So'P . I am most impressed by the scholarly analogy.

My own take on it tends to be intuitively:

A black comedy. Howie, a study in religiose and authoritarian incompetence: utterly sure of his own righteousness. At forty-whatever, he is saving himself for his eventual marriage - scene cut from later versions. He blithely and contemptuously crashes in single-handed to deal with people he thinks of as simple folk. Utterly ignores all possibility of danger. A complete bloody fool, and a steaming incompetent. Meanwhile the simple folk manipulate him most gloriously.

Camp or possibly kitsch.. Using *that* much of The Golden Bough is just really, really over-doing it. And the writhing against the wall...not what you might call subtle, there.

Music that lingers in the memory. Ian Cutler really enjoying himself. the scenes with the sea-plane and longshore-men. The Landlord's Daughter. and the louche landlord - who was that?

Some very good acting. For Woodward to make Howie's blinkered pomposity credible was a superb achievement. And Christopher Lee was just so matter-of-fact about it.

Hadn't given it the same thought as SoP - been a dissertation, I wonder - and shall look it differently in future.