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Schoolteacher Gwen Mayfield (Joan Fontaine) suffers a breakdown in Africa brought on by witchdoctors who wanted her out of the country. Having returned to England and recovered fully, she accepts the job of headmistress at a private church school in a remote village. Here she discovers that ancient voodoo rights are still being practiced, and that one of her pupils is to be sacrificed so that someone may have an after life.Hollywood actress Joan Fontaine had won an Oscar in 1940 for her appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion, which also starred Cary Grant but by this stage parts worthy of her talents were hard to come by. In the early sixties she brought the rights to a novel called The Devil's Own by Peter Curtis (the pseudonym for Nora Lofts) and suggested that Hammer should make it in the hope of re-establishing her career. However, the film turned out to be a box office disappointment and she made only a few TV movies thereafter. Fontaine is the sister of another veteran Hollywood actress Olivia De Haviland. Joan Fontaine had director approval for The Witches and she subsequently worked with Frankel on the stage. Frankel began his film career as a documentarist for the "Crown Film Unit" and had previously worked for Hammer on the critically acclaimed Never Take Sweets From A Stranger. During the sixties he was kept busy on TV working on a number of cult shows such as A Man In A Suitcase, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased and The Champions.The Witches comes across as being somewhat half-baked. The script by Nigel (Quatermass) Kneale fails to generate enough tension or horror to really get the juices going, and insufficient character development prevents Fontaine from getting the most out of her part but I must be fair and say that with what she does have to do she does extremely well. Kay Walsh (Nancy in David Lean's Oliver Twist) is excellent as the laid back journalist Stephanie Bax. The film is also let down by the risible voodoo sabbat climax, which provides more giggles than shudders but there is still a lot to enjoy here. Director Cyril Frankel directs the picture with skill and the appeal of dastardly deeds going on in the seemingly tranquil and remote English countryside comes off very well in the picture's favour. Frankel is greatly aided by veteran Hammer cameraman Arthur Grant whose lighting uses the picturesque locations to full effect.
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