Witchfinder General comes
close to being the ultimate revenge fantasy. It is unique in
other ways too. Vincent Price gives possibly his all-time
best performance, working with a director who didn‘t want Price to
start with. Third, it is about as grim as movies get.
Not as bloody as a few, but bleak.
For years, it could only be found in a
version prepared for the USA, retitled
The Conqueror Worm, to make it sound like an
Edgar Allan Poe movie. (That version ended with Vincent
Price reading the last lines of Poe’s poem
The Conqueror Worm.) Because of extreme
violence, it was often shown with massive cuts.
Price’s reading is effective and the lines of
poetry do complement the story you have seen. But
actually the story has nothing to do with Poe’s fiction.
Instead, it was based on a novel by Ronald Bassett.
Bassett’s novel is loosely based on a real man, Matthew Hopkins
who worked as a witchfinder in England during the 1600’s.
One of the people who produced this movie
describes Hopkins as a bad man who makes the people around him bad
too. You could argue that Hopkins only takes a festering
situation and exploits it.
A civil war in England filled with great
religious persecution already rages. Different religious
groups (mainly, Protestants and Catholics) are anxious to destroy
other groups. Hopkins gives them an easy way to do this, by
denouncing their enemies as witches. Again and again,
you see Hopkins and his assistant Stearne dragging people away,
then torturing them or killing them, while others look on, some
with satisfaction,some with blank looks.
.
A world with all decency gone
Hatred, jealousy, religious intolerance all
contribute to what Hopkins is allowed, and encouraged to do.
But is he truly a bad man?
You can’t possibly see him another way. The
movie never gives you the least reason to justify anything Hopkins
does. He is only for himself, torturing anyone he’s
able to, and using the torture for whatever money, power and women
he can get along the way. The script does not go very deep
into any psychological motivation for his actions; all he knows is
inflicting pain.
Matthew Hopkins–man without conscience
Hopkins’ effects are seen most on the hero, a
farmer-turned-soldier, Richard Marshall. The script does not
try to analyze Marshall deeply either. He is more of an
Everyman in a Hell-ish place and time than someone you get to know
deeply.
Hopkins is responsible for the death of
Marshall’s old friend John Lowes. Lowes is also the
guardian of Sara, Marshall’s bride- to- be.
Marshall is torn between his love for his wife, and his vow to
kill Hopkins. He doesn’t know yet that he actually may
have to choose between the two. The civil war is
changing his life…too fast. He has just killed for the first
time. By doing this (shooting a sniper) he saved his
superior officer and became a hero.
But clearly, soldiering has brought out the
violence in him too. He tries his best to resist this; when
Sara says to him “The army has taught you rough manners,” he
struggles to be tender with her. But hatred for
Hopkins will make that impossible.
One of the reasons
Witchfinder General works so well is that it
sweeps you up into this deadly desire for revenge…then clearly
shows you the actual revenge. It’s the classic case
of: Be careful what you wish for…
Reeves’ outlook is a bleak one. Marshall
is someone who truly wants to do the right thing. He wants
no harm to come to Sara and to Lowes. When Hopkins deceives
Sara into having sex with him, then has Lowes killed, Marshall
promises Sara to take revenge. But again and again, you get
the sense that the world is not a just universe. Already
it’s clear that it is not a safe place.
In directing, Reeves works
hard to show the contrasts between the calm, serene beauty of
nature, and the brutality of people. The movie starts in a
pristine forest—sunlight actually creating a cross between the
trees. All is quiet.
Then, the sounds of hammering. It is a
man putting together a gallows to hang a witch. Soon she
will be dragged into this scene, with not a soul doing anything to
protect her. Many in the crowd look happy to see her die,
many seem totally uncaring. Nowhere do you see the least
sign of compassion.
Lowes’ neighbors hate him and are
willing to see him die because of their religious
differences. But if he has wronged them in any way, the
movie never shows it. Later, Marshall tells Sara she will be safe
in another town, Lavenham. They find the same hatred and
bigotry exist there too.
To get his revenge on Hopkins, Marshall is
willing to put Sara’s life in jeopardy, actually see her
tortured. It is as though his love for her has been held in
suspension; revenge must come first. Sara gets a long,
intense look at the man Marshall has become…with devastating
results. At the end of the movie, both Sara and
Marshall seem lost to insanity—possibly forever.
Witchfinder’s director,
Michael Reeves, was forced to use Vincent Price as Hopkins in
order to get financial backing from the American film company
AIP. The movie was actually produced by a small
English company, Tigon. Reeves wanted an English actor,
Donald Pleasence, ( Dr. Loomis from the mental institution in
Halloween I and II).
I am a big fan of Pleasence. If you can
find it check out the obscure Charlton Heston movie
Will Penny (one of Heston’s personal
favorites) for Pleasence’s incredible performance. A truly
scary portrayal, a man you pray you’ll never run
into. I caught myself more than once, picturing Pleasence
doing some of the scenes Vincent Price was doing, and very
effectively.
Having said that, I think that Reeves got most
of what he wanted out of Vincent Price. Price’s tendency to ham it
up, that slight wink to the audience; these are nowhere to be
found. Price is cruel, unprincipled, cold as
ice. But he never overdoes his performance.
A lot has been written about Reeves’
outlook, which is bleak, especially for a movie made in
1968. As in Night of the Living Dead, you
find few heroes able to follow their ideals and show people a path
out of prejudice, festering jealousy, and apathy. In this
climate, the few good people are swept away in the flood.
They are quickly turned into victims, or blind seekers of revenge.
For a long while, Hopkins can corrupt all who listen to
him