BURN, WITCH, BURN / THE DEVIL-DOLL / CONJURE WIFE / WEIRD WOMAN / NIGHT OF THE EAGLE / DEVIL DOLL (Film Commentary by Evelyn C Leeper)
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Philip De Parto
Jul 18, 2025, 9:50:14 AMJul 18
to SFABC (nj) Movie Group
The following commentary has been reprinted with permission from:
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 17 (film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Two more neglected films, which I will comment on jointly.
In 1932 A. E. Merritt wrote a novel titled BURN WITCH BURN.
In 1936 it was made into a movie, THE DEVIL-DOLL.
In 1943 Fritz Leiber wrote a novel called CONJURE WIFE about women
using witchcraft.
In 1944 it was made into a movie, WEIRD WOMAN.
In 1963 it was remade as NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (UK title), also known
as BURN, WITCH, BURN (US title), also known (later) as CONJURE
WIFE. A two-minute introduction/warning was added to the American
version. This film has nothing to do with the novel BURN WITCH
BURN.
In 1964, Lindsay Shonteff made a movie titled DEVIL DOLL. It has
nothing to do with the film THE DEVIL-DOLL.
In 1980 BURN, WITH, BURN was remade again as WITCHES' BREW (also
known as WHICH WITCH IS WHICH?).
So to recap, there is a book titled BURN WITCH BURN and a film
titled BURN, WITCH, BURN, They have nothing to do with each other.
There is a movie titled THE DEVIL-DOLL and a movie titled DEVIL
DOLL. They have nothing to do with each other.
There is a book titled CONJURE WIFE which has been made into three
different movies with five different titles.
This may explain why NIGHT OF THE EAGLE / BURN, WITCH, BURN /
CONJURE WIFE, and DEVIL DOLL are on Mark's list of neglected gems:
people can't figure out how to find them.
NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (1963) is based on the premise that
women--pretty much all women in the film--use witchcraft to
protect their families and promote their husbands' careers. (It's
a bit inconsistent in this. Tansy seems to come to witchcraft
only after a trip to the Caribbean, where she saw an example of
how it worked. Yet the other practitioners in the film haven't
traveled to somewhere where witchcraft is more common, so how did
they come by it?)
The classroom scene reminded me of the classroom scene in RAIDERS
OF THE LOST ARK, where one student has written a message to Jones
on her eyelids. I wonder if Spielberg was inspired by this film.
Released theatrically 25 April 1962.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056279/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burn_witch_burn>
WEIRD WOMAN is not on Mark's list, probably because it is not very
good. It was part of the "Inner Sanctum" series, and most
definitely a "B" picture. The "islands" here where the
voodoo-like ceremonies and superstitions come from are not in the
Caribbean, but in the South Seas, and the writer (or director)
padded out the film with a long South Seas dance sequence. At
least Paula's belief in witchcraft is based on being raised in
that culture after her anthropologist father died, rather than
being converted in a single night.
Released theatrically 1 March 1944.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037453/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/weird-woman>
DEVIL DOLL (1964) is your basic "evil ventriloquist's doll" story.
There is something about it that makes it a classic. Most people
think of the segment of DEAD OF NIGHT (1948) as the first
instance, but twenty years before that was THE GREAT GABBO (1929),
starring Erich Von Stroheim. I would say there couldn't be
anything much earlier, because one couldn't have a silent film
about a ventriloquist, but Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were
a big hit on the radio, so who knows? Of course, in a movie there
is no skill involved either, just recording a second track and
overlaying it. Of course, in THE GREAT GABBO the doll is not
possessed in any form, just as aspect of Gabbo's psychological
state.
SPOILER: It is interesting that in both these "film groups", the
earlier film has no supernatural elements (even though it may
appear to at first), while the later one does have the
supernatural. Certainly there had bene supernatural films in the
silent era, so I am not sure what this indicates.
(THE GREAT GABBO is also a great example of a pre-Code film, with
a lot more flesh shown among the showgirls--did I mention it was a
musical?--than would be possible under the Production Code.)
Other well-known movies and television shows featuring a
supernatural ventriloquist's doll include two "Twilight Zone"
episodes ("The Dummy" and "Caesar and Me"), and the film MAGIC
(1978).
