this is very much in keeping with the idea
that's presented in the film that how at least Howie's
version of Christianity and enforced morality is exhausting and if
he were just to like let go and let this
fall away from him, he could find another way to live.

Speaker 3 (01:20:18):
All right. Well, after this, how he tries to leave
the island. He goes to his seaplane, but oh, engine
won't start. Classic horror movie problem. I did say that
this movie it doesn't rely too much on cliches, but
there are there are some. I mean, you can't have
a full corror movie without the vehicle that won't start.

Speaker 1 (01:20:36):
And this is where the creepy masks starts showing up. Right,
He goes up to the plane and there like the
villagers are peeking over the wall with the bunny masks
and so forth, and we could start getting some more
overtly creepy notes from the local folk beliefs.

Speaker 3 (01:20:51):
It's a mix of whimsical and humorous and creepy. Yeah,
and I love that mix.

Speaker 1 (01:20:57):
Yeah, it never truly goes full e mode. At this point,
like a lesser film would I mean a lesser film,
much lesser film would have been creep mode the whole time. Yes,
it continues to play this nice balance.

Speaker 3 (01:21:08):
But I love the masks. So the Villagers starts showing
up in animal masks for the May Day celebration. They're
dressed as hairs, as foxes, as squirrels. One is the
Salmon of Knowledge.

Speaker 1 (01:21:18):
Ooh, we've talked about that fish on the show before.

Speaker 3 (01:21:21):
Yeah, yeah, and I oh, I'd love all the masks,
but I love that a lot of the masks look
so dingy. They look like really kind of weathered and
like they've been used in many May Day festivals, and
like they smell bad now.

Speaker 1 (01:21:34):
Yeah, even crumpled up in a drawer.

Speaker 3 (01:21:38):
We do get a library research scene where he goes
to the town library, which it's funny, has books like
of anthropology. I think he may read from the Golden
Bough perhaps, Oh, I'm not sure, but he you know,
he reads from something that's like James Fraser that tells
about the May Day festivals. In fact, I'll just read

(01:21:58):
briefly from what he comes across. So he's reading in
the library. Primitive man lived and died by his harvest.
The purpose of his spring ceremonies was to ensure a
plentiful autumn. Relics of these fertility dramas are to be
found all over Europe. In Great Britain, for example, one
can still see harmless versions of them danced in obscure
villages on May Day. Their cast includes many alarming characters.

(01:22:20):
A man animal or hobby horse who canter is at
the head of the procession, charging at the girls, a
man woman, the sinister teaser played by the community leader
or a priest, and the man fool punch. Most complex
of all the symbolic figures, the privileged simpleton and king
for a day. Six swordsmen follow these figures, and at
the climax of the ceremony lock their swords together in

(01:22:42):
a clear symbol of the sun. In pagan times, however,
these dances were not simply picturesque jigs. They were frenzied rites,
ending in a sacrifice by which the dancers hoped desperately
to win over the goddess of the fields. In good times,
they offered produce to the gods and slaughtered animals. In
bad years, when the harvest had been poor, the sacrifice

(01:23:03):
was a human being, huh. Sometimes the victim would be
drowned in the sea or burnt to death in a
huge sacrificial bonfire. Sometimes the six swordsman ritually beheaded the virgin,
and he says, Dear God in Heaven, even these people
can't be that mad. But he puts it all together.
It's the picture of Rowan from last year's harvest, and

(01:23:25):
he knows he knows it's Rowan, she's the sacrifice. But
now he realizes something's different. He doesn't think they killed
her last year. He thinks she's still alive and they're
going to kill her today and so it's up to
him to save her. So this turns into the frantic hunt.
We get sort of a montage of how we popping

(01:23:45):
around all the different locations on the island trying to
find Rowan Morrison. He thinks she's alive and being held
somewhere for the sacrifice. For example, he tries to go
to May Morrison, her mother, and he's like, don't you
realize what they're doing? And May is not any hell.
She's just like, oh, sergeant, you'll you'll simply never understand
the true nature of sacrifice. Eventually after he's checked a

(01:24:07):
bunch of places and come up empty handed. But by
the way, it's also very funny while he's checking things,
because the locals are all kind of peeping around, taunting
him and like running around in masks, playing little pranks
on him.

Speaker 1 (01:24:18):
Oh yeah, And we see the hobby horse guy.

