Burn, Witch, Burn (1962)

Night of the Eagle is a 1962 British-American horror film directed by Sidney Hayers. The script by Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and George Baxt was based upon the 1943 Fritz Leiber novel Conjure Wife. The film was retitled Burn, Witch, Burn! for the US release.

A college professor in England named Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) and his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) seem to live a charmed life. Then Norman finds out Tansy is using witchcraft to "protect" him. He firmly disbelieves of it and makes her burn all her protective charms. Then his life becomes a living hell...

A demonstration that a lot can be achieved on a small budget by imaginative filmmakers. This movie caught me by surprise as I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. What really makes the film work is Peter Wyngarde's performance as professor Norman Taylor. He is spot on as a logical and intellectually superior man who discovers that his core beliefs about his life may be in total error. American actress Janet Blair was chosen to portray Tansy Taylor. Her background in American movies had been in romantic comedy, but she is just fine as the witch in question.

Witch or Woman, What Was It?

This, the second of three adaptations of the Leiber novel to get the big screen treatment, is easily the best, a smouldering suspenser ripe with paranoia and atmospheric unease. Subtle in pacing, it's a marked lesson in gaining the most out of suggestion and understated story telling. Clearly not armed with a gargantuan budget, Hayers and his team rely on the strength of writing and acting.

That's a limping evil bitch right there. 

But there would be no film without Margaret Johnston as the limping and gazing Flora. To say her character epitomizes evil is an understatement and who can forget the scene where she talks to Wyngarde in her office with her face hovering over a lamp with that devilish sneer? I'm not convinced that the film needed the scenes with the giant eagle and I would have enjoyed this just as much if those had been omitted in the final edit.

Just a giant eagle...nothing to see here folks.

This film would make a great late night flick - and a good one for Halloween season. If you like movies on witchcraft/occult topics then you might like this particular film.

Trivia:
When Norman hides in the classroom "I Do Not Believe" is written on the chalk board with other key words related to witchcraft. Something off screen appears to him and he backs up to the chalkboard in fear. After the PA system is silenced, he walks back to the door. The blackboard has been smudged, creatively revealing the phrase "I Do...Believe"

Peter Wyngarde was only cast because the original actor became ill.

Star Peter Wyngarde initially found the script for "Burn, Witch, Burn" (titled "Night of the Eagle" at the time) to be "rubbish" and decided to pass on the film. Later when Wyngarde saw a luxury car that he desperately wanted to own he went back and took the role of Norman Taylor: asking to be paid exactly the amount for the cost of the car.

Peter Wyngarde attended the premiere of the film with fellow British actor Alan Bates. Much to his disdain, he and Bates were the only people in the audience. Years later after the film received an American release, Wyngarde was pleased to learn that Burn, Witch, Burn played in Times Square for several years and found a bigger audience.

I do NOT believe

Star Peter Wyngarde said that his reaction to the infamous eagle attack was genuine as the huge bird had a nine foot wingspan and tremendous talons.

A pair of stone dragons sit on the Taylor's mantle piece. Originally in the novel, Conjure Wife (which the film is based on), it's a stone dragon that comes to life instead of the eagle of the film.

Tansy Taylor keeps a black cat for a pet.

At one point Lindsay Carr tells Tansy that her refreshment offer is "bewitching."

The infamous stone eagle is shown in the foreground or background of every scene at the university.

Raw meat was placed on Peter Wyngarde's back to make the trained eagle swoop down at him during the finale. After a while the meat became soured and the bird would stop driving for it.

A hidden voodoo doll.  Sneaky.

The second of three (and most acclaimed) cinematic adaptation of Fritz Leiber Jr.'s novel Conjure Wife.

American International Pictures insisted on playing up the horror-occult themes of the film when marketing it. As part of this, the film's original title was changed to the more ominous "Burn, Witch, Burn" - a line that Margaret Johnston speaks in the film. Also, the voice-over opening where a spell is cast upon the audience was added for setting the tone.

Despite the film's having two American screenwriters who usually worked in Hollywood, the plot of Fritz Leiber Jr.'s famous novel has been moved to an English setting. However, the dialogue still contains a few Americanisms, as when the Colin Gordon character asks, "Will you beat out my brother-in-law?", which no Englishman of the period would have said.

You've got too much already - a beautiful wife, this lovely house and that cottage by the sea. Your excellent thesis, and your ability to interest the students, now what's the answer to it all, eh? You sold your soul to the devil?

A rubber plant sits in the window of the Taylor house. The common houseplant is suppose to bring good fortune and luck.

The original script contained much more occult and voodoo material, however, this was cut down as director Sidney Hayers felt the relationship of the Taylors needed to be the focus of the film.

The shot of the eagle bursting through the door was achieved by punching a glove puppet through a miniature of the door. There are only a few frames of this sequence before a very quick cut to a shot of an actual eagle in a miniature of the hallway, but the shape of a hand and wrist can just be made out in silhouette.

Reportedly the California home of star Janet Blair burnt during production. Ironically, it occurred during the shooting of the climactic scene where the Taylor house burns down. Blair received a call while shooting the blazing sequence that her actual house was on fire.

There is no The End closing title, just a final "Do You Believe?" to conclude the film.