Background
The angry and vengeful witch stereotype in horror films was used again in 1962’s British-American collaboration, Night of the Eagle, directed by Sidney Hayers, and also shot in monochrome like Black Sunday. The film is also known by a much darker title in the US, namely Burn, Witch, Burn, but it is more widely known by the British title. The film is based on Fritz Leiber’s 1952 novel Conjure Wife and follows the plot of the novel relatively closely, with only minor changes made at the end of the film.
The plot revolves around a happily married couple, Norman and Tansy Taylor. Norman is a psychology professor at Hempnell Medical College – his research focus is on belief systems and superstition. Tansy secretly practices obeah, a West African form of witchcraft that is often associated with spiritual healing techniques and talismans (Paton, 2015:7, 19, 23), as a way to help Norman prosper and to keep him safe. Norman discovers her trinkets hidden throughout the house and destroys them. Soon thereafter events occur which at first threaten his career and standing at the university and then his and Tansy’s lives. First a truck nearly kills him, followed by student, Margaret, falsely accusing him of sexually violating her. A male student who is besotted with Margaret then threatens him with a gun, but is arrested. After all these strange occurrences, an invisible entity attempts to break into his and Tansy’s home.
Tansy becomes convinced that the abovementioned events are due to Norman destroying all the talismans in the house and takes drastic steps to save her husband, who is still unconvinced that the supernatural has anything to do with his bout of bad luck. Tansy nearly drowns at sea when she attempts to sacrifice herself to save Norman. He rescues her at the crucial moment and takes her back home. She later attacks him with a knife while in a trance, but Norman traps her by locking her in their bedroom. The same evening Norman goes to the university where Flora Carr, the university secretary and wife of his friend and colleague, Professor Lindsay Carr, confronts him and reveals that she is a witch and that all his bad luck was caused by her. Her motivation is much like Tansy’s, namely to see her husband succeed. But where Tansy uses her magic to target her husband to help him, Flora wants to eliminate Norman thereby removing her husband’s competition. Professor Carr though is not privy to his wife’s actions so he is not seen to condone or oppose her actions. She then informs him that she has set fire to the Taylor’s residence and that he must run to rescue Tansy. As he tries to run home, she uses a form of hypnosis over the school intercom to convince Norman that a giant stone eagle, a decoration on the outside wall of the main university building, has come alive and is attacking him. Norman is thus frantically trying to escape the eagle so that he can go home and save Tansy. He finally escapes, only to find that Tansy was able to save herself. As Flora exits the
140
university front door, thinking that she had defeated the Taylors, the giant stone eagle topples down from the wall and crushes her on the lawn.
Literature review
According to Bernadette Lynn Bosky (2007:691) the witch is culturally and historically perceived as someone who harms others. The witch who harms others features prominently in Häxan and Black Sunday and serves again as an antagonist in Night of the Eagle. Night of the Eagle however diverges from the previously discussed horror films by also featuring a good witch who uses her supernatural power to protect her husband, and the protagonist, from an evil witch. By protecting her husband and using her abilities to grant him success in life, Tansy resembles Joseph Campbell’s supernatural aid as described in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). The supernatural aid, as described by Campbell, is a person or being who helps the hero by providing him/her with supernatural protection or guidance (Campbell, 2004:63-67). Flora is the opposite of Tansy and uses her supernatural talents to harm Norman.
Interestingly, Campbell (1960:62) mentions in The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology that the witch is associated with water, and like water she can be life-nurturing or life-threatening. In Night of the Eagle we find the first instance where both aforementioned types of witches are portrayed in a film.
Another aspect worth noting is that Night of the Eagle is the first film to show witches in a suburban middle-class setting. Even though Night of the Eagle is a significant historical contribution to the horror film genre as a whole, the film is yet to enjoy in-depth scholarly attention. The film has been mentioned in various books on British horror films over the last twenty years as the film became more accessible.
