Legend of the Witches (1970) & Secret Rites (1971) [DVD + Blu-ray)

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Again, there are appearances from Alex and Maxine Sanders who seem to have been the Posh and Becks of British witchcraft in the 1970s.

Looking like a cross between James Hunt and Captain Kronos, John Goodfellow wards off the Satanists, brandishing his cross at them until they cower. Parallels between Christian and pagan rituals are drawn, and time is spent putting witchcraft into a historical context and reflecting on its influence on everyday life. Finally, and with much ballyhooing, Ford presents us with ‘the rarely witnessed, never photographed, ‘Egyptian rite of Ra, taken from the forbidden Book of the Dead’. These were said to include healing people of warts by “wishing them on someone else, who’s already ugly.As the film progresses, we are given first-hand experience of the initiation of two witches into the coven, one of which is Penny. This remastered version of the film is of good quality which makes the most of Leigh’s beautiful cinematography of the countryside both in daylight and under moonlight.

It gives a little insight into modern witchcraft practises and a little background to pagan religion and its evolution through the ages. By then, Sanders had been endorsed by a group of 1,623 practicing Wiccans as “King of the Witches” (with his wife Maxine as “Witch Queen”) and turned into a media celebrity.Despite some definite artistic merit and generally educational feel, it was predictably promoted as a softcore porno on its theatrical release (sex undeniably sold in the seventies).

However, there is no doubt in Leigh’s real intentions for making this film (he followed this with British Sex film, Games that Lovers Play, 1971 starring Joanna Lumney). Despite this, Legend of the Witches takes a relatively subdued and more in-depth look at witchcraft, though it has been accused of straddling the line between the serious-minded and the seedy.

Featuring the only footage in existence of the infamous “King of Wicca,” Alex Sanders, who uses this documentary to guide us through his coven. It lacks deviation in expression so that one sentence often moves into another without much consequence. Overall, this is an interesting and insightful look at Witchcraft practises in 1970s Notting Hill and does go some way to dispel the myth surrounding orgies, virgin sacrifice and roots in evil.

Sadly, I felt that the narration by Standeven often added to what is in most part, a slow film with a few interesting highs. An evocative, esoteric exploration of witchcraft at the end of the 1960s – including night-time ritual, reflections on the history of Wicca and a black mass. Asked his opinion on what we have just seen, the self-styled King of the Witches dismisses it as ‘a lot of rubbish’, before complaining about how risible many of the commonly held myths about witchcraft can be. Getting it Straight in Notting Hill Gate (1970), takes a look at countercultural life in London’s hippy central.

Providing a very 70s psychedelic sound, the music fits brilliantly with the performance of the rituals within the film. In doing this Leigh somewhat cheapens what could be an informative piece of cinema about Witchcraft. It certainly sounds like a British film from the 1970s (which it is of course) but there's no question that it's a bit too try and a bit too much like a professor talking to himself.