Speaker 3 (01:24:21):
Yes, yes, and the and the children who are like
pretending to be dead, and then he's like what and
then they pop up and laugh at him. So like
the whole town has started just treating Howie as if
he is a joke. Now the here we get the
hand of Glory scene coming up, because how he comes
back to the inn and he's like, I'm so tired,

(01:24:42):
I've got to take a nap. He lays down in
his bed. I think he has a dram of whiskey,
and then lays in his bed for an hour.

Speaker 1 (01:24:48):
Yeah, and then you know he's he's laying there and
he hears a Willow and Willow's dad plotting and they're like, oh,
you don't don't don't wanna don't want to make him
sleep too long, do you? And we don't want to
getting in the way and so forth. And then when
those voices subside he comes to and they've lit a
hand of Glory in his room. This is the scene

(01:25:10):
that always stuck with me because this is like a
really this may be Is this the first like more
overt horror note in the picture? Really?

Speaker 3 (01:25:18):
I think it could be. Yeah, is the first bit
of anything that's like gore because he does in the
in the Undertaker's house, he comes across a body that
has the hand removed. Yeah, and then later this happens, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
The hand of glory, where this version of it is
a disembodied hand that's set up on this candlestick and
each finger is a lit candle, and they're different versions
of what the Hand of Glory means. But basically it's
tied to different stories where a thief would use it
as a magical item to subdue a household and force
them to sleep. We actually just reran the Artifact episode

(01:25:54):
about the Hand of Glory, but Yeah. In short, we
have an occult European item here hied to these different stories,
and it may ultimately be linked to ideas concerning the
man Drake Root, which was attributed with similar powers and
was sometimes described as being handlike in form like a
clad hand. Whatever the case. It doesn't work, and he's

(01:26:15):
just like and he like knocks it over, puts it out,
and he's back on the case and oh yeah. Then
he goes and finds the landlord. The landlord's putting on
his fool's costume for the big parade, and so how
he brings him with a candlestick.

Speaker 3 (01:26:30):
Yeah, beats him over the head and takes his costume. Yeah,
and then goes down to join the parade. And oh boy,
the parade is one of my favorite parts of the movie.
We have Christopher Lee wearing a long wig and a dress.
It's like a purple and blue kind of outfit, but
with sneakers he's wearing like looks like Converse sneakers.

Speaker 1 (01:26:48):
Oh I didn't notice the sneakers.

Speaker 3 (01:26:50):
Oh yeah, they're great. And then there is one of
the guys that we frequently see at the bar as
the man horse, the hobby horse that's like bumping up
and down. And then this is supposed to be McGregor,
the innkeeper as the fool, but instead, behind the costume
it is in fact Sergeant Howie. He's following. He's going
along with the parade to try to get there and

(01:27:11):
save Rowan but this is the part where when they're
they're walking down the way. Oh, by the way, all
the other townspeople. We've got some guys in kilts with
their swords to be the swordsman that he read about
in the library. And then everybody else is wearing animal masks.
Christopher Lee is just dancing heroically. I love his capering about.
And then also this is the scene where he yells

(01:27:32):
at Edward Woodward. He's thinking he's McGregor. He's like, cut
some capers, man, I told you.

Speaker 1 (01:27:42):
And then the eventually they do the deal that the
reading prepared is for, with the swords aligned in a
pentagram in the shape of the sun, and there's even
a mock beheading. He thinks, oh my goodness, they've done it.
They've cut a kid's head off, but it was a
mock beheading. And then you realize, oh, it's just it's
just part of this, right, and it's all so this
kind of like moment of relief for us as the viewer, like, Okay,

(01:28:03):
maybe this isn't a big human sacrifice thing he's attending.
Maybe it is all just some you know, muted folkloric
version of some ancient right, right.

Speaker 3 (01:28:15):
But then from there they proceed down to the shore,
where first Christopher Lee gets out an axe and he
chops open some barrels of ale, which they roll into
the sea as a gift to the god of the sea.
And then from there he says it's time to move
on to our more dreadful sacrifice. And there we see
Rowan Morrison standing flanked by some people with torches at

(01:28:35):
the mouth of a cave. And what happens, well, it's
just Howie in his fool costume just breaks out in
a run in front of everybody. Everybody's gathered there, and
he runs up to her and he's like, Rowan, come on,
and so they run off together through the cave. Through
the cave.

