"included the film as part of the company's multi-title Vincent Price Blu-ray box set released in fall of 2013. Witchfinder General (film) Witchfinder General is a 1968 British-American 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"
"Reeves's violent and controversial 1968 film of the same name, also known as ""The Conqueror Worm"". Witchfinder General (novel) Witchfinder General is a 1966 novel written by Ronald Bassett. It tells the heavily fictionalized story of Matthew Hopkins, a notorious 17th-century witch-hunter. According to historian Malcolm Gaskill, in Bassett's novel Hopkins is a 50-ish Ipswich lawyer ""who becomes a pikeman in a parliamentarian regiment to escape his creditors, and from there reinvents himself as 'a black-winged Attila, leaving behind him a trail of gibbet-hung corpses'."" Promoted as a horror novel, the back cover blurb of the book warned that the"
"Michael Reeves Michael Reeves (17 October 1943 – 11 February 1969) was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the 1968 film ""Witchfinder General"" (known in the US as ""Conqueror Worm""). He died at the age of 25 from an accidental alcohol and barbiturate overdose. Reeves was born in Sutton, Surrey, and grew up in Suffolk, whose landscape made a deep impression on his best known film, ""Witchfinder General"". His father died when he was young, but his mother was a devoted single parent. As a child he began making short films, some of which starred"
"Witchfinder General (novel) Witchfinder General is a 1966 novel written by Ronald Bassett. It tells the heavily fictionalized story of Matthew Hopkins, a notorious 17th-century witch-hunter. According to historian Malcolm Gaskill, in Bassett's novel Hopkins is a 50-ish Ipswich lawyer ""who becomes a pikeman in a parliamentarian regiment to escape his creditors, and from there reinvents himself as 'a black-winged Attila, leaving behind him a trail of gibbet-hung corpses'."" Promoted as a horror novel, the back cover blurb of the book warned that the contents were ""Not for those with delicate stomachs."" The book served as the basis for Michael"
"Witchfinder General (band) Witchfinder General was a heavy metal band from Stourbridge, England. They were part of the new wave of British heavy metal scene and have been cited as a major influence on the doom metal genre. They were named after the 1968 British horror film ""Witchfinder General"". Witchfinder General formed in 1979 by Zeeb Parkes & Phil Cope in Stourbridge, England, as part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement during the early 1980s. They were strongly influenced by Black Sabbath, and are widely recognised today as one of the pioneers of the doom metal style."
"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. Over the years, several prominent critics have championed the film, including J. Hoberman, Danny Peary, Robin Wood and Derek Malcolm. In 2005, the magazine ""Total Film"" named ""Witchfinder General"" the 15th-greatest horror film of all time. ""Drive"" director Nicolas Winding Refn stated in 2016,"
"and ""Witchfinder General"" (1968). As a stuntman he specialised in high falls and fight scenes. He doubled for Sean Connery in the film ""Goldfinger"" and for Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood in ""Where Eagles Dare"" (1968). Memorable appearances include his fight with Connery as the Mexican thug Capungo in ""Goldfinger"". The fight ends with the character's electrocution in a bath when a sunlamp is thrown in by Bond, followed by his famous quip ""Shocking…Positively shocking"". Joint also took part in the fight scene on the top of a cable car in ""Where Eagles Dare"" and performed a jump from one"
"he played Hopkins, but ""the real Hopkins was in his 20s"". According to Gaskill, one of the film's ""most striking errors is its total omission of court cases: witches are simply tortured, then hanged from the nearest tree."" Censorship and musical rights issues kept a complete, pristine version of ""Witchfinder General"" from being released on videotape, LaserDisc or DVD for many years. Although uncensored theatrical prints have been available for archival showings in the US for several years, video releases of the title were repeatedly compromised. The ""Export Version"", which contained both the previously cut violence and alternate shots of"
"Hilary Dwyer Hilary Dwyer (born 6 May 1945, in Liverpool, Lancashire) is a former actress, businessperson and film producer. Dwyer is the daughter of an orthopaedic surgeon. As a youth, she practised ballet and became a talented pianist. Dwyer trained in repertory theatres and appeared on stage at the Bristol Old Vic. Dwyer is best known for appearing in several horror films distributed by American International Pictures in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Michael Reeves' ""Witchfinder General"" (1968), starring Vincent Price. She also appeared in ""The Oblong Box"" (1969) and ""Cry of the Banshee"" (1970), both again"
