The Witches

The Witches, released in the United States as The Devil's Own, is a 1966 British horror film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Joan Fontaine, Alec McCowen, Kay Walsh, Ann Bell, Ingrid Boulting (billed as Ingrid Brett) and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies. Made by Hammer Films, it was adapted by Nigel Kneale from the 1960 novel The Devil's Own by Norah Lofts, published under the pseudonym Peter Curtis. Plot Schoolteacher Gwen Mayfield comes back to England after suffering a nervous breakdown caused by an attack by witch-doctors while working in a mission in Africa. She's hired by the wealthy Reverend Alan Bax, who runs a school in the remote village of Heddaby. Once there, Gwen finds out Alan is not actually a minister, and only wears a clerical collar out of "a sense of security"; the only church in the village is in ruins. Meanwhile, she befriends Alan's sister, an esteemed journalist. The romance between two of Gwen's students, Ronnie Dowsett and Linda Rigg, is sternly opposed by adults in the village for reasons Gwen can't understand. Linda lives with her grandmother, who's rumoured to be a witch and Ronnie fears is abusing Linda. As Ronnie is a gifted student, Alan proposes to pay for his stay at a prep school outside the village, but the boy's father is against it. Gwen volunteers to tutor the boy. Ronnie gives Linda a male doll as a mate to her female one, to represent them as a couple. The next day, Ronnie falls into a coma, and Gwen finds the male doll with pins stuck through it and its head missing. She shows it to Stephanie, who indicates someone might be dabbling in witchcraft. Impressed by Gwen's knowledge of magical practices in Africa, Stephanie invites her to coauthor an article about witchcraft in contemporary England.