THE WITCHES

THE WITCHES [1990] [Warner Archive Collection] [1990 / 2019] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] From the Imagination of Roald Dahl and Jim Henson!

From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Wizard of Oz, many classic tales through the centuries wouldn’t be half as exciting without the devious doings of a witch. Now add another to the venerable tradition of stories that deliver family fun every witch way, a collaboration combining the effects wizardry of executive producer Jim Henson and the imagination of Willy Wonka creator Roald Dahl. Academy Award® winner Anjelica Huston won the Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics Best Actress awards for her marvellous work as the Grand High Witch in this enchanting fable directed by Nicolas Roeg. Jasen Fisher plays Luke Eveshim, the 9-year-old boy who must foil the plans of a society of Witches to turn the world's children into mice. It won't be easy: They've already transformed him into one! But some big, bad witches may be no match for the resourcefulness of a single tiny rodent.

FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1990 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Win: LAFCA Award: Best Actress for Anjelica Huston. 1991 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Nomination: Saturn Award: Best Actress for Anjelica Huston. Nomination: Saturn Award: Best Supporting Actress for Mai Zetterling. Nomination: Saturn Award: Best Performance by a Younger Actor for Jasen Fisher. Nomination: Saturn Award: Best Music for Stanley Myers. Nomination: Saturn Award: Best Make-Up for John Stephenson. 1991 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Win: BSFC Award: Best Actress for Anjelica Huston. 1991 BAFTA Awards: Nomination: BAFTA Film Award: Best Make-up Artist for Christine Beveridge. 1991 Fantasporto: Nomination: International Fantasy Film Award: Best Film for Nicolas Roeg. 1991 Hugo Awards: Hugo: Nomination: Best Dramatic Presentation for Nicolas Roeg [Director], Allan Scott [Screenplay] and Roald Dahl [Based on the book]. 1991 National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA: Win: NSFC Award: Best Actress for Anjelica Huston.

FILM FACT No.2: ‘THE WITCHES’ was the last film project executive producer Jim Henson worked on before his death, with Jim Henson Productions co-producing the film and Jim Henson's Creature Shop designing and building the prosthetics for the witches and animatronic rats and mice that were used interchangeably with real mice. ‘THE WITCHES’ was adapted from the children's book of the same title by British author Roald Dahl. It was the final film that Jim Henson personally worked on before his death, the final theatrical film produced by Lorimar Productions, and the last film made based on Roald Dahl's material before his death and in fact Roald Dahl and Jim Henson both died in 1990. The following people did special puppeteer work in this film: Anthony Asbury, Don Austen (Bruno's mouse form), Sue Dacre, David Greenaway, Brian Henson, Robert Tygner, and Steve Whitmire (Luke's mouse form). The early portion of the film was shot in Bergen, Norway. Much of the rest was shot on location in England including Cookham, Berkshire and at the Headland Hotel situated on the coast in Newquay, Cornwall. During the shoot, Rowan Atkinson caused a Mr. Bean style calamity when he left the bath taps running in his room and the frantically knocking porter was told “go away, I'm asleep,” The flood wrote off much of the production team's electrical equipment on the floor below. At the time, Anjelica Huston was dating Jack Nicholson, who frequently phoned the hotel and sent huge bouquets, much to the excitement of the staff. Director Nicolas Roeg later cut scenes he thought would be too scary for children after seeing his young son's reaction to the original cut. The elaborate makeup effects for Huston's Grand High Witch took six hours to apply, and another six to remove. The prosthetics included a full face mask, hump, mechanized claws, and a withered collarbone. Anjelica Huston described a monologue scene she had to do where “I was so uncomfortable and tired of being encased in rubber under hot lights for hours that the lines had ceased to make sense to me and all I wanted to do was cry.” Roald Dahl was incensed that Henson had changed his original ending in the script. As a gesture of conciliation, Henson offered to film two versions before he made his final choice: the book version where Luke remains a mouse and the “happier” version where he is transformed back into a human. During the editing process, Roald Dahl watched an early cut of the film with his original ending, and the final scene brought him to tears. However, Jim Henson and Nicolas Roeg decided to go with the “happier” ending, which resulted in Roald Dahl stating that he would launch a publicity campaign against the film if his name was not removed from the credits. He was only dissuaded from this on the urging of Jim Henson.

