Editing The Wicker Man (section)

===First restoration===
During the mid-1970s, Hardy made inquiries about the film, hoping to restore it to his original vision. Along with Lee and Shaffer, Hardy searched for his original cut, or raw footage. Both of these appeared to have been lost. Director [[Alex Cox]] said in his ''[[Moviedrome]]'' introduction in 1988 that the negative had "ended up in the pylons that support the [[M4 motorway (Great Britain)|M4 motorway]]."<ref name="alexcox">{{cite web |last=Cox |first=Alex |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8IGJjukTzc  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/K8IGJjukTzc| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Moviedrome – Wicker Man – Alex Cox intro |work=YouTube |date=6 October 2006 |access-date=20 February 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Hardy recalled that a copy of the film made prior to Deeley's cuts was sent to Roger Corman, who, it turned out, still had it, possibly the only existing print of Hardy's original cut. The US rights had been sold by Warner Bros. to a small firm called Abraxas, managed by film buff Stirling Smith and critic John Alan Simon. Stirling agreed to an American release of a reconstruction by Hardy. Hardy restored the narrative structure, some of the erotic elements which had been excised, and a very brief pretitle segment of Howie on the mainland (appearing at a church with his fiancée). A 96-minute restored version was released in January 1979,<ref name="stevephilips">{{cite web | title=The various versions of ''The Wicker Man'' | last=Philips |first=Steve |work=Steve's Web Page |year=2002 |url=http://steve-p.org/wm/ |access-date=11 December 2006}}</ref> again to critical acclaim.