Maid of Salem

A splendid cast, well-crafted set pieces and a strong theme work in this film's favor. The legendary witchcraft hysteria that gripped the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692 is given the conventional Hollywood studio adaptation – that is, reconstructed to fit around a romantic love story – but done so well within the studio strictures that it can still hold the interest decades later. The lovers here are the oft-paired screen team of Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray. At first they seem miscast as a Puritan maiden and a lusty political rebel but they both handle their roles with conviction and spirit.

Director Frank Lloyd, no stranger to period dramas (he also directed MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY and BERKELEY SQUARE) and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Bradley King, tell a good and gripping tale of rumors run amok, when scheming child Bonita Granville decides to get attention and sympathy by pretending to be possessed by the devil, setting in motion a chain of accusations that eventually sends fifteen people to the gallows. The supporting cast is one of the most impressive ever assembled for a standard Hollywood production. What a roster! Louise Dresser, Henry Kolker, Sterling Holloway, Beulah Bondi, Donald Meek, Madame Sul-te-wan (powerfully effective as Tituba, the West Indian slave accused of bewitching her mistress's family), Gale Sondergaard, Effie Tilbury, and a trio of exceptional – or exceptionally well directed - child actors (Granville, Virginia Weidler, Benny Bartlett). And that's only about half of the fine ensemble on display.

Colbert's 20th-century-urban eye makeup (lipstick, plucked brows, mascara-coated lashes, eye shadow), while far less intense than usual, is still somewhat distracting but at least gets toned at an appropriate point in the scenario, and she has a hot-blooded courtroom scene which again proves how deftly she can hit the ball out of the park when necessary. For the record, Gale Sondergaard's face is also cosmetically enhanced but we don't see nearly as much of her, so she doesn't stand out.

The struggle dramatized herein between superstition and emotion vs. evidence and reason is ongoing. The real story of the Salem trials is of course far more complicated than what is presented here. Let's say that MAID OF SALEM gives a strong suggestion of what really went on and would be good encouragement for further study.

In 1692 Salem, a devious child's lies about a slave's involvement in witchcraft sends an entire community into an uproar. Costume drama starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray isn't stuffy, though neither is it a vivid depiction of contagious hysteria. Worked on by three writers (Walter Ferris, Durward Grimstead, and Bradley King), the story elements are rather interesting (especially coming out of Hollywood in 1937), though to anyone who has since read Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", the hoked-up melodrama on display here won't be tolerated for very long. Biggest problem with the picture may lie in the casting: Colbert and MacMurray are an ill-matched pair of lovers hindered by the witch-hunt, MacMurray being far too contemporary a presence for these surroundings. *1/2 from ****

"Maid of Salem" is one of seven films that Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray made together. Most of their comedies fared much better than this movie about the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693. The filming location was on the Paramount Ranch in the Agoura Hills near Los Angeles. The film has some notably large crowd scenes that represent the hysteria of the period. And, it has a large cast with several notable actors besides the stars. Among them are Louise Dresser, Gale Sondergaard, Harvey Stephens, Beulah Bondi, Bonita Granville, and Donald Meek.

The script has a mix of characters – some fictitious and others closely resembling real people of the time. Colbert plays Barbara Clarke and MacMurray is Roger Coverman of Virginia. Both are good in their roles, but a number of other characters have as much screen time. The screenplay is choppy in places, the directing is not very strong, and the editing is weak. The cinematography and other production qualities are not very good.

For all its weaker attributes, "Maid of Salem" has some value in the story of a frightening and dark period in early New England history. The Salem witch trials were the American counterpart of the lengthy witch-hunt in Europe. That reached its peak between 1580 and 1630 during the European wars of religion. In America, the preaching and writings of New England Puritan minister Cotton Mather (1663-1728), held much sway with the highly superstitious colonies of Massachusetts. Mather was not directly involved, but is generally considered the source that aroused the fear and fervor that led to the frantic witch-hunts and trials.

I recall a visit in the mid-1990s to Massachusetts. I toured the area so rich in history -- Boston, Concord, Lexington, Salem and the homes of famous authors – Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. At Salem I walked through the House of the Seven Gables – the subject of a Hawthorne novel by the same name. It was not far from the Charter Street Cemetery. The oldest cemetery in Salem is near the Commons and the Salem Witch Museum. I read some of the headstones with their simple, short epitaphs that included 12 women and six men who were executed for witchcraft. Here was Rebecca Nurse, hanged on July 19, 1692; and there was Margaret Scott, hanged Sept. 22, 1692. In another place was Bridget Bishop, hanged June 1, 1692; and nearby was Giles Correy, pressed to death on Sept. 19, 1692. John Proctor and Martha Carrier were hanged on Aug. 19, 1692. Samuel Wardwell and Mary Easty were hanged on Sept. 22, 1692.

