Night of the Eagle (1962)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production:
Running Times: 87 mins
Format: black and white     35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Independent Artists
Executive Producers: Julian Wintle, Leslie Parkyn
Producer: Albert Fennell
Production Manager: Geoffrey Haine
Production Supervisor: Arthur Alcott

SCRIPT
Script: Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, George Baxt (uncredited on some prints)
Novel: Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber

DIRECTION
Director: Sidney Hayers
Assistant Director: David Bracknell

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Reginald Wyer
Camera Operator: Gerry Turpin

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Ralph Sheldon

MUSIC
Music: William Alwyn
Conductor: Muir Mathieson

SOUND
Sound (?): John W. Mitchell, Ken Cameron
Sound Recording: Eric Bayman, Len Shilton
Sound Editors: Alastair McIntyre, Ted Mason

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Basil Newall
Hair: Iris Tilley
Dress Designer: Sophie Devine
Wardrobe: Maude Churchill

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Jack Shampan
Set Dresser: Peter Lamont

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Jane Buck

CAST
Janet Blair (Tansy Taylor)
Peter Wyngarde (Noman Taylor)
Margaret Johnston (Flora Carr)
Anthony Nicholls (Harvey Sawtelle)
Colin Gordon (Professor Lindsay Carr)
Kathleen Byron (Evelyn Sawtelle)
Reginald Beckwith (Harold Gunnison)
Jessica Dunning (Hilda Gunnison)
Norman Bird (doctor)
Judith Stott (Margaret Abbott)
Bill Mitchell (Fred Jennings)
George Roubicek (cleaner - uncredited)
Frank Singuineau (truck driver - uncredited)
Gary Woolf (truck driver's mate - uncredited)
Paul Frees (narrator)

Norman Taylor is a psychology professor whose wife Tansy has become involved with the supernatural. Another faculty wife, Flora, driven by jealousy, has taken up with a satanic sect and is directing dark forces against Taylor, most memorably in a sequence involving the statue of an eagle brought to life. But will Taylor's natural skepticism blind him to the truth and endanger his life?

With its excellent performances and some impressive low budget production values, Night of the Eagle is - amazingly and against all the odds - a surprising success from the usually inept Hayers who displays an ability to generate and sustain atmosphere (witness the remarkably spooky cemetery scene) that he never showed or even hinted at again. The film is patently inspired by Tourneur's masterly Night of the Demon (1957) - even down to a similar title - though it's nowhere near as impressive. Still, it's nothing short of miraculous given Hayer's previous dismal track record.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: American International Pictures

Finland
Rating: K-16

UK
Rating: 15

1962
April
25: USA - theatrical release

July
27: Finland - theatrical release

1963
November
29: West Germany - theatrical release

Do the undead demons of hell still arise to terrorize the world?

Burn, Witch, Burn
Conjure Wife

REMAKE OF
Weird Woman (1944)

REMAKE
Witches' Brew (1980)

SEE ALSO
Matinee (1993)

MAGAZINES

Cinefantastique June 1996 pp.52, 61
review

BOOKS

Hoffman's Guide to Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.261
credits, review

Shock Xpress 2 p.96
review

black magic; witchcraft; witches; academics; the occult; the supernatural

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009