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Author Topic: Witchfinder General, 2 x 800ft Col Sound
Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003


 - posted May 20, 2018 04:47 PM      Profile for Tom Photiou     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I dont think there are many people within our hobby who doesn't know about this excellent release from Walton films, our copy is on agfa stock with very good colour. The print is sharp and the sound is what i would call average to good. This print has to be around 40 years old.
Witchfinder General is a 1968 British horror film directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy and Hilary Dwyer. The screenplay was by Reeves and Tom Baker based on Ronald Bassett's novel of the same name. Made on a low budget of under £100,000, the movie was co-produced by Tigon British Film Productions and American International Pictures. The story details the heavily fictionalised murderous witch-hunting exploits of Matthew Hopkins, a 17th-century English lawyer who claimed to have been appointed as a "Witch Finder General" by Parliament during the English Civil War to root out sorcery and witchcraft.
The film was retitled The Conqueror Worm in the United States in an attempt to link it with Roger Corman's earlier series of Edgar Allan Poe-related films starring Price although this movie has nothing to do with any of Poe's stories, and only briefly alludes to his poem.
Director Reeves featured many scenes of intense on-screen torture and violence that were considered unusually sadistic at the time. Upon its theatrical release throughout the spring and summer of 1968, the movie's gruesome content was met with disgust by several film critics in the UK, despite having been extensively censored by the British Board of Film Censors. In the US, the film was shown virtually intact and was a box office success, but it was almost completely ignored by reviewers.
Witchfinder General eventually developed into a cult film, partially attributable to Reeves's 1969 death from a drug overdose at the age of 25, only nine months after Witchfinder's release.[5] Over the years, several prominent critics have championed the film, including J. Hoberman, Danny Peary, Robin Wood and Derek Malcolm. In 2005, the magazine Film named Witchfinder General the 15th-greatest horror film of all time. Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn stated in 2016, that he had bought the remake rights.
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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005


 - posted May 21, 2018 11:22 AM      Profile for Osi Osgood   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
BEEAAUTIFUL Print there, Tom!

I envy you! There are a number of Price film on super 8, most of them being 2X400ft cutdowns and while I'm pretty sure that this is an "edited feature" of sorts, it certainly is a film well worth it's "Price" ...

(snicker! couldn't help that) [Big Grin]

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003


 - posted May 21, 2018 12:34 PM      Profile for Tom Photiou     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
[Big Grin] [Big Grin]
Thanks Osi, i thought this one may have generated a little more interested but perhaps not. It is a slightly abridged feature. The only downside to this releases is the fact that the titles at the start of this release is actually the end titles. A scilly idea by someone at Walton. [Wink]

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David Baker
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 233
From: Hamilton , Ohio
Registered: Aug 2012


 - posted May 21, 2018 12:36 PM      Profile for David Baker   Email David Baker   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Tom , I have the same exact print and the colors are still gorgeous ! Thanks for posting / sharing .

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Dave

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Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003


 - posted May 21, 2018 02:18 PM      Profile for Tom Photiou     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Your Welcome David, I am very pleased that Walton appear to have put an awful lot of there films out on Agfa stock. Many of their releases still look 1st class. [Wink]

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005


 - posted May 22, 2018 11:40 AM      Profile for Osi Osgood   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Hey Tom, does this slightly edited feature have all the "gore" to it? I'm thinking that it probably does, as this was a UK company releasing it and not a U.S. company, but I thought I'd ask, just in case. [Smile]

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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David Skillern
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 582
From: South Wales
Registered: Apr 2006


 - posted May 22, 2018 11:44 AM      Profile for David Skillern   Email David Skillern   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Tom,
I also have a copy of this - and on last viewing it was in excellent shape - with Mr Price being decidedly nasty. I also have the trailer which unfortunately has suffered some fade - which was on one of walton's trailer reels

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Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003


 - posted May 22, 2018 12:17 PM      Profile for Tom Photiou     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
David, i have never been able to get hold of a good colour trailer to this one. Certainly not with good colour.

Osi, i think it does as far as the theatrical releases is concerned. The original German release had topless ladies in the seedy bay scene which was censored here in the UK and not in this version.
At the end when Vincent prices character meets his ending, this version is the full version as released as he is attacked with an axe, however, in the DVD release there is extra footage put back in at this section which is a few seconds more of the attack and much more violently show. By today's standards its a day at Disney land but they did edit it back in the disc release. The only problem with it is the quality of the extra bits is awful and so obvious. For the fans of this movie the special edition DVD is worth it and a few extras to if i remember correctly. [Wink]

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005


 - posted May 23, 2018 11:36 AM      Profile for Osi Osgood   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Thanx for that extra info, Tom!

I remember onve reading that Price actually was rather unhappy with the trends of Horror films in the 70's and even though his films tended to be fairly Gorey (well by standards back then), he
had become somehat hesitant to embrace the modern trends, and I notice that right up to the end, you didn't see Price in any "Chainsaw Massacre" or "Friday the 13th' style films.

A class act right up to the end!

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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Tom Photiou
Film God

Posts: 4837
From: Plymouth U.K
Registered: Dec 2003


 - posted May 23, 2018 05:15 PM      Profile for Tom Photiou     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I always find it amusing how your censors work in the States, this film released over the pond was,as you know, re titled The Conqueror Worm, had all the violence in there including the additional footage of Price being hacked with an axe, but for some weird reason they shy away from a bit of nudity. I find that most odd.
Horror films have an R rating where anyone under 17 can go as long as they are with a parent, so a 10 year old could watch a gory violent horror movie as long as they are accompanied, but a flash of breast, ( as in this film reviewed here) is cut!!!!!. How odd.
Personally, i hate censorship of any kind, some idiot gets to watch it then decides that he or she will determine what the public can see. [Wink]

[ May 26, 2018, 01:40 AM: Message edited by: Tom Photiou ]

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