Also buried there is Ann Putnam (1679-1716), who was the leader of a group of young girls whose accusations led to the frenzy and witch trials. The girl, who then was 13 years old, claimed to be afflicted and she testified against several defendants in court. Years later, she made a public apology for her role in the trials. Of course, her apology fell on the deaf ears of several people whom she led to the grave. Putnam died at age 37 and is buried with her parents in an unmarked grave. Bonita Granville plays the character, Ann, in "Maid of Salem," and gives the best performance of the movie.

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne's great-great-grandfather is buried in the early Salem cemetery. John Hathorne (sic) died May 10, 1717. He was one of the two magistrates who presided over the pre-trial examinations in Salem Village. These took place before the actual witch trials, and two actors play these roles in the movie. In the film, the names are fictitious, but they are based on real persons.

The source of this specific story and screenplay is almost as intriguing as the subject matter. Bradley King was the pen name of Josephine McLaughlin, born in Chicago on July 8, 1894. She was a successful screenwriter who wrote 56 scripts for films between 1920 and 1947. She was married several times. One was a short marriage to silent film director John Griffith. After a later husband, George Hiram Boyd, lost most of her $400,000 fortune to bad investments, she divorced him in 1940. She wrote her last screenplay for the 1947 movie, "That's My Man," and disappeared at age 53. She had been having poor health. She was never heard from again, and there's no known record of her death. All but one of her 40 silent films are lost, but most of her 20 or so sound films still exist. Her 1923 silent film, "Anna Christie" starred Blanche Sweet and is still extant. But, that film is little remembered since the 1930 remake that starred Greta Garbo.

I wonder if King-McLaughlin had any friends who might have tracked her down, or reported her to the police as missing.

If you haven't seen Maid of Salem, then you haven't seen a good motion picture. Simple as that.

It's not because the story has never been done before-- stories about witches have been done countless times by Hollywood over the years. Nor is it going to challenge the average viewer very much-- though it does cause one to stop and consider what happens when a community of people act like an angry mob and try to cling to superstitious beliefs that defy logic.

Rather, it is because of the powerful performance at the center of this film. Claudette Colbert, as the title character, infuses the story with heart and conviction. Check out the courtroom scene near the end of this picture to see what I mean.

The only real drawback is that Fred MacMurray seems slightly miscast here, and the film may have been stronger with Fredric March or someone else in the male lead. But Colbert and MacMurray's chemistry more than makes up for any deficiency.

It is a very chilling account of a woman denied her own basic rights and suspected of the worst in human nature. Don't miss it.

As studio policy went at Paramount controversial subjects were usually shied away from. So when Maid Of Salem came out this was a big surprise for the movie-going public and those who review films back in 1937.

Arthur Miller's The Crucible has become the defining work about the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, but Maid Of Salem should not be readily dismissed by Miller's admirers.

Claudette Colbert is in the title role and Fred MacMurray who is a refugee from Virginia colony star in this film. In fact MacMurray's very presence inadvertently ticks off fear of witches and demons and goblins and all kinds of things that go bump in the night. He puts on a spook act that scares some gullible Puritans after they've been given the word of warning about witches.

But the real demons are in one's own mind and in the evil intent of those who use fear of same. That in this film is Bonita Granville who is playing the same kind of role she did in her breakthrough part in These Three.

Lest you think that Maid Of Salem is an unrelenting drama, there are two very nice comic roles. First from E.E. Clive who is a drinker and unashamed of his vice and who goes obligingly off to the stocks like Andy Griffith used to let town drunk Otis lock himself in the jail cell every night. Secondly is Sterling Holloway a person of some property who just can't understand why Claudette Colbert should be less than enthusiastic about getting such a catch.

The performance of Madame Sul-Te-Wan should also be singled out. Back in this day most of the northern colonies also permitted slavery and she does a superb job as a woman who basically because she's not forgotten her African roots yet, still going by a tribal name she becomes an easy first target when she's accused.

Frank Lloyd got good if under-appreciated work from his whole cast. This film ought to be better known for today's audiences.