The Witches (1966 film)

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Title card from The Witches (1966)
Title card from The Witches (1966)

The Witches (US: The Devil's Own) is a 1966 British horror film made by Hammer Films. It was adapted by Nigel Kneale from the novel The Devil's Own by Norah Lofts, under the pseudonym Peter Curtis. It was directed by Cyril Frankel and starred Joan Fontaine, Alec McCowen, Kay Walsh, Ann Bell, Ingrid Boulting and Gwen Ffrangcon Davies.

[edit] Plot

A schoolteacher (Fontaine) has a nervous breakdown after being exposed to witchcraft while teaching as a missionary in Africa.

Kay Walsh and Joan Fontaine in The Witches
Kay Walsh and Joan Fontaine in The Witches

On her return to England, she is hired by a wealthy brother and sister (McCowan and Walsh) to become head teacher of their small private school in a rural village. There she becomes suspicious of the way the villagers are treating a 14-year-old girl (Boulting); her investigations point to witchcraft.

[edit] Production

The town of Hambledon in Hampshire was the filming location for the fictional village of Heddaby. Interiors were filmed at Hammer's usual studio at Bray in the same year the famous horror film company vacated their home altogether for (mainly) Elstree and Pinewood.

The cast featured child-actor Martin Stephens, then 18, better-known for playing Miles in the 1961 British horror The Innocents. The supporting cast also included Hammer regular Duncan Lamont, as well as John Collin, Michele Dotrice, Leonard Rossiter and Bryan Marshall.

The score was by Richard Rodney Bennett.

[edit] External links


Hammer gothic horror films
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) | The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960) | The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) | The Phantom of the Opera (1962) | The Kiss of the Vampire (1962) | The Devil-Ship Pirates (1963) | The Gorgon (1964) | Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966) | The Plague of the Zombies (1966) | The Reptile (1966) | The Witches (1966) | The Devil Rides Out (1967) | Hands of the Ripper (1971) | Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971) | Countess Dracula (1971) | Vampire Circus (1972) | To the Devil a Daughter (1976)