Speaker 1 (01:28:54):
Describe this music here, Joe, Oh, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:28:56):
I forget what the music is like. Oh, it's kind
of yeah, yeah, a.

Speaker 1 (01:29:01):
Little someone like some bass going on.

Speaker 3 (01:29:03):
It's it's a little more electric rock and roll than
anything else in the movie. Yeah, chase music. And so
they run around through the cave while they're being pursued
by people from the island, and eventually Rowan shows him here,
here's where we can go, and they crawl out through
an opening where they come out through the top of
the cave onto a big meadow that's on these cliffs,

(01:29:24):
overlooking the rocky shoreline below. And when they come out above,
everyone's waiting for them. Lord Somerle's up there, and may Morrison,
Rowan's mother is standing there. And Rowan runs directly to
Lord Somerile, and she says, did I do it right?
And he says, you did beautifully, my dear, And so

(01:29:45):
now we're left wondering what. Rowan does not seem to
be afraid at all. It's like she knows that she
is not, in fact, in any danger. And instead everyone's
attention turns to Howie in his fool costume. Lord Samrile
tells him, welcome, fool. You have come of your own
free will to the appointed place. The game is over,

(01:30:07):
the game of the hunted, leading the hunter. You came
here to find Rowan Morrison, but it is we who
have found you and brought you here and controlled your
every thought and action since you arrived. Principally, we persuaded
you to think that Rowan Morrison was being held as
a sacrifice because our crops failed last year. And how
He says, but I know your crops failed. I saw

(01:30:29):
the harvest photograph and Smrle says, oh, yes, they failed,
all right, disastrously. So for the first time since my
grandfather came here, the blossom came, but the fruit withered
and died on the bow. That must not happen again
this year. It is our most earnest belief that the
best way of presenting this is to offer to our

(01:30:49):
God of the Sun and to the Goddess of our orchards,
the most acceptable sacrifice that lies in our power. Animals
are fine, but their acceptability is limited. A little child
is even better, but not nearly as effective as the
right kind of adult.

Speaker 1 (01:31:06):
Now it's worth noting that at this point, Lord summer
Isle has now subtly changed in demeanor and appearance. For starters.
Here we get more of the signature of Christopher Lee grimness,
you know. And also they're on the coast, they're wind swept,
and so his hair is wilder, and the gray in
his hair is more apparent. And I don't know the

(01:31:27):
way it's set against the sun, the setting sun, it
feels it feels even more like a halo. But also
he looks more gray. He doesn't look maybe as full
of life as he was. Not that he looks like
a vampire or anything, but he looks like a little
older and you know, he feels like the embodiment of
approaching winter now at this point. And it's worth noting

(01:31:49):
that this film is supposed to take place at the
beginning of summer. They're supposed to take place May first,
but it was filmed in November and December. So all
these scenes where you see like fruiting trees, they had
to bring those in or dress up other trees. You know,
they had to fake it. And it feels fitting at
this point in the picture that we have been living

(01:32:11):
in a fake summer, you know, because here especially has
manifested the idea that the world is growing colder, the
sun is leaving our world, and what are we going
to have to do to ensure Nuada's blessings and the
blessings of all the other gods and goddesses and they're pantheon.

Speaker 3 (01:32:28):
I think that's beautifully said, exactly right. What are you
going to have to do to get Nuada's blessings? You'll
have to give him a man, they say, And hear
the women from the town come in the willow and
the librarian and miss Rose. They come in to explain
what kind of man they were looking for. A man
who had come here of his own free will, a
man who had come here with the power of a

(01:32:49):
king by representing the law, a man who had come
here as a virgin, and a man who would come
here as a fool. How he is all these things
now right?

Speaker 1 (01:33:00):
And I'd say we'll ignore the overly complex nature of
this trap, just given how splendidly the trap has been
sprung here and the drama and ideas surrounding it, Like
what if they'd sent a different cop though, what if
they sent the cop played by like Oliver Reed. He
shows up, he's like, he's been married. This the CoP's
been married three times and they're like, oh g lord,

(01:33:21):
this guy's not going to do Nuada is not going
to accept this guy.

