I stopped this film 20 minutes in to look up the Scottish ballad the film was based on, "Ballad of Tam Lin", so I could make sense out of the film. Wikipedia has a thorough article on the song and the lyrics. Everything made much more sense after reading the article.

That said, this was one of Ava Gardner's few supernatural films, and was Roddy McDowell's only directorial effort. The screenplay sticks fairly close to the song's plot, with a look at "Swinging London" mod clothes, late 60's slang , and a so-so song overlaying all as an attempt at "relevance". Listen for the bits of ballad sung through the film .

Gardner gave an outstanding performance as the coven leader; the film lets the viewer decide if other fairy tale terms are applicable. Ian McShane is good as the Favored One, and Stephanie Beacham is good as his Human love.

AIP gave the film only a limited release. The misunderstanding arises from the fact that AIP promoted it as a horror film rather than as a poetic romance even reediting the film and retitiling it "The Devil's Widow" from the original "Ballad of Tam Lin" to try and achieve this effect. As a result, no one was happy, and the film sank without a trace, predictably losing money.

McDowell didn't direct another film, which is a real shame, because this one has startling photography, the music is interwoven to maximum effect, and McDowell did well by the actors.

This is one of Ava Gardner's least-seen, most underrated films. My opinion is that if you feel lost in the beginning, stay with the film anyways as it improves as it goes on.

That's the tag-line American International Pictures used to exploit this fantasy/horror film. Based on the ancient Scottish ballad "Tam Lin" (one of it's many titles),the plot concerns an aging, beautiful woman Ava Gardner) who uses her wealth (and occasionally, witchcraft) to control a decadent pack of attractive young people she surrounds herself with. But when her latest young stud (Ian McShane) falls for the local vicar's daughter (Stephanie Beacham),she vows revenge. The plot is fairly simple, though first (and last) time director Roddy McDowall does his best to insert as much ambiguity and mysticism as he can get away with. More of a fairy-tale allegory than a terror film, it was completed in late 1969, but ended up on the shelf when it's production company, Commonwealth United, went bankrupt. Three years later, along came AIP, who bought it and edited it over McDowall's protests. Devising a typically lurid advertising campaign, they exploited it as one of those "aging glamour star horror films" so popular in the 60s. Dubbing it "The Devils Widow", it was spottily released in grind houses and drive-ins in late 1972, after which it promptly vanished. It did occasionally play on television, which is where I caught it, before landing on video back in the late 90's. Althoug it's not a "class" film, by any means, it deserved better treatment than this. The still-beautiful Gardner gives a striking, believably cruel performance, and the supporting cast includes several familiar faces who got their start here. Besides those already mentioned, Joanna Lumley ("The Avengers", "Absolutely Fabulous") is very much in evidence. The production is handsome, the photography well above average, and the movie improves as it goes along. Worth seeing, especially for Ava Gardner.

Michaela (Ava Gardner) is a rich middle-aged lady who lives in a mansion and filled with sycophants who don't do anything with their lives...they just party and answer to Michaela's bidding. She also has a boy-toy, Tom (Ian McShane) but when he stops worshiping Michaela and begins pursuing the local vicar's daughter (Stephanie Beachum),he incurs the wrath of his mistress. Ultimately, after LOTS of talking, they decide that the man's punishment should be death and they spend an inordinate amount of time tormenting him and chasing him about the British countryside instead of just offing him.

This film was the only picture directed by Roddy McDowell and it's a bizarre product of it's times--less a movie about witchcraft and more a film about Bohemian hippies. A strange and very, very slow moving film--one that must have played much better in the drug-soaked early 70s. Today, it just seems pretty dopey and bad.