Leon Hunt (2001:82) describes Night of the Eagle as a British production by name only due to the writers and director being American. The supernatural elements in film originating from African obeah constitute also a missed opportunity to delve into Britain’s pagan and druidic past, further removing the film from British culture (Hunt, 2001:83, 86). The British pagan beliefs would only surface in British horror cinema eleven years later in Robin Hardy’s cult classic The Wicker Man (1973).
Hunt also draws attention to Night of the Eagle (1962:90) being a film about women who wield unfathomable power in secret while the dominant patriarchal society of 1960s England is oblivious to these women who can easily overthrow them. Norman is able to retain his status in society and his place of work only because Tansy protects him. His reputation is nearly ruined and he almost dies at the hands of a powerful and unattractive middle aged woman with a disability. Not only is she a woman, but she is also a rival and accomplished academic. She has succeeded in the world of men,
141
but also in the world that men are unaware of. Flora and Tansy can change, with little effort, the trajectory of success of any man as well as end or increase his lifespan. The control the two witches exert over men shows the audience how fragile patriarchal society can be.
Though Hunt makes an interesting argument regarding Night of the Eagle, he does not say more about the film. Barry Forshaw devotes a larger section to Night of the Eagle in his book British Gothic Cinema (2013). Forshaw (2013:106) lists Night of the Eagle as one of the historically most important British gothic films ever produced. He bases this statement on the director’s ability to keep the audience at the edge of their seats, even when obvious, yet unintentional mistakes are made – like the wire keeping the poorly crafted eagle aloft as it attacks Norman in one of the final scenes of the film (Forshaw, 2013:115). Forshaw (2013:116) also credits the flawless plot and dialogue, professional cinematography and editing, and the cast’s acting prowess as the many reasons the film succeeds.
Forshaw (2013:117) also notes that the then contemporary 1960s setting of Night of the Eagle was unheard of at the time when period-set horror films were the norm. Sidney Hayers successfully breaks from the fairy tale setting the witch is often found in and transports her to 1960s England where she is inserted into not only a suburban household, but also the higher echelons of academia. In my opinion this film can be seen as the precursor for television series like Bewitched (1964-1972) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2000) where we also find witches in suburban settings but to comedic effect.
Forshaw does not delve deeper into the film and for the most part discusses the film’s production and hints at the normalised sexism in the film which was typical of the time (Forshaw, 2013:119). Ian Cooper (2016:69) says even less about Night of the Eagle in Frightmare: A History of British Cinema (2016), but makes the reader aware of the obvious similarities (influences) the films Repulsion (1965), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Skeleton Key (2005) share with their predecessor Night of the Eagle,
implying Night of the Eagle’s influence on these films. Cooper (2016:69) makes a case for the uncanny intruding on the real world causing the rational characters to accept the irrational – instances of this are found in all three of the mentioned films. Repulsion (1965) makes the link with Night of the Eagle more explicit as it shares the same opening scene with the film where a beautiful and feminine eye appears on the screen surrounded by inky blackness (Cooper, 2016:69).
The relative dearth of studies on Night of the Eagle is not unexpected as it is overshadowed by other more renowned British horror films of the time, like Night of the Demon (1957) or Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (1961). Night of the Eagle has also far less to say thematically, socially, or about the film medium than for instance Alfred Hitchcock’s revered Psycho (1960), Mario Bava’s Black Sunday and Blood and Black Lace (1964), or Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965). Hayers’film is compared extensively to Night of the Demon (1957) due to the similar themes, gothic style, and contemporary settings the films share, with most favouring Night of the Demon (1957) (Cooper, 2016:70; Forshaw,
142
2013:6; Hunt, 2001:82). Night of the Eagle is still important however as an influential force as I will illustrate in the rest of this chapter.
