EYE OF THE DEVIL {1967}

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO GETTING AROUND THE "WICKER MAN"-INESS OF THIS SUMMER OF LOVE FOLK HORROR.  I'd be really interested to know if Robin Hardy saw EYE OF THE DEVIL before making his "CITIZEN KANE of horror films".  David Niven plays the Marquis who suddenly returns to his French estate/vineyard where all is mysterious secrets and odd stares from the locals.  Deborah Kerr is his abandoned wife who drags the kiddies along with her to find out what's going on with hubby.  If you've seen THE WICKER MAN, you probably already have an inkling of what needs to be done to save the failing vineyard.  

The beautiful black-and-white photography is provided by Erwin Hillier (who shot such Powell & Pressburger classics as A CANTERBURY TALE and I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING as well as the classic THE DAM BUSTERS).  Director J. Lee Thompson (who helmed everything from the original CAPE FEAR to 80's slasher HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME with a couple PLANET OF THE APES sequels in between) has a tendency to sway his camera back and forth a lot (Hey! It WAS the sixties!)

as well as not reigning in the occasional over-earnest, surprisingly silly at times acting by Kerr and Niven (who are alternately breathlessly melodramatic and grippingly convincing).  The top notch cast is also elevated by a host of great character actors:  Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings, Emlyn Williams, Edward Mulhare and John Le Mesurier.  And then we come to Sharon Tate who gives probably the best performance of her tragically short career.  Her two most notable scenes are probably the with the kiddies and the frog at the pond and later on the battlements with the kiddies and Deborah Kerr.  Tate shows an ability to command the screen I haven't seen in another of her other movies.  EYE OF THE DEVIL is a quite good, downbeat 60's folk horror that's well worth seeing.