"horror films that Britain has produced. Made on a very modest budget in East Anglia and adapted from the novel by Ronald Bassett, ""Witchfinder General"" tells the story of Matthew Hopkins, the infamous lawyer-turned-witchhunter who blackmails and murders his way across the countryside. Reeves imbues the film with a powerful sense of the impossibility of behaving morally in a society whose conventions have broken down, and though it is by no means free of the conventions of low-budget horror, it stands as a notably powerful and evocative film. Reeves wanted Donald Pleasence to play the title role, but American International"
"that in the film Reeves ""has captured exactly the point of Virgil's great epic of madness and its horrifying conclusion."" Writer Mark Thomas McGee noted that ""Witchfinder General"" ""did fantastic business and kicked off a second wave of Edgar Allan Poe movies"" produced by American International Pictures, including Gordon Hessler's ""The Oblong Box"" starring Price (originally scheduled to be directed by Reeves, but handed over to Hessler after Reeves bowed out a week prior to production) and ""Murders in the Rue Morgue"" (1971). Hessler's ""Cry of the Banshee"" (1970), which featured ""Witchfinder"" co-stars Price and Hilary Dwyer, was also vaguely"
"of insanity, screams uncontrollably over and over again. Tigon British Film Productions owned the rights to Ronald Bassett's 1966 novel, ""Witchfinder General"", which was loosely based on the historical Matthew Hopkins, a self-described ""witchhunter"" who claimed to have been commissioned by Parliament to prosecute and execute witches. Hopkins was in fact never given an official mandate to hunt witches. Tony Tenser, the founder and chief executive of Tigon, had read Bassett's book while it was still in galley form and purchased the rights on impulse before publication. Despite the novel being ""tedious low-brow popular history"", Tenser felt it ""had some"
"screaming."" In 2000, Derek Malcolm included ""Witchfinder General"" as part of his series ""The Century of Films"", a list of what he considered to be the one hundred most ""artistically or culturally important"" movies of the 20th Century. Malcolm asserted that the film ""is one of the most compulsively watchable ever made in Britain"" and ""transcends its genre with the sheer panache of its making."" In 2005, J. Hoberman of the ""Village Voice"" stated that the film ""has long been a cult item – in part because its talented 25-year-old director, Michael Reeves, died of a drug overdose before the"
"The Detective (1968 film) The Detective is a 1968 color neo-noir crime film in Panavision directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by Aaron Rosenberg and starring Frank Sinatra, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp. Co-stars include Lee Remick, Jacqueline Bisset, Jack Klugman, William Windom and Robert Duvall, with a script by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Abby Mann. ""The Detective"" marked a move towards — and was billed as — a more ""adult"" approach to depicting the life and work of a police detective while confronting, for one of the first times in mainstream cinema, previously taboo"
"ABC-TV daytime soap opera series ""General Hospital"". Bonar died in 1988 in Los Angeles. Ivan Bonar Ivan Eugene Bonar (October 31, 1924 – December 8, 1988) was an American character actor whose career in Hollywood, in films and television, spanned four decades, from the mid 1950s into the 1980s. A vaunted character actor, Bonar made appearances in many films, such as ""Night of the Quarter Moon"" (1959), ""Air Patrol"" and ""Womanhunt"" (1962), ""Gable and Lombard"" (1976), ""MacArthur"" (1977), where he played U.S. Army Lt. General Richard K. Sutherland, ""Same Time Next Year"" (1978, with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn) and"
"director was up to, at which point Price took steps to bury the hatchet with Reeves. ""Witchfinder General"" was released to mixed reviews, with one notably savage notice by Alan Bennett appearing in ""The Listener"", but was soon reassessed and gained generally favourable reviews. Michael Reeves died in London a few months after the film's release. After shooting ""Witchfinder General"" he was at work on an adaptation of ""The Oblong Box"" but had difficulties getting projects off the ground and was suffering from depression and insomnia, for which he took tablets and received a variety of treatments from medical and"
"<br> Jay Silverheels ... Chingachgook <br> Walter Kingsford ... Col. Duncannon <br> Rodd Redwing ... Chief Arrowhead <br> Stephen Bekassy ... Col. Brasseau <br> Elena Verdugo ... Lokawa <br> Bruce Lester ... Capt. Clint Bradford <br> Chief Yowlachie ... Eagle Feather <br> John Hart ... French Sergeant <br> Lyle Talbot ... French Ship Captain <br> Edward Coch ... Uncas The Pathfinder (1952 film) The Pathfinder is a 1952 Technicolor adventure western film inspired by ""The Pathfinder"" by James Fenimore Cooper. Produced by Sam Katzman for Columbia Pictures the film stars George Montgomery. At the beginning of the French and Indian"
