11. Witchfinder General (1968), dir. Michael Reeves

[strange_complex]

So, as mentioned in my last post, I spent the earlier part of the evening at the opening instalment of the Bradford Fantastic Films Weekend. I bumped into

Comments

[the_lady_lily]

Oh! There was a Radio 4 radio play about the making of this film and the sheer struggle that working with Price was and how he and the director clashed and all the rest of it a couple of months ago, and it was excellent! I am glad that it is a film that deserves to have had a play made about it.

[strange_complex]

Gosh, really? I wish I'd known about that. There certainly can't be many films which have the honour of having had plays like that made about them. Oh well, maybe it'll be repeated some time.

[the_lady_lily]

Ah, thank goodness for the internet. It was called "Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast", and it appears to be downloadable here.

[strange_complex]

Thanks - that will be lots of fun to listen to now that I've seen the film recently.

[goodqueenmolly]

I love that film, for all it's faults, and am delighted that some one else seems to regard as I do. I would watch Mr Price read stock prices frankly but sometimes his tendency to, shall we say 'over-play' got in the way, so the story of his performance in this film made me smile.

[strange_complex]

Mind you, his over-playing can be great value in itself some times. I especially like Theatre of Blood (1973) for that, where he is actually cast as a washed-up, incredibly camp and increasingly insane actor, so that it really makes a virtue of those very qualities in him. Brilliant film. I'm absolutely with you about the stock prices, though.

[goodqueenmolly]

Also Dr Phibes!

[hollyione]

I thought there was too much gratuitous violence for my liking (even for Hammer-esque stuff). A lot of it was cut when it first came out.

[strange_complex]

It definitely is quite brutal, but actually less so than I thought I had remembered. I guess maybe my frame of reference has changed since I last saw it. I think we saw the cut version last night - it was very clearly an original print, complete with lots of dust on the film reel and a few missing frames. But that's probably what I saw last time as well, since that was also in a cinema, so I don't think I found it less violent this time because I was seeing a more cut version.

[hollyione]

It's probably more fun in a cinema too. I remember watching the pilot episode of Star Trek in a cinema to celebrate some anniversary or other, and it was far more compelling than watching at home!

[strange_complex]

Yes, getting to see things you really love on the big screen is always worth the effort. The size of the pictures and quality of the sound helps a lot, but I think also that just being in a situation where you have to sit still and pay attention makes a big difference.