Flora Carr
A familiar trope in horror movies and books is the “modern” person—educated, often a scientist—confronted with evidence of the supernatural that upsets everything he or she knows about the world. Frequently, a paranoia angle is developed as a possible explanation for the weird occurrences. It’s all in their heads! It’s also all a bit of a cliché by now.
One of the earliest and best tales of this kind is Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife (1943), which first appeared in Unknown Worlds magazine and which Leiber later expanded to novel form. Leiber’s story was the basis of the movies Weird Woman (1944), an “Inner Sanctum” mystery; Witches’ Brew (1980), a comedy, and just terrible; and Night of the Eagle, aka Burn, Witch, Burn (1962), the nearest to the source and quite effective, if uneven.
In Leiber’s book, Norman Saylor, an up-and-coming sociology professor at a small college, discovers that his wife, Tansy, has been using witchcraft to protect him from the hostile magic of rival professors’ wives. Dismayed by Tansy’s apparent credulousness, Norman insists she destroy her talismans and charms, whereupon things start to go seriously wrong for the Saylors.
The hypocrisy and petty back-biting on display in the book and the 1962 film will strike a chord in anyone familiar with academia, an environment in ways disconnected from the “real world” and thus well suited to skeptical Norman’s life-and-death struggle with the unbelievable. Where the movie comes up short is the scattershot transformation of key plot points from the novel into baffling gimmicks. In the end, much of what happens in the movie doesn’t add up, though above-average acting from the leads makes it easy to overlook these shortcomings. Janet Blair in particular makes a very sympathetic Tansy. And Margaret Johnston walks away with her scenes as limping, smirking Flora Carr.
My used copy of Conjure Wife came with this inscription:
I know it can be hard to think of something to write in these instances, but if I were on the receiving end of this tribute, I might be reaching for a voodoo doll.
One of the earliest and best tales of this kind is Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife (1943), which first appeared in Unknown Worlds magazine and which Leiber later expanded to novel form. Leiber’s story was the basis of the movies Weird Woman (1944), an “Inner Sanctum” mystery; Witches’ Brew (1980), a comedy, and just terrible; and Night of the Eagle, aka Burn, Witch, Burn (1962), the nearest to the source and quite effective, if uneven.
In Leiber’s book, Norman Saylor, an up-and-coming sociology professor at a small college, discovers that his wife, Tansy, has been using witchcraft to protect him from the hostile magic of rival professors’ wives. Dismayed by Tansy’s apparent credulousness, Norman insists she destroy her talismans and charms, whereupon things start to go seriously wrong for the Saylors.
The hypocrisy and petty back-biting on display in the book and the 1962 film will strike a chord in anyone familiar with academia, an environment in ways disconnected from the “real world” and thus well suited to skeptical Norman’s life-and-death struggle with the unbelievable. Where the movie comes up short is the scattershot transformation of key plot points from the novel into baffling gimmicks. In the end, much of what happens in the movie doesn’t add up, though above-average acting from the leads makes it easy to overlook these shortcomings. Janet Blair in particular makes a very sympathetic Tansy. And Margaret Johnston walks away with her scenes as limping, smirking Flora Carr.
 |
| “No, saying I look like ‘a young Ethel Mertz’ is not a compliment.” |
My used copy of Conjure Wife came with this inscription:
Comments
Post a Comment