Wed 24 Aug 2016
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: BURN, WITCH, BURN.
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[3] Comments
BURN, WITCH, BURN. Anglo-Amalgamated Films, UK, 1962; American International Pictures, US, 1962. Originally released in the UK as Night of the Eagle. Peter Wyngarde, Janet Blair, Margaret Johnston, Anthony Nicholls, Colin Gordon, Kathleen Byron. Screenplay by Charles Beaumont & Richard Matheson (and George Baxt uncredited), based on the novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber. Director: Sidney Hayers.
At times Burn, Witch, Burn, aka Night of the Eagle, feels as if it’s an extended and psychedelically revved up episode of The Twilight Zone. I suppose that’s not all that surprising given the fact that Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, both of whom contributed to the famed CBS series, co-wrote the screenplay for this offbeat supernatural horror film. Although filmed in a noticeably flat black and white, making it highly adaptable to television screens in the early 1960s, Burn, Witch, Burn retains a Gothic, strikingly off kilter atmosphere that I found to be quite effective.
Adapted from Fritz Leiber’s novel Conjure Wife (1943), the movie stars Peter Wyngarde as Norman Taylor, a sociology professor at a British medical college who discovers that his wife has taken to witchcraft. This is especially troubling for Taylor as he vehemently denies the existence of the supernatural. After he forces his wife, Tansy (Janet Blair) to part with her magical paraphernalia, things start going really badly for the both of them. Could it be that Tansy was correct that her spells were protecting him from a greater evil in their midst? If so, what does that mean for Taylor’s skepticism, let alone their marriage?
Alternatively creepy and self-consciously ludicrous, the film also features another character, albeit a decidedly uncredited one: a stone eagle statuette perched on top of the college where Taylor works. Perhaps the less said about that mighty bird the better. Keep in mind that when there are witches afoot in England, inanimate objects don’t always stay inanimate — especially at night.
August 24th, 2016 at 9:25 pm
Of the at least three films adapting this story (WEIRD WOMAN and the comedy SATURDAY THE 13TH) I know of, this one alone is a class act, well acted, serious, and presented much as the novel was structured.
Even when it stretches things a bit it holds the attention and like the book, keeps you waiting to see what happens next.
August 25th, 2016 at 10:09 am
I haven’t been able to find any reference to a movie called SATURDAY THE 13TH,, David. The 14TH, yes, but Leiber doesn’t seem to have any connection to it.
I did find another film based on CONJURE WIFE, though, WITCHES’ BREW (1980), described on IMDb as a comedy horror film with Richard Benjamin, Teri Garr and Lana Turner:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081763/reference
August 25th, 2016 at 9:47 pm
WITCHES BREW was originally supposed to be released as SATURDAY the 13th when I first read about, but I don’t see the title even mentioned in IMDb. It came and went so fast I never saw the name change. I’ve managed to avoid it under any name despite liking Garr and Benjamin.
I don’t know that it is credited to Leiber, but the plot as I read its description was a man discovers his wife is really a witch then that all women are witches and she was protecting him. Whether Leiber got any credit or money I don’t know. Stealing ideas isn’t exactly new in Hollywood, and all things considered it might not have been worth pursuing since it might have scared producers off other Leiber works.