I Married a Witch

I Married a Witch

theatrical poster
Directed by René Clair
Produced by René Clair
Preston Sturges
(both uncredited)
Written by Screenplay:
Robert Pirosh
Marc Connelly
Dialogue:
René Clair
André Rigaud
(both uncredited)
Uncredited:
Dalton Trumbo
Based on novel The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith
Norman H. Matson (completion)
Starring Veronica Lake
Fredric March
Music by Roy Webb
Cinematography Ted Tetzlaff
Edited by Eda Warren
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
  • October 30, 1942 (1942-10-30)
Running time
 77 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1.1 million (US rentals)[1]

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 Fredric 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 H. Matson and published in 1941.

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, dooming them always to marry the wrong woman.

Centuries pass. Generation after generation, Wooley men - all played by March - marry cruel, shrewish women. Finally, in 1942, 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 and spoiled Estelle Masterson (Susan Hayward), whose father (Robert Warwick) 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 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, 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

Veronica Lake

Cast notes:

Original Novel

Thorne Smith died in 1934. His papers included a novel three-quarters complete called The Passionate Witch. It was completed by his friend Norman Matson and was published in July 1941. "It is pretty funny on the whole," wrote The New York Times.[2] The book became a best seller.

Production

I Married a Witch was produced by Paramount Pictures, and had the working title of He Married a Witch.[3] Director René 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. Paramount bought the film rights in October 1941. Dalton Trumbo was signed to do the script.[4][5][6]

Robert Pirosh was called in to work on the script with Trumbo. Trumbo 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.[3]

Fredric March

Joel McCrea was originally announced to play the male lead in December 1941. However by February in 1942 he withdrew from the project; he later said this was because he did not want to work with Veronica Lake again, after not getting along with her on Sullivan's Travels.[3] McCrea's refusal to make the film caused production to be postponed. This enabled Lake to appear in The Glass Key.[7]

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.[4]

Patricia Morison was considered for the role of Estelle, and Walter Abel for Dudley. Margaret Hayes was considered for the film as well, and was screentested.[3]

I Married a Witch was in production from 15 April through 27 May 1942.[8]

Release

The film 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.[3] It was released by UA on 30 October that year.

The movie was released on VHS by Warner Home Video in the U.S. on July 18, 1990.[9]

The movie was released on standard DVD and Blu-ray DVD by The Criterion Collection in the U.S. on October 8, 2013.[10]

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.[11]

American Film Institute Lists

References

  1. ↑ "101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58
  2. ↑ Dean, Charlotte (3 August 1941). "The Passionate Witch. By Thorne Smith. Completed by Norman Matson. 267 pp. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. $2.". New York Times. p. BR16.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 TCM Notes
  4. 1 2 Stafford, Jeff "I Married a Witch" (TCM article)
  5. ↑ Schallert, Edwin (6 Oct 1941). "Hay' No Longer Holds Producers' Attention: Big Money Main Object Weird Story Stars Lake Adolphe-Ernst Reunion Teresa Wright at M.G.M. Shirley, Downing Cast". Los Angeles Times. p. 22.
  6. ↑ Churchill, Douglas (6 Oct 1941). "Paramount Buys 'The Passionate Witch' -- Six New Pictures to Arrive Here This Week". New York Times. p. 12.
  7. ↑ "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: RKO Gives James Craig Role Opposite Maureen O'Hara in 'One Hour of Glory' LEAD FOR VERONICA LAKE 'Roxie Hart' in Its First Week at Roxy Theatre Grossed More Than $70,000". New York Times. 26 February 1942. p. 15.
  8. ↑ IMDB Business data
  9. ↑ TCM Misc. notes
  10. ↑ Criterion
  11. ↑ IMDB Awards
  12. ↑ AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees
  13. ↑ AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominees
  14. ↑ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
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