Released theatrically September 1964.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058007/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1005762-devil_doll>
[-ecl]
THE MT VOID
07/18/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 3, Whole Number 2389
07/18/25 -- Vol. 44, No. 3, Whole Number 2389
= = = = = = = = = =
TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 17 (film comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Two more neglected films, which I will comment on jointly.
In 1932 A. E. Merritt wrote a novel titled BURN WITCH BURN.
In 1936 it was made into a movie, THE DEVIL-DOLL.
In 1943 Fritz Leiber wrote a novel called CONJURE WIFE about women
using witchcraft.
In 1944 it was made into a movie, WEIRD WOMAN.
In 1963 it was remade as NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (UK title), also known
as BURN, WITCH, BURN (US title), also known (later) as CONJURE
WIFE. A two-minute introduction/warning was added to the American
version. This film has nothing to do with the novel BURN WITCH
BURN.
In 1964, Lindsay Shonteff made a movie titled DEVIL DOLL. It has
nothing to do with the film THE DEVIL-DOLL.
In 1980 BURN, WITH, BURN was remade again as WITCHES' BREW (also
known as WHICH WITCH IS WHICH?).
So to recap, there is a book titled BURN WITCH BURN and a film
titled BURN, WITCH, BURN, They have nothing to do with each other.
There is a movie titled THE DEVIL-DOLL and a movie titled DEVIL
DOLL. They have nothing to do with each other.
There is a book titled CONJURE WIFE which has been made into three
different movies with five different titles.
This may explain why NIGHT OF THE EAGLE / BURN, WITCH, BURN /
CONJURE WIFE, and DEVIL DOLL are on Mark's list of neglected gems:
people can't figure out how to find them.
NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (1963) is based on the premise that
women--pretty much all women in the film--use witchcraft to
protect their families and promote their husbands' careers. (It's
a bit inconsistent in this. Tansy seems to come to witchcraft
only after a trip to the Caribbean, where she saw an example of
how it worked. Yet the other practitioners in the film haven't
traveled to somewhere where witchcraft is more common, so how did
they come by it?)
The classroom scene reminded me of the classroom scene in RAIDERS
OF THE LOST ARK, where one student has written a message to Jones
on her eyelids. I wonder if Spielberg was inspired by this film.
Released theatrically 25 April 1962.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056279/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burn_witch_burn>
WEIRD WOMAN is not on Mark's list, probably because it is not very
good. It was part of the "Inner Sanctum" series, and most
definitely a "B" picture. The "islands" here where the
voodoo-like ceremonies and superstitions come from are not in the
Caribbean, but in the South Seas, and the writer (or director)
padded out the film with a long South Seas dance sequence. At
least Paula's belief in witchcraft is based on being raised in
that culture after her anthropologist father died, rather than
being converted in a single night.
Released theatrically 1 March 1944.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037453/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/weird-woman>
DEVIL DOLL (1964) is your basic "evil ventriloquist's doll" story.
There is something about it that makes it a classic. Most people
think of the segment of DEAD OF NIGHT (1948) as the first
instance, but twenty years before that was THE GREAT GABBO (1929),
starring Erich Von Stroheim. I would say there couldn't be
anything much earlier, because one couldn't have a silent film
about a ventriloquist, but Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy were
a big hit on the radio, so who knows? Of course, in a movie there
is no skill involved either, just recording a second track and
overlaying it. Of course, in THE GREAT GABBO the doll is not
possessed in any form, just as aspect of Gabbo's psychological
state.
SPOILER: It is interesting that in both these "film groups", the
earlier film has no supernatural elements (even though it may
appear to at first), while the later one does have the
supernatural. Certainly there had bene supernatural films in the
silent era, so I am not sure what this indicates.
(THE GREAT GABBO is also a great example of a pre-Code film, with
a lot more flesh shown among the showgirls--did I mention it was a
musical?--than would be possible under the Production Code.)
Other well-known movies and television shows featuring a
supernatural ventriloquist's doll include two "Twilight Zone"
episodes ("The Dummy" and "Caesar and Me"), and the film MAGIC
(1978).
Released theatrically September 1964.
Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058007/reference>
What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1005762-devil_doll>
[-ecl]
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