Hi Jane and will go forthwith and see what Henri is up to now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fUsssnHPw

I looked up the Roddy McDowell/Ava Gardner film version of ‘Tam Lin.’ That was its original title before it became ‘The Devil’s Widow.’ According to one reviewer (Benjamin Miler) on Amazon: “This was a 1971 movie that was directed by Roddy McDowell. It was filmed in 1968 (or ‘69), but shelved until late ‘71 (although new sources stated the film was released in the UK in December 1970, and in the U.S. in September 1972). After a limited airing in the theaters, it pretty much disappeared, until 1998, when Republic Pictures finally made it available on VHS. And this is an excellent example of why you should hold on to your VCRs when you upgrade to DVD: there are still titles out there not available on DVD and this is one of them.”

Ava, of course, plays the ever-youthful Faerie Queen to Ian McShane’s Tom Lynn, rescued from death (and no doubt a fate worse than it!) by the pure virgin love of vicar’s daughter Janet, aka Stephanie Beacham!

The same reviewer makes special mention of the music: “The film credits both Pentangle and Salena Jones for providing music… Pentangle did do a version of “Tam Lin” just for this film. It sounds completely different from the version Fairport Convention did. It was a slower ballad, heavily acoustic, and with sitar (which the band used on their highly acclaimed 1969 album ‘Basket of Light’). In fact this piece could’ve fit easily on ‘Basket of Light,’ with plenty of the great trademarks you come to expect from Pentangle, not to mention Jacqui McShee’s wonderful voice. Unfortunately their version of ‘Tam Lin’ can only be found in this movie, as it never appeared on any of their original albums. But there is a CD set called ‘Time Has Come 1967-1973′ that does feature this song… a collection of alternate takes, never-before-released material, BBC sessions, and film scores that never became available as a soundtrack album (as in the case of ‘Tam Lin’).

Two other reviewers described it as “A classic late sixties Art movie” and “a Carnaby Street time capsule!” That might explain why it basically flopped so badly that Roddy McDowell never directed another film, and why we can’t see it (or hear the music) on dvd!