This document describes scenes that are present in The Long Version of the film (called "The Extended Version" on the recent DVD's) but absent from The Short Version ("Theatrical Version" on the DVD's).
Thanks to Brad Stevens for additional eagle-eyed observations and corrections to the first version of this document.
[Note that all grabs here are from a 4:3 "open matte" copy the movie]
The Long Version opens with a dusk sequence involving Howie (Edward Woodward) and his deputy McTaggart (John Hallam):
(Howie is returning from a flight. His plane lands on the water and he climbs a jetty where McTaggart is waiting to meet him)
McTaggart: Good evening, Sergeant.
Howie: 'Evening. Get your hair cut McTaggart.
(The two walk to their car and come across the words "Jesus Saves" in graffiti on a wall)
McTaggart: Ah now there's a message, Sergeant - a message for us all!
Howie: However, there is a time and place for everything. Get it removed.
(They get into the car. Cut to them driving along)
Howie: Any serious problems while I've been away?
McTaggart (grinning): No, Sergeant, nothing serious. Just the usual - rape, sodomy, sacrilege - you know.
(Howie gives him a strange look)
The Long Version has a scene with Howie and his fiancée (Alison Hughes) in church. They exchange smiles as they sing and then Howie reads the lesson of the day from the Bible. The minister is played by director Robin Hardy in a cameo role. In the Short Version of the film, portions of these sequences are used as flashbacks when Howie is in his room at the inn.
The Long Version contains the following scene describing the letter's arrival by the postman (Tony Roper):
(The postman rides along on his bike somewhat rudely scrutinising the letters he is about to deliver. One envelope is postmarked with "Summerisle Apples" and is addressed to "Sgt Neil Howie, West Highland Police, Ullwater". Cut to McTaggart and the postman talking inside the station)
Postman: It's for his nibs - postmarked Summerisle. Got a bit of skirt over there, has he?
McTaggart: What him? The only woman he's interested in is the Virgin Mary.
Postman: Oh? I thought he was going steady with Mary Bannock?
McTaggart: Steady's the word. In two years he hasn't so much as tickled her fancy. He's keeping himself pure for the wedding day!
(They laugh. Outside, Howie is just arriving for work)
Postman: Ah good old Mary! I don't know what she sees in him. Hey, when those two are married she'll spend more time on her knees in church than on her back in bed!
(More raucous laughter. Howie enters the room. The laughter quickly subsides)
Postman: Er...'Morning all.
(The postman makes a hasty exit)
Howie: 'Morning Hugh.
McTaggart: Good morning, Sergeant. Erm, there's an anonymous letter for you, Sergeant.
Howie: Read it.
McTaggart (reading): "Dear Sergeant Howie. None of us have seen May Morrison's daughter Rowan since last year. She's only 12 and has been missing from her home for many months. She couldn't have left by herself - she's too young - and her mother won't say anything about it, just to mind my own business. Well I reckon it's all our business when a kid disappears - that's why I'm writing you this letter. Child lover, Summerisle. P.S. I enclose a picture of Rowan Morrison".
(The photograph of Rowan is shown)
McTaggart: Will you go, Sergeant?
Howie: Aye, of course. Have you ever been there?
McTaggart: No - I've tasted the famous apples, of course. But, er, isn't it strange - I mean, all that fruit?
Howie: Aye. Well the whole place apparently is odd. To start with, they have no licensing laws - singing and dancing on a Sunday. Oh, aye, doubtless that would appeal to a heathen bloke like yourself, McTaggart. However this is still in theory a law-abiding Christian country, however unfashionable that may seem.
(Howie picks up his life-jacket and headphones)
Howie: Well, I'll call in on this patrol. Will you call in at Mary's house? Tell her I'll be away overnight.
The titles in the Long Version have some differences. John Sharp and John Hallam are credited (see above still). The music (which is the same in all versions) is credited to "Lodestone" rather than "Magnet" (the name "Lodestone" was found to be in use by another outfit), with an additional credit for the song "Gently Johnny". The background images are also slightly differently edited, with both the Long and the Short Versions having unique shots.
In the Short Version of the movie, there are two overdubs to add some extra Howie dialogue as the fishermen on the quayside look at the photograph: "The photo was in this letter, posted here on Summerisle" and "The letter is anonymous and was addressed to me personally on the mainland."
During the first scene in the pub, there are two differences in the Long Version. The ribald song the locals sing has an extra verse, during which the innkeeper Alder MacGregor (Lindsay Kemp) plays along with spoons on his optics! The second is later when Howie enquires about the missing harvest photograph - we see MacGregor looking at the empty place on the wall, casually blowing cigarette smoke at it.
In the Short Version of the movie, there is a small overdub to change some of Howie's dialogue during the scene at the inn where he is eating his meal. He says: "No apples - on a island famous for its fruit and vegetables?" rather than: "No apples - on Summerisle?" The former was inserted into the Short Version presumably because the opening sequence establishing the island as a famous fruit-producer is absent.
