Turner Classics had a treat for horror fans Friday night
with Burn, Witch, Burn! (1962), a film I have only seen mentioned a small
little bit on the imdb horror board a few years ago when a regular series
called The Orlocks ran by a regular prior to his absence (a group of horror
fans I really admire fled the horror board due to busy lives, “trolls” who
caused trouble and reported good threads just to be a pain in the ass, and too
many poor threads polluting page after page) asked for those of us who frequented
it to choose our top 5 favorite films of each individual year as selected by
him. It got some rub and quietly returned to the obscurity it doesn’t belong.
This is a nice little film about the use of witchcraft; how it is exploited and
misused. In the case of a professor, Norman (Peter Wyngarde), he is stunned to
find out that his wife, Tansy (Janet Blair), is a practitioner of witchcraft
and has used “protections” and spells which have allowed him to thrive
successfully in his college institution.
This film, for me, can’t escape similarities to Curse of the
Demon, in regards to a scholarly non-believing skeptic who questions beliefs in
the supernatural and superstition. Everything can be rationalized and explained…there’s
a reason for all things. Like Dana Andrews in Curse, Norman uses his intellect
to diffuse our leaning on spiritual practices and a reliance on objects to keep
us safe or spells that orchestrate how lives are altered for the good or bad. While
Andrews still seems to cling to his skepticism (although, it is clear the
parchment with the curse-spell shook him a bit), Norman is truly convinced that
black magic is quite real.
This film has a great bit of villainy for Margaret Johnston
(as a member of the faculty and disappointed wife of a fellow professor), as
Flora, someone who also practices black magic, using it to torment Norman;
attempting to use Tansy as a tool to either kill herself or Norman, Flora hopes
his tumultuous spiral will conclude in her husband (or herself) gaining in
position at the college. She shows an obvious relish (particularly seeing such
a skeptic squirm and admit to himself and her that he in fact does believe;
this shatters his once firm stance on cultivating a devotion to rituals and
beliefs and how it is a waste of time and energy.) in proving him wrong.
Burning tarot cards and claiming doing this will perhaps cause Norman’s house
to burn down (with Tansy in it), Flora challenges him to brush aside his disbelief,
encouraging him to abandon his commitment against those holding the
supernatural and superstitions with a precious validity.
The finale has Flora playing a lecture by Norman, tinged
with a spell that causes a stone eagle to come to life (hence the alternate “Night
of the Eagle” title) and follow after him! With his house burning to the
ground, an eagle chasing after him, and his wife possibly perishing, it appears
Flora has gotten the better of her rival. But Flora’s husband might just spoil
this dastardly plan and foil the perfect opportunity to get rid of a thorn in
her side. The eagle re-enters the picture at the very end in a unique ironic twist
that cautions using witchcraft inappropriately. Flora finds that out the hard
way.
Beautifully captured in B&W photography, with a plot
that puts Blair’s husband-devoted witch through the ringer (Flora casts a spell
on her, forcing her to almost drown herself and kill Norman with a butcher
knife; Tansy reacts hostilely and hysterically to Norman’s quest for her to
burn all the protections, soon dreading the outcome of such a decision) and
sees Norman riding the storm of controversy surrounding Flora’s use of
witchcraft against him (…a student calls him at home with seductive words, then
says she violated him! The girl’s boyfriend pulls a gun on him out of protest
towards his supposed treatment of her!). This even includes Norman painfully
practicing black magic himself for a moment, hoping to halt his wife’s
thoughts/acts of suicide. One of the pleasant surprises of October 2013 thus
far.
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