Cast: Anjelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Jasen Fisher, Rowan Atkinson, Bill Paterson, Brenda Blethyn, Charlie Potter, Anne Lambton, Jane Horrocks, Sukie Smith, Rose English, Jenny Runacre, Annabel Brooks, Emma Relph, Nora Connolly, Angelique Rockas, Anne Tirard, Leila Hoffman, Jim Carter, Roberta Taylor, Brian Hawksley, Debra Gillett, Darcy Flynn, Vincent Marzello, Serena Harragin, Grete Nordrå, Elsie Eide, Kristin Steinsland, Merete Armand, Ola Otnes, Johan Sverre, Arvid Ones, Sverre Røssummoen, Roy Beck (uncredited), Gary Dean (uncredited), Barbara Hicks (uncredited), Toby Hinson (uncredited), George Holden (uncredited), Wendy Lowder (uncredited), Michael Palin (uncredited), Sandy Shelton (uncredited), Stella Tanner (uncredited), John Triplett (uncredited), Krister Wiberg (uncredited) and Fred Wood (uncredited)

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Producers: Dusty Symonds, Jim Henson and Mark Shivas

Screenplay: Allan Scott (screenplay) and Roald Dahl (based on the book)  

Composer: Stanley Myers

Make-up and Hair Department: Christine Beveridge (Key Make-up Artist), Lindsay MacGowan (Sculptor and Prosthetic Make-up Artist), Nigel Booth (Prosthetic Make-up Artist), Sally Harrison (Assistant Make-up Artist), Sally Sutton (Assistant Make-up Artist), Stephen Norrington (Make-up for the Grand High Witch) and Tricia Cameron (Hair stylist)

Costume Design: Marit Allen

Cinematography: Harvey Harrison, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)

Special Effects: Alexander Gunn (Special effects technician) (uncredited), Chris Barton (Mechanical designer), David Barrington-Holt (Mechanical designer), Jim Sandys (Senior animatronic model designer) (uncredited), John Stephenson (Animatronics designer), Mike Osborn (Foam lab supervisor), Neal Scanlan (Mechanical designer), Simon Hewitt (Special effects technician) (uncredited), Verner Gresty (Mechanical designer) and William Plant (Animatronics coordinator)

Visual Effects: Costas Charitou (Titles and opticals: Image to Image) (uncredited), Jonathan Taylor (Visual effects: first assistant camera, second unit), Michael McDermott (Ggaffer: model unit) (uncredited), Paul Wilson (Director of photography: model unit) and Zoe Cain     (Optical effects technician: OFE) (uncredited)

Image Resolution: 1080p (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo

Subtitles: English

Running Time: 91 minutes

Region: Region Free

Number of discs: 1

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures / Warner Archive Collection

Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE WITCHES’ [1990] is the rarest thing you'll ever see: a black comedy for children. Adults just assume that young children don't have the level of wit and sophistication to appreciate sly and sarcastic humour, but here that theory is challenged with a vengeance and this film proves itself to be a wickedly entertaining, knowingly cruel pantomime.

The film opens with Grandmother Helga Eveshim [Mai Zetterling] who lives in Norway and is something of a witch expert telling her Grandson Luke [Jasen Fisher] a story about a young girl she once knew who was kidnapped by a witch and put her into a painting for the rest of her life. The witches all wear wigs because they are bald, have no toes, and believe that clean children smell like dog droppings.

Grandmother Helga Eveshim looks after Luke Eveshim for the night while his parents are out, but they wake in the morning to police at the door who tells them the parents have died in a crash. The pair mourns and packs to move back to England, where Helga Eveshim is from. They go to stay in a room in a hotel by the sea after Helga Eveshim is diagnosed with mild diabetes by a doctor and must not any food with sugar in it or smoke her cigars, which of course she ignores.

Whilst there, Luke Eveshim uncovers the fact that the RSPCC [The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children] meeting in the hotel is actually a front for The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. Luke Eveshim is captured by the witches and make him metamorphosed into a mouse, and of course is able to still comes up with a plot to wipe out the witches and of course you will have to find out how Luke Eveshim is able to put his cunning plan into operation, and especially the Grand High Witch and talk about the witches finally getting their justified comeuppance and is a great end to the film. On the plus side, of course the manager of the hotel is comedian Rowan Atkinson, who adds more to the over the top incredible ridiculous situation circumstances and does a brilliant job in thwarting the witches when they get their ultimate comeuppance.

‘THE WITCHES’ is a film which is highly underrated and it is a fantastic adventure about a young boy Luke Eveshim and his wise Grandma Helga Eveshim. But of course young boy Luke Eveshim unknowingly gets into running into Grandma Helga Eveshim's most feared enemy, the Grand High Witch. When Luke Eveshim accidentally crosses paths with the Grand High Witch and her Witch minions, and of course it is up to Luke Eveshim and Grandma Helga Eveshim who have got to save all the children of England.

Actress Anjelica Huston does a really fantastic marvellous job at portraying the snobbishly aristocratic Miss Eva Ernst, as well as her unmasked counterpart, the evil the Grand High Witch of All the World. Anjelica Huston definitely steals the show in this film, although Mai Zetterling does give a warm nurturing feeling as the wise but kind Grandma Helga Eveshim, and Jasen Fisher also does a very good job as well as the young Luke Eveshim.

Not only is the acting really excellent, but the special effects or should I say the puppets by Jim Henson and his team is absolutely and totally marvellous and the special make-up is equally spectacular. The Grand High Witch without her face mask is really a ghastly terrible sight! And the little mice, who most of the time really are puppets opposed to the technological computer created special effects, and really work out great, but there are scenes with real mice.

