Night Of The Eagle — Night Of The Eagle( Blu Ray)
Night Of The Eagle is a British witchcraft chiller from the early 60’s. It blends atmospheric and brooding melodrama with moments of eeriness & outright terror- growing slowly but surely in unease & horror as it unfolds. Here from Studiocanal's Cult Classics series is a recent release of the film- taking in a nicely crisp scan of the picture, and a selection of extras.
Night Of The Eagle ( aka Burn, Witch, Burn) is from the year 1962- filmed between the country mansion creepy grander of Taplow Court Berkshire, and the stark coastline/ beaches of Cornwall. It was directed by Edinburgh, Scotland-born Sidney Hayers. He had a total of sixty-nine credits to his name- forty-seven of these are TV credits, and the remaining twenty-two were features. His features move from the mad surgeon horror of Circus Of Horror(1960), onto Kitchen Sink drama This Is My Steet (1964). Though to Cliff Richards starring comedy musical Finders Keepers (1966, British Giallo In The Devil’s Garden (1971), and Escape mental patient thriller Deadly Strangers (1975).
The film is set in and around a countryside university- focusing on Norman Taylor(Peter Wyngarde) a sceptical professor- who lectures on superstitions and folklore. He’s fairly recently started working at the university- after moving to the UK after spending time in Jamaica with his glamorous/ but rather twitchy wife Tansy(Janet Blair).
Prof Norman seems largely popular/ respected in the university by students & staff alike, aside from the quaffed-haired & thin tie-wearing Bill Mitchell( Fred Jennings)- who keeps locking horns with his teacher in & out of class.
One, night while getting ready for bed the professor finds a dried spider in a jar, as well as a whole host of other items- which hints his wife may be involved in witchcraft. The next day he lays all the items out- she admits she’s been using witchcraft since they left Jamaica- to further his career and keep the save from outside ‘forces’. He insists they burn everything- but she warns things are going to go very awry.
And the next few days things do start to go decidedly awry- with accusations, escape, and love-tinged desperation. Along the way, we have creepy eeriness, chilling disorientation, and a few real moments of outright fear. As we move from behind the door terror, panicked car/ bus chase, barren/ disquieting beaches, eerier graveyards, and attacks from the sky.
Acting wise Wyngarde is perfect as the initially cynical & subtle suave Professor. Blair as his wife sells the believability of a woman slowly going over the edge. The surrounding cast is well picked/realized too.
I’ve been aware of Night Of The Eagle for some years, but this was my first time watching it, and I must say it stands with some of the great horror films of the 50s and 60s. Yes, it takes a little time to get fully into the horror side of things- but the early scenes build the characters and their dynamics within the store- and boy, when the chilling & terror-fed moments appear they are very impactful/memorable.
This new release features a wonderfully clean, crisp, and well-defined monochrome print. On the extras side of things, we have two things- a commentary track, and an interview. The track is with one of the film's two screenwriters Richard Matheson. This bizarrely just starts with him starting to talk- giving no introduction, and as it unfolds it’s very sparse/ broken up affair- but I imagine he must be quite elderly now, so some of this is understandable. He talks about how he wanted to write a spec script after enjoying the original novel it’s based on Fritz Leiber Jr.'s Conjure Wife ( 1943). He talks about how he & Charles Beaumont shared the $10,000 that Independent Pictures paid for the script- he confirms he wrote the first half of it. He comments on the card-playing scene, and its dark undertones. He briefly mentions the score- saying he thinks very effective. Later on, he comments on the dodgy-looking rain scene, and touches on how the book differs from the film. He says the film deserves a re-make, apparently, this nearly happened a few years ago. He mentions how the lead actor liked to wander around stripped to the waist, and wishes they’d changed the lead female character's name. This tracks fine- but I can’t see myself playing it again, as I think I got all I could from one play.
Next, we have Burn Witch, Burn ( 24.35) which finds film writer/ programmer Anna Bogutskaya discussing the picture. She talks about the film's radical take on the lead characters' marriage- how they respect & love each other. She discusses her favourite scene, the character setups, and more. This is fine/ interesting enough, though at times comes off a tad dry/ academic. Oh, and there’s a issues with the volume balance on this extra- as when Ms Bogutskaya is talk it’s not terrible well recorded/ clear, then we jump back to the film clips which are a lot louder.
On the archive side, we have an interview with lead actor Wyngarde( 24.26), US & UK theatrical Trailers, US Alternate Opening Credits, and Behind the Scenes stills gallery.
There is no doubt Night Of The Eagle is a classic/ classy slice of atmospheric horror- with a great building sense of unease and moments of true terror. It’s wonderful to see this new release- with the great scan, and worthy enough extras.