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

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Featuring the only footage in existence of the infamous “King of Wicca,” Alex Sanders, who uses this documentary to guide us through his coven. The investigation into a haunted house is about as persuasive as some hokey ghost-hunting TV show, but the black mass proved far more compelling, as did the segment showing scrying, where a coven member strives to glimpse into the future. 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). Leigh never established a real career in mainstream cinema but his next movie, a sex farce named Games that Lovers Play (1971) did star future national treasure Joanna Lumley. It lacks deviation in expression so that one sentence often moves into another without much consequence.

My inner hippy found it fascinating until my inner punk surfaced the moment Quintessence began performing the track that gave the documentary its title. Expecting a biased, blood thirsty and erotic account of an ancient religion condemned by the church, I was pleasantly surprised. Getting It Straight in Notting Hill Gate (1970, 25 mins): spaced-out sitars, Blue Beat 45s and the prog-rock grooves of Quintessence soundtrack this up-close flashback to Notting Hill Gate in 1970. 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.Unlike Legend of the Witches, the pace is much quicker and because the lighting is better and it is shot in colour, it is clearer for the audience to see exactly what is happening with the tying of the three coloured cords and the ritualistic kissing of the five points.

As someone with a hobbyist interest in witchcraft and old religions, this film is an interesting look at Wicca in the modern age. Directed by Jo Gannon, Pink Floyd’s one-time light show operator, there’s an interview with Caroline Coon railing against ‘the fuzz’ for victimising pot smokers and psychedelic mandala paintings by Larry Smart. Although clearly not the music of choice by the coven, (at times you here low-level snippets of the actual ritual music) it draws in an audience, who might otherwise have dismissed the film entirely.Once the two candidates are initiated, we are given more opportunities to watch the filming of certain Wiccan rituals, including a marriage and those associated with the ancient Egyptian Gods. 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. Finally, there is a collection of images from the film Legend of the Witches and of rare memorabilia and newspaper clippings related to the spooky 70s.

Getting it Straight in Notting Hill Gate (1970), takes a look at countercultural life in London’s hippy central. One of the things I can commend Malcolm Leigh on, is his relatively non-judgemental and realistic view on witchcraft. It takes place outdoors with an emphasis on the four primeval elements of earth, air, fire and water. Providing a very 70s psychedelic sound, the music fits brilliantly with the performance of the rituals within the film. It follows the tale of a young man given a fiddle by an old hag, and how his magical music enchants the people he meets.It comes with a collection of extras that will predominantly appeal to scholars in the field of cultural history or people with an interest in cultural history and witchcraft. 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). Legend of the Witches(1970, 85 mins): The originally X-rated film documentary which looks in detail at previously hidden magic rites and rituals.

Okay, maybe not quite, but they certainly racked up tabloid column inches aplenty while promoting their brand of Alexandrian Wicca. Overall, the film is generally shot and executed in good taste even where some of the depictions and scenes take a little too much artistic licence. We’re certainly never too far away from an extended ritual sequence, with naked bodies dancing around flames or gathered around magic circles. The proceedings are then infiltrated by a priest with a cross, set on bringing down the evil goings on.Similarly, to other creation stories, it tells of how life on earth began with the smallest of fish and birds, to the creation of animals and man. We start, though, with a version of the Wiccan creation story of Diana the moon and Lucifer the sun. Other extras include an interview with ‘father of Wicca’ Gerald Gardner from TV documentary Out of Step, 1957 in which he attempts to dispel the blackened view of witchcraft with reluctance from its interviewer, journalist Dan Farson. Another woman was supposedly cured of cancer by Sanders sitting with her in the hospital for three days and nights, holding her feet and pouring “healing energy” into her. As the film progresses, we are given first-hand experience of the initiation of two witches into the coven, one of which is Penny.