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Legend Of The Witches (Witchcraft Documentary, 1971)

Oooh, can't WAIT to watch that! :)

I was a young teenager around that time and can remember Sunday tabloid 'scandals' (with blurry photos, probably staged, I think now) about black magic and devil-worship. It all seemed to be a convoluted excuse for an orgy.
At the crucial trouser-dropping moment, so to speak, you'd read, 'our reporter made his excuses and left.'
I bet he did! ;)

Meanwhile, you'd get the odd exposé of a group of gentle, nature-loving Wiccans who were tarred with the same sex-mad brush. :rolleyes:
 
You can get a similarly rare 1970 witchcraft doc on DVD now called Legend of the Witches, supposed to be a serious examination of the subject only of course they packed in as much nudity as possible (male and female, for a change). Has you wondering what audience they were after (apart from the obvious dirty old men).
 
Back then nudity was still outrageous. Images of nekkid folks were few and far between. This explains the huge popularity of National Geographic, for a start!
 
As long as photography has been around, there have been photos of people with nothing on. For over a century you had to know the right people to get hold of them, but now it seems in the future it'll be difficult to look for a photo and not find nudity all over the place.
 
I inherited my dad's complete set of 'Man, Myth & Magic' magazines from the early 70s and they're classics. Some surprisingly well written articles in there, too. As a kid I read Volume 3 (With 'G' for 'Ghosts' cos it's alphabetical) so much it virtually fell apart... There's a fair bit on witchcraft, in there.
 
Was on talking pictures, uk, tonight late at night. Possible it may come round again for those who are interested. Sorry but people were weird in the 70s! Free love and all that. The whole thing looks quite serious but just looks like a bit of an orgy to be honest. Actually it was ex rated at the time it seems Explains links to bayous tapestry, paganism and religion, so I won’t completely knock it. Then goes off tangent and talks about poltergeists May be of interest to someone. Some weird flashing photography at the end and strobe effects may not be good for some! Not for kids
 
You can get this on one of the BFI Flipside Blu-rays, with the follow-up Secret Rites and some great extras. They're both basically ego trips for self-styled King of the Witches Alex Sanders who tried to hijack the Wiccan movement (itself about two decades old at the start of the 1970s). Followed the Anton LaVey model, that sort of thing. Many suspected it was an excuse for public nudism. Who remembers Sanders now?
 
I inherited my dad's complete set of 'Man, Myth & Magic' magazines from the early 70s and they're classics. Some surprisingly well written articles in there, too. As a kid I read Volume 3 (With 'G' for 'Ghosts' cos it's alphabetical) so much it virtually fell apart... There's a fair bit on witchcraft, in there.
We had those at the library until they fell apart, and they were good indeed.
 
I seem to recall that MM&M was sold by a highly-effective campaign of tv teaser-ads. They showed just enough to bring in a wide audience who were not normally curious about anthropology or the occult!

Shrunken heads and naked, tribal dancing were the key. I doubt if it would be so effective today, depending, as it did, on a market prepared by the Sunday papers!

Which is not to say it was not good. :gnome:
 
I seem to recall that MM&M was sold by a highly-effective campaign of tv teaser-ads. They showed just enough to bring in a wide audience who were not normally curious about anthropology or the occult!

Shrunken heads and naked, tribal dancing were the key. I doubt if it would be so effective today, depending, as it did, on a market prepared by the Sunday papers!

Which is not to say it was not good. :gnome:
I wish I could remember those ads!
 
Yes, I can remember the 1960s through 70s revival of the occult, and all the many women who suddenly wanted to brag about being witches and having powers
to..........whatever.

Flash forward to today's era of so-called sexual exploitation of women by men in power and accusations of sexual harassment, etc., especially in the US.

Now the question is could a really clever lawyer claim his male client wasn't guilty
of sexploitation because he was 'bewitched' - she made him do it?

Witchcraft as a legal defense !

There are good and bad witches !
 
Yes, I can remember the 1960s through 70s revival of the occult, and all the many women who suddenly wanted to brag about being witches and having powers
to..........whatever.

Flash forward to today's era of so-called sexual exploitation of women by men in power and accusations of sexual harassment, etc., especially in the US.

Now the question is could a really clever lawyer claim his male client wasn't guilty
of sexploitation because he was 'bewitched' - she made him do it?

Witchcraft as a legal defense !

There are good and bad witches !
Er... no.
 
Maybe if she gave him a "potion" or slipped him a pill, or made him inhale some "funny" incense.
I'd hate to be dating these days—it was bad enough when I was young! Now it's dangerous (like before) AND confusing.
 
Maybe if she gave him a "potion" or slipped him a pill, or made him inhale some "funny" incense.
I'd hate to be dating these days—it was bad enough when I was young! Now it's dangerous (like before) AND confusing.
And not worth it.
 
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