Reviews & Ratings for
Winter of the Witch (TV) More at IMDbPro »

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7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
I can't believe it!, 25 June 2005

Author: podonnell333 from California

I can't believe I found this movie! I have been thinking about it for years. We used to watch it on rainy days in elementary school (Grandview Elementary School, Manhattan Beach, California). The only people I knew who shared a memory of this movie were my old classmates but now I see we weren't the only ones that were left with indelible images from the "psychedelic pancake" movie. I didn't even know the original title until today. I really want a copy of it. I heard they have an old reel to reel copy of it in the archives of the Manhattan Beach library. My memories of the witch, the psychedelic dancing splotchy things, the pancakes, are so vivid. It was such a treat whenever it rained and the whole school got to see this movie. We never got tired of it. I am so stoked to know the memory of this awesome movie is alive through out the USA.

3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
I can't believe I found this!, 6 March 2005

Author: etb4470 from United States

For about the last 10 years I'd been having vague visual recollections of what I thought was a film I must have seen sometime between grades K-2 (circa 1975-1978) at Pinecrest Elementary School in East Lansing, Mich. It involved a kid named Nicholas who had some connection with a witch who made pancakes. I also kept picturing a three-chimneyed haunted house with pink and purple polka dots flying all over the place. Since nobody else who was in grade school at the same time seemed to have a similar recollection, I figured I was either hallucinating or simply a few fries short of a Happy Meal. So I finally googled the keywords "witch" and "pancake" and came across this book, "Old Black Witch," that featured a similar-sounding setting, with a kid named Nicky (and -- according to commentators on Amazon.com -- a racist subtext). So I punch the author's name into IMDb and I'll be damned, the film actually exists! I'm not delusional after all! I don't even remember if the flick was any good (it was certainly no "Paddle to the Sea" -- the other school-library classic from the period), but I'll give it a 10 just for the fact that it's not just a figment of my imagination.

I'd give it a 20 if I could actually get my hands on a VHS or DVD version.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Not as good as I remembered, but wacky, 8 September 2007

Author: cli1 from USA

For years this short film made me sound crazy, I'd ask people "hey, did you ever see that movie in school, with the kid and his mom who move in a a house that has a witch, and they eat pancakes that make people happy and see colors?" Nobody remembered it but me.

I finally located it and watched it. It was pretty amusing, but I guess its wackiness is what made it stick in my head.

I think the other thing that made it stick in my head was the imagery--I'm no expert on movies, but I guess the cinematography (?) was pretty good.

Don't overpay to see this again, but if you get the chance--enjoy.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
a grade school classic, 1 March 2006

Author: itsbarrie from Philadelphia

I had to laugh at the other comments that mention seeing this film in school -- Disston School in Philadelphia used to show it too, when they weren't running The Red Balloon (which I must have seen 10 times) or Paddle to the Sea (maybe 12 times, but better than The Red Balloon, for sure). All I remember from it was a witch and pancakes -- the acoustics in our auditorium weren't the greatest. They also would run Alan Arkin's film "People Soup," which was worlds more entertaining than any of the above. They also showed us "Brian's Song" once, but we girls cried so hard I don't think they wanted to risk it again.

You have to hand it to the filmmakers, though -- they must have done something right to make us remember it -- even if it was just the witch/pancake angle.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Pancakes make people happy., 23 February 2011

Author: scrtaznmn from United States

I've been looking for this movie for years! I saw it once when I was sick at home. It was on public television. We didn't have color TV, so my memory of this film is on a grainy black and white television. I never saw the end and it's been bugging me for 39 years! I was 5 years old at the time. Sometimes I would doubt if I ever saw it at all. I only remembered one thing that echoed through the decades "Pancakes make people happy." Ever since then, I have sought the perfect pancake to make me happy and at times have found them. Every time, I have a great pancake it touches that memory cell in my brain and invokes memories of the movie. Now I have a name to file with the thought - Winter of the Witch!

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
the winter of the witch/chocolate too similar for words...? i think not!, 17 June 2010

Author: benztoo

i remember the first time i thought of this film that many so fondly remember (incluing me)from their early elementary school years of the late 1960's through early 1970's... it was 2001 ish... when i was watching the movie... "chocolate." as i watched this film i thought to myself... this film is very much (in many respects) like that film i used to see in elementary school. the earlier film being a quite a bit more simplistic though. the pancakes made people happy... and the chocolate in the other film made people confront their fears. remember the witch even talked about fear in the first film... very similar. also the mom and boy move to the town and open the pancake parlor... they clean up the place. and in the later film the mom and her little girl move to a new town and clean up the shop and open the chocolate shop. yes... there are way too many similarities to be a coincidence... does anyone agree with me?

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
That wacky witch has haunted me for years!, 1 August 2009

Author: shelldian from United States

I remember Halloween, 2nd grade, sitting in our darkened classroom as we watched the "Winter of the Witch". All these years I never knew the title but thought it was very familiar because my mother had bought me the book, "Old Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon" and I had read the book so many times it eventually fell apart. I remember then, in 2nd grade, trying to explain to my friends afterward that the characters were familiar but the story was not quite right, and no one knew what I was talking about! Now, I realize that this movie was based on the original children's book, "Old Black Witch" by Wende and Harry Devlin who were also the authors of my old witch book which was a sort of sequel. Oh, I loved these books! Anyone interested in watching it again, it is available on google videos as well as youtube. I just watched it for the 2nd time in nearly 40 years, and it was such a treat!

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Captures it's time and place perfectly., 16 January 2002
Author: Richard Smith from Palos Verdes, CA

I saw this film when I was around eight or nine years old. The plot concerns a boy and his mother who move into an old house and find it haunted by a witch. But what happens next (as I recall) is that the three of them open up a restaurant and serve pancakes, which have an interesting effect on people because the witch adds a secret ingredient!

If you liked "Charly" for the way it captured the texture of the late 60's with it's visual style, you will enjoy this film for the same reason. It's a shame that people in search of old short films have so few options when it comes to finding them. So "Winter of the Witch" will remain an obscure and forgotten little gem of a short film, which is sad.

Yay!, 11 June 2009

Author: mswmel98 from United States

Wow, I've also been looking for this movie but could only remember the magic pancakes... Incredible to watch it now after all these years. It certainly did come flooding back. I just put the youtube link on facebook to see if any of my elementary school friends from Andrew T. Morrow Elementary, Central Islip, NY remember watching this movie every time it rained. It'll be fun to see who else remembers this movie. I also remember a movie about a giraffe's with a hat who drove her car to her house... guess that one will take longer to find. Can't wait to start the search. Nice trip down Memory Lane! Blasted me back to the 1970s.

I really did see it too!, 28 April 2009

Author: spw05051967 from United States

Wow, for years i wasn't sure if it was a dream or not, Chestnut Grove Elementary, New City, NY 1973, the school no longer exists. Why did we all see this movie in elementary school in the 70's? Anyway Im glad it really happened and so many others had the same experience. It definitely takes me back to an innocent more simple time in my life Id love to watch this movie with my kids just to see what they think. We are all members of some weird extended family. Another movie I remember was the one with all the lemmings charging off a cliff to their death and then finding out years later that it was all staged and the lemmings where actually paid to fake suicide.

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