"Eye of the Devil" to Air on TCM

[Philippe Cordier]

The subtly crafted, atmospheric "Eye of the Devil" with Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Donald Pleasance, and Sharon Tate will air again on TCM on Saturday, DECEMBER 13.

Check your listings for time.  TCM also shows that it will be airing (at the same time) the behind-the-scenes feature on the making of the film, showcasing Sharon Tate.

I was thrilled to discover this movie on my own, never having heard of it previously, which I prefer to both "The Haunting" and "The Wicker Man."

Interestingly, it was only after looking up information on the movie that I discovered that the director, J. Lee Thompson, also directed one of my other very favorite movies, the hard-to-find "Return from the Ashes."  And he directed them back-to-back.

Sadly, neither of these rather edgy films is available on VHS or DVD.

[Philippe Cordier]

I forgot to mention that "Eye of the Devil" is also noteworthy for the appearance of Welsh actor and playwright Emlyn Williams in a small but important role.

[Darren Gross]

They usually show it letterboxed (1.85 or 1.66) from a nice pristine print source so you should be in for a treat.

[Gothick]

This is a wonderfully crafted film, which deserves to be more widely known.  I thought David Hemmings and Sharon Tate had great onscreen chem in it, too.  It's a sharp, subtle telling of one of the oldest stories on Earth.

Thanks for posting this notice, Vlad.

Steve

[Philippe Cordier]

Though I haven't quite finished the novel on which "Eye of the Devil" is based,  I'd have to say the movie is far better than the book -- a rarity indeed.  The author, Philip Lorraine, is a pseudonym for Robin Estridge, who co-wrote the script ... not sure who was responsible for the improvements between book and film.  The novel's  basic story is good, it's just that the writing is atrocious.

One change made from the book to the movie is the name of the estate.  In the movie it's referred to as "Bellenac" ... The "belle-" part sounding very French.  In the book, however, it's called "Bellac," which sounded strange after seeing the movie, so I figured it was made up and then changed/improved for the movie.  Then a couple weeks ago while paging through a historical atlas of France looking for my great-grandfather's home town, my eye was caught by the town of Bellac -- it is an actual place, a small town in the Limousin region.  As far as I can tell, Bellac does not have a chateau as in "Eye of the Devil," although there are several in the region.  The movie was filmed in the Dordogne department of neighboring Aquitaine.  The chateau where the movie was filmed was designed in the 17th century by Nicolas Rambourg, an architect from Lorraine, upon the ruins of a medieval fortress, which in turn was once a Roman fort.  I have been able to discover that an annual festival for the entire village was held at this chateau in the 19th century, and perhaps author Estridge based his account on this.  I don't know if the area really had a history of heresy, but it's not too far from the Languedoc - Roussillon region where Catharism was centered.

Emlyn Williams whom I referred to wrote the plays "Night Must Fall" and "The Corn is Green."


Darren Gross wrote:

They usually show it letterboxed (1.85 or 1.66) from a nice pristine print source so you should be in for a treat.

Unfortunately TCM doesn't have the best reception on my cable service -- every home shopping network, etc. -- perfect, crystal clear.  A channel that airs priceless films you'd like to record for posterity -- faint wavy lines.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

every home shopping network, etc. -- perfect, crystal clear.  A channel that airs priceless films you'd like to record for posterity -- faint wavy lines.

Well, which is more important to be seen in perfect clarity -  a classic film or the latest cubic zirconia? The choice is clearly the latter. 

IB