"Robert Russell (English actor) Robert Russell (24 May 1936 – 12 May 2008) was an English actor known for a memorable supporting role as John Stearne alongside Vincent Price in the classic British horror film ""Witchfinder General"" (1968). He was born in Kent, England. His family emigrated to South Africa for 9 years when he was aged 11. He worked in a gold mine after leaving school. He returned to England and trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He then appeared on stage with stars such as Laurence Olivier and Michael Gambon, as a"
"Nakatomi Corporation. Fox was contractually obligated to offer Sinatra the lead role, but he promptly turned it down as he would have been more than 70 years old when filming. Coincidentally, Lloyd Bochner's son Hart was also featured in ""Die Hard"". The film launched a film franchise that continues into the 2010s. The Detective (1968 film) The Detective is a 1968 color neo-noir crime film in Panavision directed by Gordon Douglas, produced by Aaron Rosenberg and starring Frank Sinatra, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp. Co-stars include Lee Remick, Jacqueline Bisset, Jack Klugman, William"
"Last Man on Earth"" (1964), the first adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel ""I Am Legend"" and portrayed witch hunter Matthew Hopkins in ""Witchfinder General"" (US: ""The Conqueror Worm"", 1968) set during the English Civil War. He starred in comedy films such as ""Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine"" (1965) and its sequel ""Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs"" (1966). In 1968 he played the part of an eccentric artist in the musical ""Darling of the Day"", opposite Patricia Routledge. In the 1960s he began his role as a guest on the television game show ""Hollywood Squares"", becoming a semi-regular"
"(working title) : The Battle Horns USA (working title) : The General Counterpoint (1968 film) Counterpoint (also known as The Battle Horns or The General) is a 1968 epic war film starring Charlton Heston, Maximilian Schell, Kathryn Hays and Leslie Nielsen. It is based on the novel ""The General"" by Alan Sillitoe. In the United States the film was released as a double feature with ""Sergeant Ryker"" a 1963 television film starring Lee Marvin. Lionel Evans is the director of a well-respected symphony orchestra touring European concert halls around 1944 in World War II. In the midst of one concert,"
"Godfrey James Godfrey James (born on 9 January 1931, in London) is an English actor. His film appearances include: ""Séance on a Wet Afternoon"" (1964), ""Witchfinder General"" (1968), ""The Oblong Box"" (1969), ""Cry of the Banshee"" (1970), ""The Blood on Satan's Claw"" (1970), ""Villain"" (1971), ""Hide and Seek"" (1972), ""The Land That Time Forgot"" (1974), ""At the Earth's Core"" (1976), ""Camille"" (1984), ""Out of Order"" (1987) and ""Piccolo Grande Amore"" (1993y). Television credits include: ""The Avengers"", ""Dixon of Dock Green"", ""Department S"", ""Z-Cars"", ""UFO"" (1970 episode ""The Square Triangle""), ""The Onedin Line"", """", ""The Lotus Eaters"", ""The Carnforth Practice"", ""The"
"an operation at another VA Hospital in St. Louis. After his hearing was surgically corrected, he stopped drinking and joined Potter and Klinger at ""General General"" as its Catholic chaplain. Also on hand was the idealistic, talented, and often hungry young resident surgeon Gene Pfeiffer (Jay O. Sanders), attractive secretary Bonnie Hornbeck (Wendy Schaal), who had an eye for Klinger, and old-timer Bob Scannell (Patrick Cranshaw) who served under then-Sergeant Potter in World War I and was now a hospital resident of 35 years (thanks to his exposure to mustard gas). Unlike the other patients and staff who addressed Potter"
"filming of these sequences and they were completed by the crew after the ""regular"" versions of the scenes had been shot, with Tigon's Tenser acting as director. According to Waddilove, Louis M. Heywood appeared at the location only to ensure those additional scenes were filmed. The credits read, ""Additional scenes by Louis M Heywood."" According to Ogilvy, this was an in-joke because for Reeves, ""additional scenes"" meant ""some prick of a producer putting his oar in and messing up what the director had done."" For its time, ""Witchfinder General"" was considered an unusually sadistic film experience. British film censor John"
"Counterpoint (1968 film) Counterpoint (also known as The Battle Horns or The General) is a 1968 epic war film starring Charlton Heston, Maximilian Schell, Kathryn Hays and Leslie Nielsen. It is based on the novel ""The General"" by Alan Sillitoe. In the United States the film was released as a double feature with ""Sergeant Ryker"" a 1963 television film starring Lee Marvin. Lionel Evans is the director of a well-respected symphony orchestra touring European concert halls around 1944 in World War II. In the midst of one concert, the city where they are playing is attacked by German troops, and"
