NIGHT OF THE EAGLE

     

     

     

CAST:

PETER WYNGARDE - PROFESSOR NORMAN TAYLOR
JANET BLAIR - TANSY TAYLOR
MARGARET JOHNSON - FLORA CARR
COLIN GORDON - LINDSEY CARR
FRED MITCHELL - BILL JENNINGS
KATHLEEN BYRON - EVELYN SANTELLE

A young sociology associate professor Norman Taylor is proud to learn that he is up for the prestigious position of chair of the department. He is admired by both his students and the faculty, but his wife, Tansy, is suspicious of the faculty members and warns him repeatedly that the other professors show signs of jealousy of his fast rise in academic prominence. Norman doesn't believe his wife as there appears to be no evidence of his colleagues trying to stab in him the back. He becomes angry with his wife when he learns that she has been practising witchcraft to ward off evil in their own home. A non-believer of witchcraft and of black magic even though Norman specializes in this area of research, he has found dead spiders, locks of hair, and cemetary dirt strategically hidden in his house. He forces Tansy to destroy everything. But the nightmare has just begun. First he is accused of raping one of his students. Then a rebel male student corners him in his office with a gun. And then Tansy suffers a nervous breakdown and later leaves a suicide note behind. The neurotic professor chases down all the clues before the midnight hour, at which time Tansy will take her own life to save his. Norman rushes off to their cottage and performs a ritual that saves Tansy, but she still goes in and out of her trance and even tries to kill him with a huge kitchen knife back at the house. After putting Tansy back to bed, Norman returns to his office only to find his colleague, the seemingly sweet, but crippled Flora Carr looking through his desk. He watches her in the dark and then comes out to accuse her of putting Tansy under a spell. Flora denies everything but continues to arrange her Tarot cards to represent the Taylor home and Tansy and then lights them on fire. A fire erupts outside Tansy's bedroom. Flora then turns on an audio tape with an ear piercing screeching sound which brings a stone gargoyle eagle, perched on top of the university buildings, to life. It chases Norman all over the college! But before the eagle catches up with Norman, Flora's husband, Lindsey, arrives and interrupts the curse by shutting off the tape. Norman is saved, rushes home and fortunately finds his wife is saved by the local fire department. Lindsey has arrived to announce to Flora that Norman has been appointed as the new faculty chair. As he walks ahead of Flora, the stone eagle falls and lands on the evil witch and crushes her to death. The story ends with Norman thinking that Tansy has finally gotten rid of all witchcraft and they can now lead a normal life, but from then the camera zooms in on Tansy at the end as viewers see that she still holds on to a lucky charm behind his back ...

Shot in black and white, NIGHT OF THE EAGLE, is strong on atmosphere with a gripping build up of tension and suspense. Alternately titled BURN WITCH BURN in the U.S.A. this 90 minute film was re-released on video in 1993 in wide screen edition, with a three minute introduction written by Paul Frees and narrated by Orson Welles. Taken from the Fritz Leiber novel CONJURE WIFE, with manuscripts for the screen written by Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, the cast is led by British actor Peter Wyngarde, well known on the stage with Vivien Leigh in Broadway's "Duel Of Angels" as the stuffy professor, and by Janet Blair whose starring role as Tansy Taylor was the first for the comedic actress, singer, and dancer. A strong supporting cast include Margaret Johnson as the creepy black witch who sets up a supernatural scheme to further her own career at the expense of the Taylors.

NIGHT OF THE EAGLE is available on laserdisc and on video, in both PAL and NTSC formats.

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