The Wicker Man

Sergeant Howie flies to a Hebridean island to find a missing girl, and spends most of the film being politely obstructed by people who are having a considerably better time than he is. He is a devout Christian and a virgin, and the islanders' cheerful paganism offends him more than the disappearance does.

It is a musical. People forget this. There are folk songs throughout, most of them arranged by Paul Giovanni, and the film is frequently very funny.

British Lion changed hands during post-production, the incoming management thought it was unreleasable, and it went out at 87 minutes as the bottom half of a double bill under Don't Look Now. The trimmed negative was reportedly buried under the M3. Every longer cut since has been assembled from surviving prints of variable quality.

Christopher Lee worked for nothing and called it the best film he made. He was right.