I Married a Witch is a 1942 fantasy romantic comedy film, directed by René Clair, and starring Veronica Lake as a witch whose plan for revenge goes comically awry, with Frederic March as her foil. The film also features Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward and Cecil Kellaway. The screenplay by Robert Pirosh and Marc Connelly and uncredited other writers, including Dalton Trumbo, is based on the novel The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith, who died before he could finish it; it was completed by Norman Matson and published in 1941.Many believe that this along the later movie is a partial inspiration for the ABC TV Series Bewitched. Bewitched was a fantasy-comedy loosely based on the feature films I Married a Witch and Bell, Book, and Candle which dealt with the problems that arise when a mortal man marries a beautiful witch.
Plot
Two witches in colonial Salem, Jennifer (Veronica Lake) and her father Daniel (Cecil Kellaway), are burned at the stake after being denounced by Puritan Jonathan Wooley (Fredric March) and their ashes buried beneath a tree to imprison their evil spirits. In revenge, Jennifer curses Wooley and all his male descendants - they are doomed to always marry the wrong person.
Centuries pass. Unfortunate Wooley males - each played by March - are shown marrying shrewish women, generation after generation. Finally, lightning splits the tree, freeing the spirits of Jennifer and Daniel. They discover Wallace Wooley (March again), living nearby and running for governor, on the eve of marrying the ambitious Estelle Masterson (Susan Hayward), whose father just happens to be Wooley's chief political backer.
Initially, Jennifer and Daniel manifest themselves as white vertical smoky 'trails', occasionally hiding in empty (or sometimes not-so-empty) bottles of alcohol. Jennifer persuades her father to create a human body for her so she can torment the latest Wooley. He needs a fire to perform the spell, so he burns down a building (appropriately enough, the Pilgrim Hotel). This serves a dual purposes, as Jennifer uses it to get the passing Wallace to rescue her from the flames.
Jennifer tries hard to seduce Wallace without magic, but though he is strongly attracted to her, he refuses to put off his marriage. She concocts a love potion, but her scheme goes awry when a painting falls on her; Wallace revives her by giving her the drink she had intended for him.
Jennifer's father conjures himself a body. Then he and Jennifer crash the wedding, though they are at cross purposes. Daniel hates all Wooleys and tries to prevent his daughter from helping one of them. His attempts at interference land him in jail, too drunk to remember the spell to turn Wallace into a frog. Meanwhile, Estelle finds the couple embracing and the wedding is called off. Her outraged father promises to denounce the candidate in all his newspapers.
Wallace finally admits that he loves Jennifer, and they elope.
Jennifer then works overtime with her witchcraft to rescue her new husband's political career. She conjures up little clouds of brainwashing white smoke that "convince" every voter to support Wallace, and he is elected in a landslide, where even his opponent doesn't vote for himself. The unanimous vote for him convinces Wallace that she is a witch. In disgust, Daniel strips his daughter of her magical powers, and vows to return her to the tree that imprisoned them.
In a panic, the Jennifer interrupts Wallace's victory speech, imploring him to help her escape. Unfortunately, the taxi they get into to get away is driven by her father, who takes them in an airborne ride back to the tree. At the stroke of midnight, Wallace is left with Jennifer's lifeless body, while two plumes of smoke watch. Before they return to the tree, Jennifer asks to watch Wallace's torment. While Daniel gloats, Jennifer reclaims her body, explaining to Wallace, "Love is stronger than witchcraft." She alertly puts the top back on the bottle of liquor her father is hiding in, keeping him drunk and powerless. The movie concludes years later, after Wallace and Jennifer have children, where the housekeeper enters to complain about their youngest daughter, who enters riding a broom.
