Talk:The Witches (1990 film)

I removed the section on "differences between book and film" because it was badly written and most of the differences were incredibly minor. The major differences I've put as trivia.

Memorable Quotes
Memorable quotes? SInce when is is wikipedia policy to include an entire section for "memorable quotes" from films, especially for films which, compared to others, are relatively obscure? By what standard are we to determine if a quote is memorable or not? And even if a quote is somehow notable within the context of the film, how is that relevant to the film's wikipedia article? Unless a quote from a film is notable enough to have a significant amount of awareness or relevance in popular culture, I fail to see how it's inclusion can be justified. I will be removing the "memorable quotes" section from this article.

96.224.128.219 03:57, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Differences from the book
This seems to be trivia so moved to talk for discussion: RJFJR (talk) 19:35, 10 April 2009 (UTC)


 * In the book, the hero is never named, and neither is his grandmother. In the movie, the hero's name is Luke and the grandmother is called Helga.
 * Throughout the book, Luke calls his grandmother "Grandmamma"; but in the movie, he simply calls her "Grandma".
 * The boy in the film is American, whereas in the book he is English (but born to Norwegian parents, as he is in the film).
 * In the book, the boy is with his parents in the car during their fatal accident (receiving only a scratch from himself because he wore a seatbelt in the back of the car), whereas in the film they are out for the evening by themselves when the crash happens.
 * In the book, the hero's grandmother told him tales of five children becoming victims of witches. In the movie, she only told him one, and the tale in question was one that she had experienced personally. Although the girl ends as part of the canvas of a painting in both the film and the book, her disappearance in the film happens when she is dragged into a house by a witch, whereas in the book she disappears from her bed one morning.
 * In the film there is a mention of a "High Witch", a ruler of each country's witches, acting like deputies to the Grand High Witch, and it is probable that the Woman in Black is the High Witch of England. In the book no mention of such witches appear and the Grand High Witch is the ruler of all the witches in the world.
 * In the book, the hero's grandmother is his maternal grandmother, whereas in the film she is his paternal grandmother.
 * In the book, the girl in the painting's name was Solveg, whereas in the film it is Erica
 * In the book, witches' eyes constantly change colour; whereas in the film, witches have purple eyes.
 * In the book, witches wear their gloves to conceal long, thin claws like those of a cat; in the film witches have deformed hands, although the Grand High Witch herself does have claws.
 * In the book, witch's saliva is blue; in the film the characters mention nothing about witch saliva.
 * In the book, the Grand High Witch is a pretty and very small woman, reaching only four and a half feet in height; in the film she is a tall and imposing aristocratic woman.
 * In the book, the hero finds three children turned into toads at the room of the Grand High Witch. In the film, Luke encounters her pet cat.
 * In the book, the children remained mice. In the end of the movie, Luke and Bruno were returned to their human forms by Miss Irvine (a character created solely for the movie), formerly the assistant of the Grand High Witch. The happy ending was tacked on in the US and UK version of the movie, but not in the rest of the world. This is rumoured to have annoyed Roald Dahl immensely.
 * In the book, the boy's grandmother had pneumonia. In the movie, she had diabetes.
 * In the book, the Grand High Witch only removes her mask and leaves everything else in place while addressing the other witches at the meeting. In the movie, she removed her wig, gloves, and shoes as well as her mask.
 * At the end of the book, the boy and his grandmother plan to go to Norway (his grandmother's native country) to stop witches there, whereas in the movie they plan to go to the United States to destroy the witches who live in that country using the Grand High Witch's address book.
 * In the book, the Grand High Witch's formula was called "Formula 86 Delayed-Action Mouse-Maker". In the movie, it was simply called "Formula 86".
 * In the book, children needed one dose and the Formula 86 Delayed-Action Mouse-Maker worked at 9:00 the following morning (or whatever time whereat an alarm clock was set during the making of the formula). In the film, Formula 86 needed one dose and it worked two hours later, with the formula working instantly if more than five doses were administered. In the book, it is simply stated that overdoses resulted in a different timing, which a large amount potentially resulting in an instant effect as the alarm clock is disrupted.
 * It is subtly implied that witches can become human - or at least take on the appearance of humanity while retaining some of their powers - if they become good. Miss Irvine is an example.
 * In the book Bruno is rude and quite unfriendly to the main character and is angry when he realises he is turned into a mouse. In the movie he is a much friendlier character, becoming good friends with Luke and takes the news that he is a mouse calmly.
 * In the book, it is speculated by the boy and his grandmother - although never expressly confirmed - that Bruno's parents were unable to cope with his transformation and had him drowned in a bucket of water by the hotel porter; in the film, although his fate is left equally unconfirmed, his parents appear more willing to accept him, with Bruno's father reassuring the mother that Bruno is still their son despite his new appearance.
 * In the book, Formula 86 was in the Grand High Witch's mattress, while in the movie, it was hidden in one of her books.

