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WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968)
Director: Michael Reeves
MGM

During the English Civil War and the time of Cromwell, self-appointed "Witchfinder," Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) roams the countryside as an opportunist using his position to obtain wealth, sex and power. With his hardened henchman John Stearne (Robert Russell), the duo proceeds from town to town, forcibly eliciting confessions of witchcraft from both women and men. Those found guilty are executed in the name of God, but in reality, all of Hopkins' victims are innocent. During their excursions, Hopkins and Stearne encounter Richard Marshall (Ian Ogilvy), a young soldier under Cromwell and his lovely fiancée Sara (Hilary Dwyer). Hopkins falsely accuses her uncle John Lowes (Rupert Davies), a village priest, of being a warlock, and he is tortured and thrown into a cell. Sara offers sexual favors to Hopkins in exchange for her uncle's life, but she is raped by Stearne and Lowes gets hung anyway. Having made the couple's life a living hell, Marshall swears vengeance on Hopkins, deserting his army post and tracking down the evil Witchfinder at any cost.

And so that's the synopsis of WITCHFINDER GENERAL, the last film made by the promising young English director Michael Reeves who died shortly thereafter. But we all know about the film's importance to the horror genre, even though at times it plays like the English equivalent of a Spaghetti Western. It embodies a remarkable performance by Price, and his conflict with the director (who originally wanted Donald Pleasence) has been played up in the media for years now. WITCHFINDER GENERAL also boasts a great supporting cast which includes Nicky Henson, Patrick Wymark, Tony Selby, Bernard Kay (who also re-dubbed Robert Russell's voice), Godfrey James and a small bit by Wilfrid Brambell of A HARD DAYS NIGHT and "Steptoe and Son" fame.

Although the film was based on the real-life exploits of Matthew Hopkins, as well as a novel by Ronald Bassett, WITCHFINDER GENERAL was originally released in the U.S. by financier/distributor AIP as THE CONQUEROR WORM in order to further identify Price with their universally successful Poe series. It's hard to find a film with a more convoluted home video history, as it has been released on VHS and lasersdisc several times before here, always with the original music replaced with a synth score by Kendall Schmidt, which naturally, outraged longtime admirers. Some U.S. DVD consumers have seeked out the British release from Metrodome (which is still worth hanging onto, if only for its extras and alternate footage), but this is the version we've all been waiting for, and it’s finally been unleashed on the digital format after an elaborate new transfer had been conducted some years ago.

MGM has thankfully brought back the Midnite Movies in a big way (now that Fox is distributing their releases, all seems well in the world again) and their long-awaited release of WITCHFINDER GENERAL has arrived. As director Reeves' would have wanted it, all references to Edgar Allan Poe and "The Conqueror Worm" are now gone (including Price's reading from the poem during the start and the close of the U.S. cut) and the onscreen title reads "Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General." This "director's cut" is preferable (and definitive), restoring all of the profound violence once removed from British prints, and losing alternate shots of topless tavern wenches, which were filmed against Reeves' intent, yet present in all previous U.S. home video versions. Also, this is by far the best this film has ever looked on home video. It's presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement. It's virtually flawless, with excellent contrasts and bright, impressive colors -- notably the blue in Dwyer's dress, and the crimson of the soldiers' uniforms and blood that flows like paint. Only some "day for night" scenes suffer from being too dark, but it's apparent that it couldn't be helped, and even they look better than before. Best of all, the rousing score by Paul Ferris (who also appears in the film under "Morris Jar") has FINALLY made its debut on U.S. home video, and boy has it been a long time coming (the back of the DVD cover states "musically edited version" but that's an obvious misprint). The mono audio sounds absolutely fine here, and optional subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French. Kudos to MGM’s James Owsley for delivering such a fine transfer.

It's very rewarding that WITCHFINDER GENERAL makes its U.S. DVD debut not as a barebones release, but actually as something of a special edition. An audio commentary with producer Philip Waddilove and star Ian Ogilvy is moderated by screenwriter Steve Haberman. The commentary is excellent, as both English gentlemen remember a lot about the making of the film (did you know that many of the interior sets were built inside an airplane hangar?) and their insight to Michael Reeves is fascinating (Ogilvy was a friend of Reeves since they were teens). Haberman also knows a lot about the film and does a fine, respectable job of holding things together. A 25-minute featurette entitled “Witchfinder General: Michael Reeves' Classic" includes interviews with writers Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, Vincent Price exhibit curator Richard Squires, and screenwriter Christopher Wicking (who scripted several of Price’s AIP movies). The video piece presents a nice examination of the film, discussing some of the more interesting and controversial aspects of it, even its notorious 1980s home video re-scoring is touched upon. Suspiciously absent from this disc is any theatrical trailer, perhaps since it would carry the alternate U.S. title.

A must-have disc by any means, WITCHFINDER GENERAL is also available as part of the “Vincent Price: MGM Scream Legends Collection” box set. (George R. Reis)

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