Burn Witch Burn aka Night of the Eagle (1962) Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

#burnwitchburn #bluray #kinolorber
My review of the 1962 classic BUTN WITCH BURN/NIGHT OF THE EAGLE. This Blu-ray release while an MGM HD master of the US cut is the best release on video to date. The master is rather healthy and the supplements include a lovely interview with Peter Wyngarde and the Richard Matheson audio commentary from the Laserdisc release.
The film is the second adaptation of the novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Lieber, excellently done by Matheson and Charles Beaumont. It remains one of the best horror films of the 60’s and a genre classic deserving of greater acclaim.
Film Discussion 00:00
Kino Lorber Blu-ray release 24:17
Picture Quality 24:27
Audio Quality 26:30
Art and Package Design 28:12
Supplemental Features 29:13
Summary 32:46

[@Master_Blackthorne]

Liam Redmond was in both "Night of the Eagle" and "Night of the Demon." Both films deal with the skeptic being overwhelmed with mounting supernatural occurrences. One thing I didn't like about "Night of the Demon" is its cop-out ending "Maybe it's better not to know." Some say both films share abrupt endings. Another thing is both films were based on stories that were very tame. I really enjoyed your critique. It covered just about everything. Well done!

[@patrickcosgrove886]

The novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber is a great read. The interesting surprise for the male protagonist is not only is his wife a witch but all women are witches.

[@EnoYaka]

I haven't seen it, but just from your description and images I can tell this actor really sells the character. Very informative thank you!

[@RSEFX]

Thanks for the thoughtful and lengthy look at this film, and the many still grabs. I certainly agree re that opening (Paul Frees) "protective spell" utterly unnecessary and, to me, off-putting. I kind of cringed when I saw this in the theater on its original release. Just struck me as cheap and low-brow. If i ever screen this film for friends I'd simply start it right AFTER that opening so as to not get things off on the wrong foot. I'd highly recommend reading the novel. It is full of interesting speculation about how "witchcraft" might work looking at the subject as some kind of almost quantum-level phenomena. It's kind of cool, fun thinking, stretching the limits of science in weird ways. I was lucky enough to find a movie tie-in of CONJURE WIFE, that also included Fritz Leiber's signature!---the seller seems to never have thumbed through the copy to see that it was signed! As for the transfer: I've always found an extra layer of interest in the lively imperfection ---the slight flaws the age of the physical film acquires over time--- to be appealing. It's a kind of "mood" , the signature of the passing of time since a movie was viewed ithat I find to be quite appealing, the old "emotion of the emulsion",ie the ticks and little pops, the random, occasional visual specks, the slight hiss of the soundtrack etc adding to the LIFE , ./the living quality of the film itself creating its own presence. I imagine this is not a common preference, but I don't care as much for the complete wiping clean of all these things either necessary or desired. Of course, it comes down to degree. A little of the above goes a long way,, but, to me, a lifeless sterility takes over when a film is labored over in some obsessive way in the restoration process to remove every single perceived imperfection. Yes, this is probably an uncommon take on video releases, but...what can I say? I guess I'm just not a purist in that sense. Thanks again for covering this film, a long-time favorite.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Thank you!! I fully agree that the bookends are too goofy and don’t belong with the film. I really want to read the novel after seeing this and Weird Woman. I don’t mind print defects in a transfer if it’s not a restored master and like you admire the passage of time elements that can pop up. There’s a new transfer and release on the way so it will be really interesting to revisit this classic with a better modern scan.

[@Thievius333]

I'm torn because I adore Night Of The Demon and of course love a lot of Matheson's work as well, but I've seen Weird Woman and didn't care for it. But it would be silly to not give it a chance, especially since I've not heard of this film before. It somehow got past me. But I will definitely check it out. I immediately see the parallels between this professor's attitude towards the occult and Dana Andrew's character in NoTD. And like I said I adore NoTD. Heck, I have an 8mm print of the home version they used to sell in the 70s. (You know, those "Ken Films" 200 foot silent reels they used to sell. Except I believe that was a Columbia release. But I digress.)

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

You’ll love this film. Weird Woman is the 60m cliff notes version that still manages to be surprisingly good in spite of having most everything stripped out. It’s surprising how this film has slipped through the cracks. I knew the title but would read about the great reputation of a British film without realizing it was the same film under different titles. I guess because here it was AIP and not a Poe film or Corman title it got overlooked. It also had few video releases: the hard to find LD and an mgm mod dvd. Oh cool you have the NOTD digest print! They included it on Indicator’s release. Admittedly I’ve now watched that a few times and get a kick out of the silent subtitled super cutdown version.