2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #28
by Xavier E. Palacios
"I Married a Witch"
3.5 out of 5
Directed by René Clair
Rated "TV-G"
Over two-hundred years ago, in Salem, Massachusetts, the witch, Jennifer (Veronica Lake), and her father, the sorcerer, Daniel (Cecil Kellaway), both fiendish and villainous types, were burnt at the stake, their vaporous spirits trapped inside a tree. But, prior to this damnation, Jennifer cursed Jonathan Wooley, the man who denounced her and her father, to a curse: all his future male descendants will be cursed to disastrous and unhappy marriages. In 1942, the latest Wooley descendant, the good-hearted Wallace (Fredric March), is running for governor, which involves marrying the unpleasant heiress, Estelle (Susan Hayward). When lightning strikes the imprisoning tree, Jennifer and Daniel are set free and wreak havoc. Believing Wallace's curse is not potent enough, Jennifer tries seducing him to fall in love with her, who is unattainable: a much crueler curse than Wallace's current one. So begins a series of romantic and comical mishaps and entanglements that see Wallace and Jennifer's unexpected and blossoming love being challenged by Daniel and the rest of the world.
In short, I Married a Witch, a happily entertaining old-timey picture, is the cinematic equivalent of a famous line from Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks: "A clean place, reasonably priced." The premise is silly and lovely. Some of the witchy effects are kind of novel. The flick got me engaged and laughing; the wedding singer gag feels ahead of the piece's time. The romance is cute and believable in that fun, black-and-white comedy sort of way. Really, other than the film's generally upbeat and even mischievous attitude that is hard to resist, what sold me on the piece are the actors. Cecil Kellaway is delectably "evil", Fredric March is a likeable protagonist, and the adorable, terrific, dreamy, and splendid Veronica Lake steals every scene she is in. I flipped on this film randomly, searching for a decades-old film that sounded compelling, and I Married a Witch rewarded my curiosity. Easy-going and funny, I can see why the piece has a reputation as a Halloween classic. Except I saw this film during the summer, so, instead of Christmas-in-July, I guess, Halloween-in-June!
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The 2022-2023 Film Journal Entry #28: "I Married a Witch"
Non-FictionIn this quick (due to real world necessities to finish this text without metaphorically losing too much sleep), twentieth entry of the 2022-2023 Film Journal, I take a look at the thirties Halloween classic, "I Married a Witch", and see what sorcery...