The United Kingdom’s societal context of the 1960s and its relation to Night of the Eagle Before discussing the influence of the films that came before Night of the Eagle or how the Dionysian relates to the film, an in-depth discussion of the socio-historic context of the film is required. As television sets became more affordable during the 1950s, cinema attendance declined sharply all over the UK (Laurie, 2010:74). The 1950s also saw the introduction of the X certification in the UK (BBFC, 2020b). This certification was exclusively applied to cinematic productions (often with heavy cuts) and excluded anyone below the age of 16 from viewing the film (BBFC, 2020b; Laurie,
2010:74). By the early 1960s theatres exploited this certification as viewers flocked to cinemas specifically to view the X certified and British produced Carry On films and the Hammer Horrors (Laurie, 2010:74). The Beatles craze had also begun and the Bond film franchise became an
international sensation (Laurie, 2010:113). This led to a booming film industry in the UK as the US invested heavily in British cinema (Laurie, 2010:113-114). Night of the Eagle was released at the height of the Hammer Horrors film craze, though not a Hammer Films production (Laurie, 2010:79).
From 1957 to the mid to late sixties Britain experienced a transformation with regards to the church with many calling for a radical transformation of Christian beliefs brought on by the secularization of society (Brewitt-Taylor, 2018:1-4). Students called for abandonment of religious activities with an increased focus on radical politics and the urge to combat social injustices experienced globally (Brewitt-Taylor, 2018:3-5). These same radical politics would later alienate many of the movement’s members causing it to disband by 1969 (Brewitt-Taylor, 2018:6; Castro & Harris, 2014:193; Tranmer, 2014:99).
The church and Christianity thus became less important in Britain in the sixties, suggesting that society was shrugging off the last vestiges of their Victorian sociocultural norms. This would be an erroneous assumption to make as the British shirking of Christianity did not imply that they would also cast off their Victorian norms. This is noticeable when one considers the content of British horror films produced at the time. Between 1957 and 1969 Hammer Studios produced 47 horror films with many containing nudity, gore, and violence (Adkinson, et al, 1994:33, 46, 85, 157-165). By the 1970s Hammer Studios films had created a new vampire film genre, the lesbian vampire film, which
included a mix of sex, nudity, and gore, like The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust for a Vampire (1971), and Twins of Evil (1971) (Adkinson, et al, 1994:82-85). Night of the Eagle, produced by Independent Artists, is tame in comparison to the Hammer films released at the time. Though some film studios in Britain were taking chances with the content of their films and society became less interested in
143
religious practices, there was no grand moral revolution as one would expect and many of the
Victorian era norms remained unchanged (Brewitt-Taylor, 2018:13; Sandbrook, 2014:xiv-xv). In fact, British culture remained relatively unchanged between 1950 and the late 1960s (Brewitt-Taylor, 2018:13; Sandbrook, 2014:xiv).
Sam Brewitt-Taylor (2018:13) argues that during the 1960s most British families became
economically affluent, but society did not change, nor did people want any changes in their British way of life. Affluence simply made life easier and that was all that the British people desired at the time (Brewitt-Taylor, 2018:13-14; Sandbrook, 2014:xiii). From 1930 to 1970 middle- and upper-class families flocked to the suburbs as it promised a safe environment to raise children, but also a stable and comfortable lifestyle (Dorling, 2018:1-2, 10). This can be linked to the suburban lives of the Taylors in Night of the Eagle as will be discussed in the next paragraphs.
As in Black Sunday, the evil witch, Flora, only appears in a few scenes, mainly in the beginning and the end of the film. She is old and unattractive, walks with a limp in her left leg, and is always seen wearing black clothing. Tansy, on the other hand, is a good witch – young, beautiful, and always wearing light-coloured clothing. She does have strange things hidden everywhere in the house though, like dead spiders in her dresser drawer. She also has a familiar, a cat, and spell books. Even though they greatly differ in appearance the witches share some characteristics. Firstly, they are utterly devoted to their husbands. It is only in their expression of this devotion where they differ. The second characteristic they share is that both women are suburban wives of upper-middle class men. Tansy, however, is a homemaker, while Flora is an academic. Both live comfortable suburban life which is due to their husbands’ positions at the university. This could be less so in Flora’s case, but we are not made privy to the details of her position. Her anger at Norman securing the position to which she had hoped her husband would be promoted does suggest that Flora lusts for more money and power.
In both instances Flora and Tansy use their supernatural abilities to better and sustain their suburban lifestyles. Tansy exerts supernatural control over her husband’s agency by imbuing him with luck.
