Book Review – Devil’s Advocate – Witchfinder General
The very idea of reading a book devoted to Witchfinder General was not an opportunity this reviewer leaped for joy over. Regardless of the accolades and acclaim that Michael Reeve’s Witchfinder General has reaped since its release, and over the passing years, on a personal level it never really grabbed me, leaving me generally dismissive about it. However, putting off reading Ian Cooper’s book was a dumb move.
Ian Cooper’s analysis is a damn fine read and one that effectively filled in the blanks on what had been overlooked before. For example whenever an act of violence would occur on-screen the camera would sneak away, taking in a shot of the natural terrain around and I never really grasped why. It seemed redundant however Cooper’s explanation clears that up and in fact makes me want to watch the film again.
Cooper goes on to place Witchfinder General within the context its release in terms of how the horror genre tended to play safe to appease the censors by injecting humour into proceedings. Witchfinder General, with its bloody violence and rape, was certainly no laughing matter. Noted playwright Alan Bennett slated the film for its lack of laughs. Reeves response to Bennett said that if the audience were to find the events in Witchfinder General funny then that in itself would be worrying and that the point was to show violence as horrible, degrading and sordid. Reeves did indeed do so on all three counts.
Elsewhere in Cooper’s book, Reeves’ tragically young death aged just twenty five, is also covered, as is the director’s admiration/borderline obsession with director Don Siegel’s style and output. Comparisons are made by Cooper to Siegel’s work as well as to director Sam Peckinpah, whose Straw Dogs was another tale of troubled masculinity and savage violence in a bucolic English setting.
Reeves did not want Vincent Price for Witchfinder General instead preferring Donald Pleasance and the book recounts their troubled working relationship including the famous quote – Vincent Price ‘I’ve made eighty-four films. How many have you made?’ Michael Reeves – ‘Three good ones’. It’s little anecdotes like this that make the text sparkle and have you want to keep reading.
Ian Cooper, a British freelance writer, screenwriter and educator in Germany has excelled with this, as his first book. It’s an embracing read told in a voice that you want to hear more from, never bogging one down with flowery language window dressing the fact that there’s really not much being said – such as with the repetitive nature of series’ dissection of The Descent – and instead make’s for a fascinating and informative read.