Miscellany
This is trivia by any other name


 * Felicity Dahl has stated that Roald Dahl never again requested someone for a role in his book after the producers of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory denied his request to cast Spike Milligan as the title character. But he was ecstatic when Anjelica Huston was cast as the Grand High Witch, as she had been Dahl's personal favourite for the role.
 * When the Grand High Witch is turning into a mouse, she says to Helga, "Next time...", but the subtitles read "It's time!".
 * Cher was considered for the role of the Grand High Witch before Anjelica Huston was cast.
 * Some of the witches in the convention room scene are actually played by men; they are sat in the rear seats and remain in the background of the movie.
 * Michael Palin appears as an extra in the film, disguised as a witch.
 * The UK showing of this movie cut two scenes out to secure a "PG" rating (some of the gorier shots of Luke turning into a mouse and the Grand High Witch showing her bleeding scalp as she removes her wig).
 * It is hinted that the Grand High Witch and Helga know each other, with the Grand High Witch referring to Helga as 'an old adversary' and Helga informing the Grand High Witch as she transforms that "This time... it's your turn"; with this evidence, it can be assumed that, in unseen events- presumably the same encounter that cost Helga a finger-, the Grand High Witch attempted to eliminate Helga as a child, but failed.

On the differences between book and film
It isn't true that there is nothing in the book to suggest that the Grand High Witch and the grandmother knew each other previously. The book states that the grandmother spent a portion of her life trying to track her down, so it's possible that they had communicated indirectly in some way. I therefore removed that part from the section in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.123.242.32 (talk) 09:43, 7 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Per MOS:FILM, comparisons between the source material and its adaptation need to be sourced. Otherwise, it is easy for such a section to be indiscriminate, as it is in this article. A better example to follow is a section like Apt Pupil (film), in which all comparisons have been noted by reliable sources, making them noteworthy. Erik (talk &#124; contribs) 12:22, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

1989 or 1990?
I recorded the movie the other day and read in the credits that it was (c) 1989. Now, it says in the intro paragraph that it was originally produced in 1989 but why does it have 1990 in the title? Can anyone clarify? I'll give you a big bar of chocolate! lol AnimatedZebra (talk) 16:38, 4 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I've clarified this a bit in the article. The movie was copyrighted/supposed-to-have-been-released in 1989, but production company Lorimar Television ditched their theatrical distribution wing and it was ultimately released by Warner Bros. a year later.  I can say with absolute certainty that I saw it in an American theatre in 1990, less than a week after it premiered. 72.47.0.251 (talk) 11:41, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

plot summary is needing some revising
The plot summary of the this article's subject as the film The Witches needed to be revised or adapted so that it was a bit more precise in its flow and the wording is more clearly written. The content has less complicated language within it and it is not so overly worded. So by amending the necessary things that should be done here it should read much better now compared to what was there in the previous version. --Just learner (talk) 20:03, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

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