Speaker 3 (01:33:24):
This cop is not a virgin. I think it's interesting
also that Howie is like also not like super young,
that he's like, you know, he's like a forty something man,
but he's now engaged to be married, but is still
a virgin. And that's that seems like that is exactly
what they wanted. They must have somehow engineered they found out,
like how he is the one we need.

Speaker 1 (01:33:45):
Yeah, yeah, they pulled it off. They pulled it off.

Speaker 3 (01:33:47):
So he tries to argue with them about the principle
behind their sacrifice. There will be a lot of exchange here.
He tries to argue that he has hope for the resurrection,
and he says, even if you kill me now, it
is I who will live again in the resurrection of Christ,
not your damned apples. And he also there's a wonderful

(01:34:08):
moment where he says to Lord Somerrel. He says, I
believe in the life eternal has promised to us by
our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord Somerrel says, that is
good for believing what you do, we confer upon you
a rare gift these days, a martyr's death.

Speaker 1 (01:34:24):
Yeah. That's a line that always stood out to me
because it's not completely mocking, like there's grim comfort in
what Summerle is saying to him, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:34:32):
Yeah. Also in this exchange, there's an interesting moment where
Lord Somerrel seems to almost through the entire movie, have
complete mastery of every situation he's in. He never really
seems bothered. There's only one moment where maybe he does.
I wonder what you think. There's a part where Sergeant
Howie is saying, you know, he says, killing me will

(01:34:53):
not bring back your apples, that these pagan gods they're
not real. You're all making this up. This is insanity.
And then he says he says, Lord Somemrle, your crops
may may fail again. And he says, if the crops
fail next year, Summerle, next year, the people will kill
you on May Day. And Christopher Lee, it's kind of

(01:35:14):
hard to read his expression in response, but all he
says is they will not fail. He doesn't really argue
with how he and everybody's standing around there so everybody
can hear. It's like how he's giving them the idea
if they didn't have it themselves, that they're going to
have to do that next year. But but Somerrel doesn't

(01:35:34):
argue with him that the people will do that. He
just argues that this will work. Killing you will will
not fail.

Speaker 1 (01:35:41):
I think I think Summerle is shaken here by this.
I think the mask not that it's a matter. I
do believe that Somerle believes in all of this, But
I think dowd enters in here because you know, the
crops have failed once and it's they're trying to appease
these gods and it might not work. And this is
also the moment where I think the conflict in the
movie reaches its peak, because it's clear that, well, maybe

(01:36:04):
we're just in a position as humans that neither faith
can protect us anymore. What if we are truly on
our own against the approaching darkness, you know, the darkness
of a winter beyond which spring may not save us,
the darkness of our continual fall from the optimism of
the nineteen sixties into the grim realities of the nineteen seventies, Like,

(01:36:24):
what if we don't have these answers and we don't
have these powers we can reach out to at all,
what are we going to do? Well?

Speaker 3 (01:36:32):
I think this movie does have a sort of answer
to that, and the answer is what we will do
is every year more desperately increase the violent intensity of
our rituals. Yeah, anyway, Lord somemerere else says, come, it
is time to keep your appointment with the wicker Man.
And here we get the final revelation, which is just

(01:36:53):
blood chilling. They bring Sergeant Howie up above the top
of the hill and he sees out in the field
above the cliffs, and you can hear the waves crashing
on the rocks down below at the sea, there's this
big field. And he sees the wicker Man itself of
the title, a giant man made out of wood, a

(01:37:15):
man shaped figure with sacrificial animals loaded inside in the
arms and legs, and an open chamber, a cell in
its chest with the door hanging open, and the ladder
leading up to it, and bonfires lit and ready all around.
And Sergeant how He begins to scream. It's amazing the
way he completely loses his composure and he just begins

(01:37:38):
to shriek. Oh God, oh Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 (01:37:42):
Yeah, I mean, it becomes obvious that you know, there
wasn't any fruit to harvest. This is all everyone's been
working on, Yes, on this island. This is it.