The Long Version of the film includes these major extra sequences for the first night on the island - Willow's dance being the second night as originally intended. During Howie's first night at the inn, he is in his room writing in his diary when he sees Lord Summerisle (Christopher Lee) outside his window talking up to Willow in her bedroom. Summerisle introduces a young boy, Ash Buchanan (Richard Wren), to Willow for sexual initiation. Ash enters the pub and goes upstairs as the patrons sing a song, Gently Johnny. As moans start emanating from Willow's room, Howie climbs into bed. Summerisle waits outside watching some snails mate on a plant. Bizarrely, he starts addressing Howie indirectly through the open window:
Lord Summerisle: I think I could turn and live with animals - they're so placid and self-contained. They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins. They do not make me sick discussing their duty to "God". Not one of them kneels to another, or to his own kind that lived thousands of years ago. Not one of them is responsible...or unhappy...all over the Earth.
In the Long Version, an extra scene occurs the morning after the initiation episode:
(Willow is scrubbing down a table outside the pub)
Willow: 'Morning, Sergeant.
Howie: 'Morning.
Willow: Isn't it glorious?
Howie: Aye, aye - it's very nice.
Willow: I expect you'll be going home tonight?
Howie: Well, that depends. Where's the school please?
Willow (pointing): On the far side of the green.
The Long Version has two differences in the scene where Howie visits the ruined church. The initial shot of Howie entering the graveyard is longer and there is an extra shot of Howie and the rowan tree after his meeting with the gardener.
In the Long Version, Howie briefly has an unconstructive visit with the island's doctor (John Sharp) just before he visits the Public Records Office. (The role of the doctor, incidentally, was originally intended for Patrick Newell of The Avengers fame).
(The Doctor is just about to enter his house)
Howie: Doctor? Did you sign Rowan Morrison's death certificate?
Doctor: Rowan Morrison? Yes, I did. Why?
Howie: Could I see it please?
Doctor: You of all people should know that death certificates are kept in the Public Records Office. Now if you will excuse me...
Howie: Doctor, tell me, how did she die?
Doctor: She was burnt to death...as my lunch will be if I continue here talking to you.
(The Doctor heads into his house and shuts the door firmly)
The corrupt version of Greensleeves (apparently called The Tinker of Rye) that Summerisle and Miss Rose sing shortly before Howie bursts in with the dead hare has an extra verse in the Long Version.
During the scene where Howie is examining photos in the chemist shop, he has an extra thought in the Long Version as he wonders: "Now what does the old religion say about crop failure?" Additionally, the end of this sequence is also edited slightly differently and features two flashbacks to Howie's meeting with Lord Summerisle.
Willow's famous erotic scene, where she dances naked around her bedroom to entice Howie, is different in each of the two versions of the movie. The most major differences are two extra portions of the song, accompanied by the extra shots shown above, which are only in the Long Version. In the Short Version of the film, the whole (shortened) dance sequence occurs early in the film.
In the scene where Howie goes to the local library to find out more about what happens to victims of pagan sacrifice, he reads rather more in the Long Version of the film. This may have been deleted because it signalled Howie's fate a bit too clearly:
In some cultures it would be the king himself: in others their most beloved virgin, and very often he or she would be kept hidden for months preceding the ceremony, just as the sun is kept hidden from the Earth in winter. Methods of sacrifice varied. Sometimes the victim would be drowned in the sea or burned to death in a huge sacrificial bonfire. Sometimes the six swordsman ritually beheaded the virgin.
During Howie's intense search of the island, there are two sequences unique to the Long Version. In the first he is seen in the hairdresser's (Leslie Blackater) where the island's women are being fitted into a bizarre array of animal masks. Later in the search, he barges into a house and falls down a long flight of stairs, sending some half-clothed girls scurrying for cover.
In the Long Version, the second shot of Alder MacGregor struggling with his ropes is different. This features a blooper, with a uniformed leg stepping into shot at the end of the sequence, and is almost certainly the reason it was changed.
When Howie and Rowan emerge from the tunnels, the first cutaway shot in the Short Version is a long-shot of Howie and Rowan. In the Long Version, it is a shot of Summerisle, Willow and the Librarian.
In the Long Version, Howie has some extra Biblical quotes to deliver to the assembled villagers, just after Summerisle gives the signal to start the fire.
The Middle Version only starts with a caption saying: "Sunday - The 29th of April 1973" instead of the tongue-in-cheek caption thanking the "real" Lord Summerisle.
When Howie takes his evening stroll during his first night on the island, he sees some extra goings on as he peers over a wall. These shots of villagers watering graves are often mentioned in articles about the film but do not appear in the Long Version of the movie.
The scene where Willow brings Howie a morning cup of tea is, again, present in the Short Version but not in the Long Version!
Likewise, the establishing shot for the scene in which Howie returns to his seaplane is not present in the Long Version. This omission may just be due to damage to the print, though, as the scene suspiciously occurs at a reel change.
This shot of the sun-god Nuada closes the Middle Version only. The image appears after the final credits have rolled and then recedes into the distance accompanied by a muted roaring sound. The first BBC transmission (in Moviedrome) also contained a similar shot at the start of the film, but this was been deleted from all subsequent BBC and Sky Movies Gold re-showings of this version. It is likely this animation was simply added when the Middle Version was constructed in the late Seventies, and is not a part of the original movie.
Text portions © Copyright S.Phillips 1995, 1998, 2002. All rights reserved.