"championing the film in the UK and US. Robin Wood wrote that """"Witchfinder General"" is certainly [Reeves’] most successfully achieved work … what one is immediately struck by is the assurance and intensity of what is on the screen… the English countryside is felt as a real presence: it is difficult to think of other films in which it has been used so sensitively and meaningfully. With it is associated Paul Ferris’ theme-music, which suggests a traditional air without being actual quotation. Against the peace and fertility of nature is set the depravity of men."" David Pirie, who wrote extensively"
"Ivan Bonar Ivan Eugene Bonar (October 31, 1924 – December 8, 1988) was an American character actor whose career in Hollywood, in films and television, spanned four decades, from the mid 1950s into the 1980s. A vaunted character actor, Bonar made appearances in many films, such as ""Night of the Quarter Moon"" (1959), ""Air Patrol"" and ""Womanhunt"" (1962), ""Gable and Lombard"" (1976), ""MacArthur"" (1977), where he played U.S. Army Lt. General Richard K. Sutherland, ""Same Time Next Year"" (1978, with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn) and the 1983 made-for-TV movie """" as Hollywood film director Howard Hawks. Bonar is perhaps"
"Tigon British Film Productions Tigon British Film Productions or Tigon was a film production and distribution company, founded by Tony Tenser in 1966. It is best remembered for its horror films, particularly ""Witchfinder General"" (directed by Michael Reeves, 1968) and ""The Blood on Satan's Claw"" (directed by Piers Haggard, 1971). Other Tigon films include ""The Creeping Flesh"", ""The Sorcerers"" and ""Doomwatch"" (1972), based on the TV series of the same name. A 1990s book by Andy Boot (""Fragments of Fear"") highlighted the importance of Tigon and Tony Tenser to the British horror genre but contained a number of factual errors,"
"The General (1998 film) The General is a British-Irish crime film directed by John Boorman about Dublin crime boss Martin Cahill, who pulled off several daring heists in the early 1980s and attracted the attention of the Garda Síochána, IRA, and Ulster Volunteer Force. The film was shot in 1997 and released in 1998. Brendan Gleeson plays Cahill, Adrian Dunbar plays his friend Noel Curley, and Jon Voight plays Inspector Ned Kenny. After selling stolen paintings to the UVF Cahill realizes he has made a dangerous mistake. When the PIRA hear of this, they order his assassination, which is carried"
"film's release, but mainly because it is an extraordinarily bleak story of political evil … Reeves shot on location and the movie has a robust autumnal quality perfectly matched by Price's overripe performance … it remains contemporary, and even frightening, in its evocation of cynical Puritanism and mass deception."" In his 2007 book, ""Madness Unchained: A Reading of Virgil's 'Aeneid"", Lee Fratantuono described ""Witchfinder General"" as a modern retelling of the main themes of Virgil's epic ""Aeneid"", and its central image of the unrelenting nature of fury and madness and its power to corrupt essentially good heroes. Fratantuono has written"
"James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor, producer, and voice artist. He starred in several television series over more than five decades, including such popular roles as Bret Maverick in the 1950s western series ""Maverick"" and Jim Rockford in ""The Rockford Files"", and played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including ""The Great Escape"" (1963) with Steve McQueen, Paddy Chayefsky's ""The Americanization of Emily"" (1964), ""Grand Prix"" (1966), Blake Edwards' ""Victor/Victoria"" (1982), ""Murphy's Romance"" (1985), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, ""Space Cowboys"" (2000)"
"would win Michael Reeves an important reputation if he were dealing with some more pretentious, but fundamentally no more serious subject … Mr. Reeves is no longer merely promising. He already has real achievements behind him: not merely good horror films, but good films, period."" ""Films and Filming"" noted, """"Witchfinder General"" has no explicit 'message', but it does say something about the springs of despair and it says it forcefully. It is a very frightening film … Matthew Hopkins is the best of Price's recent performances. ""Witchfinder General"" is emphatically not a horror film; it is, however, a very horrifying"
"trying to survive his teenage years while dodging assassins, all under the watchful eye of his guardian, Walter Shepherd, who stayed nearby as a science teacher at the school. Those in their lives who had no idea about the truth were girlfriend Pam Elliot (Amy Steel), friend Bob Alexander (Chip Frye), and the merry principal, Mr. Heller (Michael Fairman). General Tucker (John Crawford), an Air Force officer specializing in extraterrestrial investigations, had tracked the two of them across the country as they evaded alien agents intent on exterminating them. From time to time, he enlisted their specialized aid in solving"