Main Cast: Janet Blair, Peter Wyngarde, Margaret Johnston, Anthony Nicholls, Colin Gordon
Release Year: 1962
Country: UK
Run Time: 87 minutes
Plot
Night of the Eagle was the second film version of Fritz Leiber Jr.'s Conjure Wife (the first was Weird Woman, perhaps the best of Universal's low-budget "Inner Sanctum" series of the 1940s). The film's title was possibly meant to invoke memories of the earlier Night of the Demon (58); both films involve a rational scientist (in the case of Night of the Eagle, Peter Wyngarde) forced to accept the existence of the supernatural. All evidence points to the conclusion that the scientist's American wife Janet Blair is the reincarnation of a witch, and a practitioner of voodoo. The actual villain is supposed to be a mystery, though the identity was made clear in the Leiber original and in both other film versions of Conjure Wife (there was a 1980 parody version titled Witches Brew). The supernatural aspect of Night of the Eagle is convincingly handled, including a knockout sequence with a wild eagle rampaging through the scientist's tranquil study. Adapted by Twilight Zone stalwarts Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, the British-made Night of the Eagle was released in the US as Burn, Witch, Burn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A neglected little gem of a horror/psychological thriller, Night of the Eagle is a real find, especially for fans of the genre. Clearly not a big budget affair, Eagle makes its limited budget an asset, creating chills and tension through hints and nuances rather than special effects. (Indeed, Eagle is probably least effective when it makes the mistake of actually showing the titular bird of prey.) It's a humdinger of a scare flick, one which only rarely makes a misstep, and none of those are fatal by any means. Granted, Janet Blair's performance is a bit on the shrill and hysterical side and doesn't develop as much as one might like, but it works in context. Also, William Alwyn's score could have taken a more indirect approach in a few instances, could have created a greater effect by underplaying. Otherwise, there's nothing to complain about -- certainly not the spot-on direction from Sidney Hayers, which is in control from frame one and which is practically a textbook case in creating suspense and tension. (The inadvertent erasure of the word "not" on the blackboard in a crucial scene is especially well handled.) And the beautiful screenplay from a trio of writers with significant experience in the genre is simply marvelous, an improvement on the Fritz Leiber book in that it leaves wide open the room for doubt as to whether the events are the result of witchcraft or something else. Finally, Peter Wyngarde is all one could ask for as the likeable but egocentric professor whose belief system is given a work-out. Eagle is definitely a film worth searching out. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Kathleen Byron - Evelyn Sawtelle; Reginald Beckwith - Harold Gunnison; Norman Bird - Doctor; Jessica Dunning - Hilda Gunnison; Judith Stott - Margaret Abbott; Bill Mitchell - Fred Jennings
Credit
Jack Shampan - Art Director, Sidney Hayers - Director, Ralph Sheldon - Editor, William Alwyn - Composer (Music Score), Reginald Wyer - Cinematographer, Albert Fennell - Producer, George Baxt - Screenwriter, Charles Beaumont - Screenwriter, Richard Matheson - Screenwriter, Fritz Leiber, Jr. - Book Author
Night of the Eagle is a 1962horror film directed by Sidney Hayers. It was based on Fritz Leiber's novel Conjure Wife. It was released in the United States as Burn, Witch, Burn.
Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde), a psychology professor lecturing in belief and superstition, discovers that his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) is a practicing witch. She is insistent that her charms have been responsible for his academic success. Angry at her superstition, he forces her to burn them all. But almost immediately things start to go wrong for him as pupils accuse him of sexual harassment and bullying. He is drawn into his wife’s web of superstitions, forced to believe in order to survive as a rival witch tries to use black magic to destroy him and his wife.
Reception
The New York Times called it "quite the most effective 'supernatural' thriller since Village of the Damned" and perhaps the "best outright goose-pimpler dealing specifically with witchcraft since I Walked with a Zombie...in 1943." and noted:[1]
Simply as a suspense yarn, blending lurid conjecture and brisk reality, growing chillier by the minute, and finally whipping up an ice-cold crescendo of fright, the result is admirable. Excellently photographed (not a single "frame" is wasted), and cunningly directed by Sidney Hayers, the incidents gather a pounding, graphic drive that is diabolically teasing. The climax is a nightmarish hair-curler but, we maintain, entirely logical within the context.