Cast
Cast notes:
Production
I Married a Witch was produced by Paramount Pictures, and had the working title of He Married a Witch.[1] Director Rene Clair was looking for a new project after his first American film, The Flame of New Orleans and his agent sent him a copy of The Passionate Witch. Clair took it to Preston Sturges, then in favor at Paramount, who convinced Clair and the studio that it would be a good vehicle for Veronica Lake, with Sturges as producer.[2]
A number of writers contributed to the script, including Dalton Trumbo who left the project after clashing with Sturges. Sturges himself left the film before it was completed due to artistic differences with director Rene Clair, and did not want to receive a screen credit. Clair, who also contributed to the dialogue, apparently worked closely with writer Robert Pirosh.[1]
Joel McCrea was originally slated to play the male lead, but declined because he did not want to work with Veronica Lake again, after not getting along with her on Sullivan's Travels.[1] March and Lake also had problems, beginning with March's pre-production comment that Lake was ""a brainless little blonde sexpot, void of any acting ability", to which Lake retaliated by calling March a "pompous poseur". Things did not get much better during filming, as Lake was prone to playing practical jokes on March, like hiding a 40-pound weight under her dress for a scene in which March had to carry her, or pushing her foot repeatedly into his groin during the filming of a from-the-waist-up shot.[2]
Patricia Morrison was considered for the role of Estelle, and Walter Abel for Dudley. Margaret Hayes was considered for the film as well, and was screentested.[1]
I Married a Witch was in production from 15 April through 27 May 1942,[3] and was one of a number of films sold by Paramount to United Artists in September, when UA did not have enough and Paramount had a surplus.[1] The film was released by UA on 30 October that year. It was marketed with the tagline, among others: She's a witch (and we do mean witch) who gets what she wants with hex appeal![4] The movie was released on video in the U.S. on July 18 1990.[5]
One historical inaccuracy is that no one accused of witchcraft was ever burned in Massachusetts; they were generally hanged, though one was pressed to death by rocks during his trial.
Awards and honors
I Married a Witch was nominated for a 1943 Academy Award for "Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for composer Roy Webb.[6]
References
External links
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Preston Sturges |
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Broadway
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The Big Pond (dialogue,1930) · La grande mare (dialogue,1930) · Fast and Loose (add'l dialogue,1930) · Strictly Dishonorable (prev. play,1931) · They Just Had to Get Married (uncredited,1932) · Child of Manhattan (prev. play,1933) · The Power and the Glory (writer & dialogue dir,1933) · The Invisible Man (unc contract writer,1933) · Twentieth Century (uncredited,1934) · Thirty-Day Princess (writer,1934) · We Live Again (adapter,1934) · Imitation of Life (unc. contract writer,1934) · The Good Fairy (writer,1935) · Diamond Jim (writer,1935) · Next Time We Love (uncredited,1936) · Love Before Breakfast (uncredited,1936) · One Rainy Afternoon (lyrics,1936) · Hotel Haywire (writer,1937) · Easy Living (writer,1937) · College Swing (unc. contract writer,1938) · Port of Seven Seas (writer,1938) · If I Were King (writer,1938) · Never Say Die (writer,1939)
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| 1940s |
Remember the Night (writer,1940) · Broadway Melody of 1940 (uncredited,1940) · The Great McGinty (writer & dir,1940) · Christmas in July (writer & dir,1940) · The Lady Eve (writer & dir,1941) · New York Town (uncredited,1941) · Sullivan's Travels (writer, dir & prod,1941) · Safeguarding Military Information (writer,1942) · I Married a Witch (unc. prod,1942) · The Palm Beach Story (writer & dir,1942) · Star Spangled Rhythm (actor,1942) · The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (writer, dir, prod, lyrics,1944) · Hail the Conquering Hero (writer, dir, prod, music, lyrics,1944) · The Great Moment (writer, dir & unc. prod,1944) · I'll Be Yours (writer,1947) · The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (writer, dir & unc. prod,1947) · Unfaithfully Yours (writer, dir & prod,1948) · The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (writer, dir & prod,1949)
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| 1950s |
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Broadway
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