Night of the Eagle [Burn, Witch, Burn!] **** (1962, Peter Wyngarde, Janet Blair, Margaret Johnston) – Classic Movie Review 5,867

Psychology professor Peter Wyngarde discovers his wife Janet Blair is practising witchcraft, in the scary 1962 British horror film Night of the Eagle [Burn, Witch, Burn!].

The scary 1962 British witchcraft horror film Night of the Eagle [Burn, Witch, Burn!] stars Margaret Johnston as jealous Flora Carr using black magic on psychology professor Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) and his wife Tansy (Janet Blair). 

Director Sidney Hayers’s scary 1962 British witchcraft suspense horror thriller Night of the Eagle [Burn, Witch, Burn!] stars Peter Wyngarde as Norman Taylor, a psychology professor lecturing on belief and superstition at an English university, who discovers his American wife Tansy is practising obeah, or ‘conjure magic’ that she learned in Jamaica.

Margaret Johnston co-stars as insanely jealous university secretary Flora Carr, the witchcraft-practising wife of Lindsay Carr (Colin Gordon), whose career has stalled in favour of Norman’s. 

The movie is greatly boosted by a stylish-looking production, telling performances (especially from an intense Wyngarde and a commanding Johnston) and a chilling, well-written yarn with a good finish.

The effective screenplay by Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and George Baxt is based on Fritz Leiber Jr’s 1943 novel Conjure Wife, which was previously filmed in 1944 with Lon Chaney Jr as Weird Woman. The 1979 film Witches’ Brew, starring Teri Garr, Richard Benjamin and Lana Turner, is also based on the novel.

The original script was started by Richard Matheson and completed by Charles Beaumont, both paid $5,000 by James H Nicholson of AIP, who passed it to their partners Anglo-Amalgamated in England, where UK producer Albert Fennell bought in George Baxt to work on the script.

Filming took six weeks, and it was released on 11 May 1962 (UK) and on 25 April 1962 (US).

It also features Anthony Nicholls, Reginald Beckwith, Kathleen Byron, Colin Gordon, Jessica Dunning, Norman Bird, Judith Stott, Bill Mitchell, George Roubicek, Frank Sanguineau, and Gary Woolf.

The stone eagle of the original UK title is shown somewhere in every scene at the university.

Supposedly, Wyngarde found the script ‘rubbish’ and decided to pass. But then he saw a luxury car he fancied and agreed to take part if his fee was the cost of the car. Supposedly also, Wyngarde attended the premiere of the film with fellow actor Alan Bates, who were the only people in the audience.

The Taylors have a rubber plant and a black cat, symbols of good luck. In the UK a black cat that walks toward you is considered a sign of good fortune. Black cats have often been linked with superstition and sometimes associated with witches.

Night of the Eagle [Burn, Witch, Burn!] is directed by Sidney Hayers, runs 87 minutes, is made by Independent Artists, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated (UK) and American International Pictures (US), is shot in black and white by Reginald H Wyer, produced by Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle, Samuel Z Arkoff (executive), Albert Fennell (executive), Nat Cohen (executive) and Stuart Levy (executive), scored by William Alwyn, and designed by Jack Shampan.

In the UK it was rated X (adults only) but later re-rated 15, and then 12 for home video.

American International Pictures handled its release very well in the US, playing up the horror-occult themes. It was re-titled Burn, Witch, Burn! in America in an alternate version preceded by a voice-over opening prologue with Paul Frees narrating a spell to protect the audience from evil, adding 2:20 minutes to the running time. Narrator: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the motion picture you are about to see contains an evil spell, as used by practitioners of witchcraft for centuries…’

American audiences were given a pack of salt and words to an ancient incantation. The salesmanship worked. It cost only £50,000 and took $3 million at the US box office.

Peter Wyngarde was cast as Norman Taylor at the last minute after Peter Cushing decided to make Captain Clegg instead and Peter Finch turned down the part.

A shorter version of Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife was first published in 1943 in Unknown magazine and then published fully as a single book in 1953. The film changes its New England setting to rural Britain.

The cast are Peter Wyngarde as Norman Taylor, Janet Blair as Tansy Taylor, Margaret Johnston as Flora Carr, Anthony Nicholls as Harvey Sawtelle, Colin Gordon as Lindsay Carr, Kathleen Byron as Evelyn Sawtelle, Reginald Beckwith as Harold Gunnison, Judith Stott as Margaret Abbott, Jessica Dunning as Hilda Gunnison, Norman Bird as Doctor, Bill Mitchell as Fred Jennings, George Roubicek as Cleaner, Frank Sanguineau, and Gary Woolf.

RIP Peter Wyngarde, who died on 15 January 2018, aged 90.

Peter Wyngarde died on 15 January 2018, aged 90. He also notably starred in The Innocents (1961).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,867

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