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Burn, Witch, Burn! (1962)
Topic Started: Jul 1 2007, 02:02 PM (325 Views)
Laughing Gravy
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Our review of the new Night of the Eagle DVD (known in the U.S. as Burn, Witch, Burn!) is now up at www.inthebalcony.com. Enjoy!
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Laughing Gravy
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Mr. Bill Black of AC Comics has asked me to advise you that he has a widescreen edition of Burn, Witch, Burn! available on DVD-R from his fine company, just in case'n ya wanna see it and don't have an all-region player.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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The 1962 British chiller Night of the Eagle (known stateside by its more lurid and marketable title, Burn, Witch, Burn!) is now available on DVD (region 2, £9.99) from Optimum, and the disc presents this memorable spook story in a worthwhile edition.

Young university professor Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) has upset some of his old school colleagues with his quick success; he’s about to be appointed to the chair of his department. It seems, though, that the prof has an unlikely ally: his young, beautiful wife Tansy (Janet Blair) is a witch who’s been manipulating the dark arts to protect her husband and bring him success. He discovers her secret and puts a stop to her hocus-pocus, but that leaves him helplessly at the mercy of another witch on campus, one that wishes him no good and threatens not only his career but also his life.

Burn, Witch, Burn! was produced by Julian Wintle and directed by Sidney Hayers, both familiar names to fans of the wonderful British TV series The Avengers, and indeed it has much of the flavor of those early B&W episodes. Although moody and at times creepy (particularly if you are uncomfortable with spiders), it eschews the usual post-Psycho shocks we come to associate with psychological horror thrillers of the period. The film stumbles badly at the end when the bad witch unleashes a “monster” on the professor; the whole thing views more as high camp than horror. The movie, incidentally, is based on Fritz Lieber's story Conjure Wife, previously brought to the screen in the 1940s as the Inner Sanctum mystery Weird Woman, with Lon Chaney, Jr. as the professor. This one's better.

The Optimum DVD lacks any special features, including the trailer, so we have to make do with a beautiful anamorphic widescreen print of the uncut (84 min.) version of a pretty good horror film. Incidentally, this is the first "scary movie" your Balcony webmaster can ever remember seeing (he was four) and one scene – the “I hear something strange on the porch, let’s throw open the door and see what th’ hell it is” scene that would become a cliché in movie stupidity – terrified him so much he’s remembered it well through the decades. The DVD is recommended.

"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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Here was my review of this title....
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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TheThunderChild
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Dec 14 2007, 11:38 AM
Here was my review of this title....

Thanks!
Barbara
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"Together, Max, we'll rule the world. But Sweden's mine!"
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