I went to a screening of this at the BFI back in 2000. There was a panel with Christopher Lee and Q&A at the end. It was a massive sell-out so me and my friend showed up early to try and get two of the 10 'stand-bys' the BFI held back for every screening. Of course, when we got there - the queue was about a mile long. (I think there's footage of this on the docu extras). So we waited patiently expecting to be disappointed...
After about half an hour, the queue suddenly started moving. It seems that the invited cast and crew members - who weren't that fussed in seeing the film gave up their seats to allow more members of the public in.
My and my friend ended up 4 rows from the front sat next to Ingrid Pitt!
I'd agree that the additional 15 minutes doesn't seem to enrich the film that much, despite what we had been led to believe for many years, my vote is for the theatrical version.
The story of how they recovered the lost film isn't that remarkable, the astonishing thing really is why it took them so long to track it down. Basically when the film was originally edited a print was sent for approval and a second print was handed over to the American distributor so they could see. The UK print didn't meet with approval and so the film was re-edited, resulting in the theatrical edit, and a very unhappy director bemoaning his ruined masterpiece (as they do). Many years passed and this 'legend of the lost masterpiece' took hold until eventually a researcher just happened to look through the paperwork and realised that a print was with the American distributor, turning up in Roger Corman's archive.
Barcode is the same as on mine, so I've "owned" this.
If so, this is a 2 disc edition, with the original theatrical version on disc 1, and the director's cut on disc 2.
A three panel folding "digipak" style case in a card slipcase.
The Director's cut has a 15 minutes of footage that was only relatively recently rediscovered, having been thought lost for so long...
...That said, it doesn't really add anything to the experience of the film, and despite attempts to clean up the found footage, the print quality due to deterioration (at a different rate than the theatrical footage at least) is a great deal different to the film they have restored it to, so it just feels rather clunkily "dropped in" at the appropriate scenes in a very obvious and quite jarring way.
More for curiosity and interest in seeing how the original narrative progressed with these additional scenes and footage than an enhancement of the overall movie experience.
You'll still go back to the original film in the end if you just want to watch the movie.
Extras:
Disc 1:
Theatrical Version of the film (84 mins)
The Wicker Man Enigma - 35 min documentary
Theatrical Trailer
TV & Radio Spots
Talent Biographies
Christopher Lee Interview (25 mins)
CD ROM special feature - Original Theatrical Brochure for the film.
Disc 2:
The Director's Cut
Feature Length Commentary With Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Director Robin Hardy, and moderated by Mark Kermode