Flora on the other hand does not use her abilities in the same way to assist her husband, Lindsay, but uses it to negate Norman’s trajectory in society and his workplace. Her attempts are futile until Norman destroys all of Tansy’s occult talismans and fetishes. Norman’s success in life thus stems from the efforts of his wife, but if Tansy is unable to protect him, other women can bring him to ruin.
Women who are able to wield power like Tansy or Flora, are not often found in Western films. This exchange of power between man and woman mirrors the British society’s shirking off Victorian societal norms during the 1960s.
Another aspect to consider regarding the women and the suburban context is the perceived threat powerful women pose to Western suburban society. As noted, suburbia was (and still is) viewed as the ideal context to live in and raise a family. Suburbia represents a safe and comfortable lifestyle
144
where the inhabitants’ needs are mostly met. A family that settles in a suburban area has room to have more children while also instilling these children with normative Western values. A woman like Flora causes disruptions in the suburban community as she harms others who have conformed to the community ideals. Tansy does the opposite and enables her husband without harming others who strive for the same ideals she and her husband have conformed to.
Flora as a threat is emphasised by her appearance and disability. As mentioned, there is a marked difference between the two witches and their appearance seems to be linked to their motivations or disposition. Many artists over the years have used physical characteristics to evoke a desired response from a viewer (Eisner, 2006:18-20). For instance, when one mentions the name ‘Igor’, most would conjure up an image of a hunched man with an asymmetrical face who is in the employ of a mad scientist. When we think of male heroes we automatically think of attractive young men with
muscular bodies, like Chris Evans in the Captain America (2011). When we think of a princess, in the mind's eye we see a soft-spoken, young, thin and beautiful woman with long hair, like Clair Danes in Stardust (2007). These stereotypes are part and parcel of the artist, director, and writer’s tools to illicit an immediate response from the viewer or reader. This way they do not need to waste time on
frivolous explanations. At times these portrayals are also used to misdirect the viewer or reader to accomplish a desired effect.
Figure 7. Night of the Eagle. 1962. Directed by Sidney Hayers. [Film still from DVD] United Kingdom: StudioCanal.
In this film the physical appearance of the women has a very specific function, namely to assist the plot and to keep the viewer guessing. As mentioned, Flora (Figure 7), appears in very few scenes of the film and her physical appearance makes her seem unimportant and forgettable. In the viewer’s mind she is thus never a threat. Tansy (Figure 8) on the other hand is beautiful and portrayed in some
145
scenes as slightly irrational and unhinged.35 The magical paraphernalia hidden throughout the house suggests that Tansy has more to hide from Norman and she becomes severely distressed when he destroys these objects. The viewer assumes that Tansy is consciously or unconsciously responsible for the disastrous events surrounding Norman. Her beauty and prevalence make her a likely target since it places her on a higher social position in the eye of the viewer.
Figure 8. Night of the Eagle. 1962. Directed by Sidney Hayers. [Film still from DVD] United Kingdom: StudioCanal.
Flora also has a limp in her left leg which indicates a physical handicap. According to V.S.
Ramachandran and William Hirstein (1999:27) symmetry is important from biological and
evolutionary perspectives. An asymmetrical face, for instance, indicates parasitic infestation, while lopsided or asymmetrical growth in limbs might indicate prior disease or even infertility (Hirstein &
Ramachandran, 1999:27). Noted film scholar Angela M. Smith makes a similar argument regarding the disabled in her book, Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics, and Classic Horror Cinema (2012).
She argues that individuals react negatively to disabilities due to the potential harm the disabled’s genetic material can cause society (Smith, 2012:2). This has an influence on how characters are created and embodied in horror films to elicit the maximum response of terror from the audience (Smith, 2012:2-3). Flora is consequently disregarded by the audience and deemed biologically inferior, and though not a physical threat, a threat nonetheless to society due to her potential to
produce disabled offspring. Keen viewers though would notice that when Tansy is possessed in one of the final acts of the film, she has a limp in her left leg. The limp thus further aids the plot by
35 Like Katia in Black Sunday, Tansy is also embodied according to the irrational and immature feminine stereotype.