Yet another book The Witches by the famous storyteller Roald Dahl has been transferred to the Silver Screen. But to be totally honest, I have not read the book The Witches but I can assure you that the film consists of all the sinister irony, the creepiness and an amusing touch of morbidity which dominates all the fairy tales that this fellow author Roald Dahl has been printed in a book The Witches.

‘THE WITCHES’ is sadly a rather forgotten little gem of a film and has a superb very biting script, a very engaging direction by Nicolas Roeg and also a very entertaining performances from the entire cast. Author Roald Dahl has made his own version of witchcraft and used scary images and frightening themes which do not to insult any occult fans but simply to poke fun at some clichéd lore and legends. No wonder the film is to date an unknown fantasy film. However for the lucky viewers who get to view the film, it is a fondly remembered as total satire with a totally cult status.

The film ‘THE WITCHES’ is enormous fun, punctuated by  offbeat performances especially with actress Angelica Huston as the Grand High Witch of All the World who is terrifying and funny in equal measure and throughout the film there is a splendid wonderful puppetry work. The story uses the moral that children should “never talk to strangers,” but enhances it with the ingenious and disturbing premise of witches being responsible for evil acts towards children. The story has real pace and purpose, and constantly turns up another surprise or twist just when you think you've figured out what's coming next. The supporting performances are very nicely judged and Rowan Atkinson as the snooty hotel manager Mr. Stringer and Mai Zetterling as the wise Grandmother Helga Eveshim are all superb, as is Charlie Potter as Bruno Jenkins.

Anyway enough said, I think ‘THE WITCHES’ is a very quirky eccentric enjoyable film which has a perfect but misunderstood balance between a dark fairy tale and a sneaky adult satire. It is well worth watching for fantasy fans anywhere. Of course I don't know if it is the best or faithful adaption of the Roald Dahl’s novel, but I believe sincerely that it is the best film based on the Roald Dahl novel, but it is helped by the wonderful director Nicolas Roeg. All in all, this is a must-see film for all young children and especially adults of all ages. If you’re an adult and you are looking for a nail biting psychological thriller you’re looking in a very wrong direction. But if you are looking for a classic, fun, and adventure for all ages, then I suggest you watch this, because I give it an A+ automatically and a definite five star rating.

THE WITCHES MUSIC TRACK LIST

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (uncredited) (Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill)

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Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Archive Collection presents us the film ‘THE WITCHES’ with a 1080p image and shown in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The Warner Bros. Pictures release has an excellent high-definition presentation with crisp clarity throughout and the release looks exceptional with great detail. The colours really shine on this Blu-ray format and the cinematography and look significantly better than a compressed and even more so now that this is showcasing the beautiful cinematography of Harvey Harrison, B.S.C. This brand new remaster from Warner Archive Collection features excellent contrast and clarity. The make-up on Anjelica Huston is outstanding, with details such as her long, carrot-like nose, bald head, and many warts dominant. Purple glowing eyes on women provide an eerie look and identify them as witches. The colour palette varies from bold primary colours in the outfits of the disguised witches, Anjelica Huston’s blood red lipstick, and green smoke, along with lots of sparks and accompanying magical transformations. Director Nicolas Roeg shoots from a low angle when mice are scurrying about, and the image is intentionally shaky when a spell is cast that causes a building to implode.

Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Archive Collection brings us the film ‘THE WITCHES’ with just one standard 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo experience and is clear and engaging. Mai Zetterling’s dialogue at the beginning of the film is spoken very softly, making it necessary to raise the volume. Dialogue from other cast members is clear, distinct and is also very crisp and easy to understand. The composed score by Stanley Myers is beautifully reproduced and well implemented into the sound mix and also gives the film a good backbone for the strange proceedings going on in the film and adds suspense and underscores action, as the scenes require. The sound effects are also quite engaging and well utilised with the excellent sound mixing effects that include noises associated with the wicked witches’ nasty spells.

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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:

Special Feature: Theatrical Trailer [1990] [1080p] [1.85:1] [1:26] With this featurette, we get to view the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE WITCHES.’

Finally, ‘THE WITCHES’ [1990] is an enormously outrageous fun and a very entertaining gem from director Nicolas Roeg and the filmmaker is excellent and demonstrates his creative energy throughout the production. Angelica Huston as the Grand High Witch of All the World is really terrific in the leading role and does a great job as the very evil witch. ‘THE WITCHES’ begins at a leisurely pace and builds up the suspense until the end of the film when a number of plot threads are wrapped up very quickly. The film contains quite a few images that might make little ones bury their heads in their hands. Jim Henson’s contributions add to the fairy tale nature of the story, and the film's combination of live actors, puppets, and elaborate make-up provide an engrossing, if sometimes unsettling tale of good vs. evil. Very Highly Recommended!

Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom