Lisbeth Movin as the Witch’s Daughter in Day of Wrath
In honor of Halloween, I decided to list my favorite movies involving witches, plus one with a warlock. Bear in mind that, for the most part, I don’t care as much for recent films; so a number of recent titles which you might include are not represented here. The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
- Bell, Book and Candle (1958). Kim Novak as the witch. Directed by Richard Quine.
- Black Sunday (1960). Barbara Steele as the witch. Directed by Mario Bava. Gorgeous B/W photography.
- Curse of the Demon (1957). Released in England as Night of the Demon. Niall MacGinnis as the warlock. Directed by Jacques Tourneur. A truly terrifying film based on the short story “The Casting of the Runes.”
- Day of Wrath (1943). The lovely Lisbeth Movin as the witch’s daughter. Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer in Denmark. By far the best film on this list.
- The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), also known as All That Money Can Buy. The stunning Simone Simon as the witch. Directed by William Dieterle.
- Häxan (1922). Numerous witches. Directed by Benjamin Christensen in Denmark.
- I Married a Witch (1942). A comedy starring Veronica Lake as the witch. Directed by René Clair.
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968). I guess Ruth Gordon would be the witch. Directed by Roman Polanski.
- The Wicker Man (1973) with a whole island of witches and warlocks, led by Christopher Lee. Directed by Robin Hardy in England.
- The Wizard of Oz (1939). Margaret Hamilton and Billie Burke as the evil and good witch respectively. Directed by Victor Fleming and George Cukor.
I will try tomorrow to present my ten favorite vampire films.
