The Devil's Own

Name: The Witches
Genre: Horror
Released: 1966-12-09
Duration: 1 h 30 min
Rating: 5.8
Cast: Joan Fontaine, Kay Walsh, Alec McCowen

Original title: The Witches

19661966
Not RatedNot Rated
1h 30m

Following a horrifying experience with the occult in Africa, a schoolteacher moves to a small English village, only to discover that black magic resides there as well.Following a horrifying experience with the occult in Africa, a schoolteacher moves to a small English village, only to discover that black magic resides there as well.Following a horrifying experience with the occult in Africa, a schoolteacher moves to a small English village, only to discover that black magic resides there as well.

5.8/10

2.8K

Director
- Cyril Frankel
Writers
- Nigel Kneale(screenplay)
- Norah Lofts(novel "The Devil's Own")
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:14

The Witches (1967)

Joan Fontaine, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Duncan Lamont, and Bryan Marshall in The Witches (1966)

Ingrid Boulting, Michele Dotrice, and Kay Walsh in The Witches (1966)

Michele Dotrice and Kay Walsh in The Witches (1966)

Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Boulting, Duncan Lamont, Bryan Marshall, and Kay Walsh in The Witches (1966)

Joan Fontaine and Anthony Nelson Keys in The Witches (1966)

Director
- Cyril Frankel
Writers
- Nigel Kneale(screenplay)
- Norah Lofts(novel "The Devil's Own")
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

An English school missionary assigned in an African village has a run in with the local witch doctor and suffers a nervous breakdown. After recovering back in England she takes a job teaching in a small country town hoping to make a new start for herself. All goes well at first, until she starts to hear some disturbing stories about the town. She soon discovers the town is home to a coven of witches and they plan to sacrifice a local girl in one of their rituals. —Kevin Steinhauer <K.Steinhauer@BoM.GOV.AU>

lesbian subtext psychotronic film england female protagonist virgin sacrifice 16 more

Taglines
- WHAT DO "THE DEVIL'S OWN" DO AFTER DARK?
Genre
- Horror
Certificate
- Not Rated
Parents guide

Trivia
In a later magazine interview, Nigel Kneale said that he was dissatisfied with the way the film had turned out. Personally, he found modern black magic practitioners to be fairly risible and he had intended to poke fun at the idea of an English coven. His blackly comic touches were removed by the production team, who wanted the film to be entirely serious. Conceding the film to be well-cast, he felt the ending lacked the necessary menace needed to avoid the unintentional-but-inherent silliness of the situation.

Goofs
All entries contain spoilers

Quotes
Gwen Mayfield: Look at this! Stuck full of pins and it's head missing. What do you think it could possible be?
Stephanie Bax: Witchcraft? Somebody having a little dabble? Yes, I would think so. Or did you think I was going to say, no no no, it can't happen here? I bet there are lots of remote spots where remnants of witchcraft are still practiced. Places like Heddaby, in fact. I've often wondered.
Gwen Mayfield: Well, what are we going to do?
Stephanie Bax: Do? Ah.
Gwen Mayfield: Well, I'd like to start by removing those pins.
Stephanie Bax: Yes, we could- Oh, no! Emphatically not! Do you see why? Well, that would mean admitting belief in it all, for ourselves I mean.
Gwen Mayfield: Oh, I see!
Stephanie Bax: I did some articles on witches once. No, not witches, damn them, people who thought they were witches. The psychology of it. It's a sex thing deep down, of course, mostly women go in for it, older women.
Gwen Mayfield: Like, um, Mrs. Rigg, for instance?
Stephanie Bax: Yes. They relish the idea of a secret power, especially when their normal powers are failing. Now, they may believe in it, the point is, do we? What are we giving into if we admit the possibility that a healthy young kid can be put in hospital by mere ill will? That's where it gets fascinating.
Gwen Mayfield: I see, what we admit we believe and what we believe I suppose, could destroy us.
Stephanie Bax: Beautifully put.

Connections
Featured in The World of Hammer: Wicked Women (1994)

Top review

5/10

For Joan Fontaine Or Hammer Completists Only

"The Witches" is a different type of Hammer picture. There are no vampires, zombies, monsters or crumbling Carpathian villages to be found, and the story takes place in as charming and sunny an English village as one could ever hope to find. In this tale, Joan Fontaine (pushing 50 here but still very beautiful) is convalescing from a nervous breakdown that she suffered after her teaching stint in the African voodoo country. She comes to the aforementioned quaint English town to begin her new job as headmistress in a small private school, and soon becomes embroiled in that town's witchcraft, devil practices, and the attempted sacrifice of one of her girl students. Unfortunately, what sounds smashing in synopsis turns out to be a rather slow-moving film, and not at all scary or suspenseful. What should have been the most exciting section of the picture--the coven/sacrifice at the end--is just ridiculous, with a bunch of old-timers flouncing around and flailing like so many epileptic jackasses, and with a silly-looking head priestess with a multicandled headpiece. Still, the picture DOES have its small merits. Fontaine, here in one of her last film roles, is well cast and acts impeccably, and the beautiful shots of the English countryside will surely make you want to pack up and move. Still, I didn't care for this Hammer outing as much as I had hoped, and still don't understand what happened to Kay Walsh's character at the end, or why the presence of Fontaine's teacher was necessary. Bottom line: This picture is for Joan Fontaine or Hammer Films completists only. Others would be well advised to watch "Rebecca" or "Horror Hotel" for the 10th time and call it a night.

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