Speaker 3 (01:37:49):
This is the product of their labor. Now they've been
planning this and building the Wickerman and yeah, and this
is it. So they load Sergeant how He inside the Wickerman,
and they light the fires to make him a burnt
offering and to their gods. And meanwhile, so like Howie inside,
he begins to scream and scream and protest. He also

(01:38:11):
tries to sing the hymn from the church service. At
the beginning, he sings the Lord's my shepherd. I'll not
want he leadeth me, He leadeth me, the quiet water spy.
But eventually it leads to him just shrieking out into
the sky as the fires climb up higher and higher
into the cage. And meanwhile, Lord summerle and the people

(01:38:33):
of the island are singing a jolly song. They are
out there. They're out there like holding hands and swinging
their hands back and forth and singing Summer is a
coming in loudly sing cuckoo. There's so many things I
could say about the scene, but it's it is something
you just kind of need to see for itself. We
alluded in the last episode to how it is one

(01:38:54):
of the bleakest and most terrifying endings of any movie
I can think of, but also it is shot with
a real beauty, Like we see the sun setting and
there's a kind of bleariness in the sky as it's all,
and we see the as the the Wickerman burns up,
and we see it kind of beginning to collapse and

(01:39:14):
come down, and as the the people are singing, and
they're singing with with real joy and hope, and I
don't even know how to put it. It's it's just
such a powerful effect.

Speaker 1 (01:39:27):
I mean, we're on the we're on the shore, we're
on the coast of this island. It's like we're on
the edge of the world, We're on the edge of time.
And Yeah, this this final closing shot, I think is
probably it's one of, if not the finest closing shots
I've ever seen in a film, where they're singing and
we were viewing it from behind, and we see the
head of the burning Wickerman collapse in on itself with

(01:39:47):
kind of a roar and a crackle as we reveal
the setting sun behind it. And then you know, we
close out, we close out the credits, and we get
one last look at that image, that kind of wooden
icon of the sublime face of Nuada, the son god
of these people, and we're just left to ponder what

(01:40:08):
it all means.

Speaker 3 (01:40:10):
Do you think it works or do you think that
they're going to put Christopher Lee in the Wickerman next year?

Speaker 1 (01:40:15):
Oh? I don't know. I mean, I've honestly, I've honestly
never really thought about what actually comes after this. Like,
I feel like the movie does such a great job
of nicely tying up the narrative and then like handing
it to us to think about our own self and
our own world, you know, I mean not to say
you can't think about that. I was actually reading just

(01:40:37):
the other day that Robin Hardy wrote a novelization of
the film that came out years later, and there's like
a little bit at the end where they find how
he's airplane and it's like implied maybe he got away
and lived. It's like, oh my god, what a horrible
way to actually tack ending to tack onto all of this,
Like that's I mean, maybe it works within the context

(01:40:59):
of the written form. I haven't read it, so I
can't actually speak to it, but in summary, it sounds
like a terrible idea.

Speaker 3 (01:41:06):
Was it you who was telling me that the producers
had the idea because they hated the ending? Obviously, the
producers had the idea that, like what if a rainstorm
breaks out and it puts out the fire in the
Wickerman and saves him, you know, it's a miracle.

Speaker 1 (01:41:20):
Oh my gosh, that would have been terrible. Yeah, Like
it's just such a it's as a very bleak ending,
but such a perfect ending like this, I think that
the film would still have its following, obviously, and it
would still be great in its own way. But yeah,
if you've gone with a different ending here, it just
wouldn't have been punctuated quite the same way. It wouldn't
It would have robbed it of part of its power.

Speaker 3 (01:41:42):
Okay, we've been going a long time. I think we've
got to call it on the Wickerman.

Speaker 1 (01:41:46):
All right, Yep, we've loaded it all up in the
effigy and we're gonna set it alight now. So we
would obviously love to hear from everyone out there if
you have even more thoughts as we did about The
Wickerman from seventy three or any other version of The
wicker Man sequels, remakes and so forth, novelizations. If you

(01:42:06):
have read the novelization right in and give me more
information about what we were talking about here, all of
that is fair game. Other full car films you'd like
us to cover, just right in, we'd love to hear
from you. Just a reminder that Stuff to Blow Your
Mind is primarily a science and culture podcast, with core
episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but on Fridays we set
aside most serious concerns to just talk about a weird

(01:42:27):
film here on Weird House Cinema. If you want to
follow Weird House Cinema online, you can go to stbim
podcast on Instagram, but also on letterboxed. We are weird House.
That's our user name there, and you can follow our
list of all the films we've covered so far, and
sometimes a peek ahead at what comes next.

Speaker 3 (01:42:44):
Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.
If you would like to get in touch with us
with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest
a topic for the future, or just to say hello,
you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow
your Mind dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:43:05):
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
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