Ma femme est une sorcière

Veronica Lake and Cecil Kellaway are witches who have been sealed up in a tree for about 300 years. They are NOT nice witches and are thrilled when a bolt of lightning shatters the tree and releases them to do evil! The first thing they want to do is destroy the descendants of the man who persecuted them during the witch trials. His most direct descendant is Frederick March and he is about to marry the woman he loves. So, Veronica plans on meeting him and placing a love potion in his drink so he becomes attracted to her instead--with the intention of then dumping him and leaving him miserable. Of course, being a comedy, she accidentally drinks the potion and falls head over heels for March! The acting is excellent (particularly Kellaway who is uncharacteristically EVIL in this movie) and the writing superb in the short little picture.

The Salem Witch Trials have long had a hold on the American imagination, possibly because they offer a potential riposte to the oft-heard European jibe that America is a new country with no history to speak of. ("Whaddya mean, Bud, no history? Listen, Bud, we Americans go so far back into the Middle Ages that at one time we used to burn witches!") The trials have given rise to a number of serious works of literature, such as Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables" and Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", but they have also inspired some lighter offerings, such as television series like "Bewitched", "Charmed" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" (which featured a cat named Salem).

"I Married a Witch" is an earlier example of using the witch trials as a source of comedy. In seventeenth century Salem a warlock named Daniel and his beautiful daughter Jennifer are denounced for witchcraft by a Puritan minister, Jonathan Wooley, and burned at the stake. In revenge, Jennifer places a curse Wooley and all his male descendants, who are doomed to make miserably unhappy marriages.

Years pass, and generation after generation the Wooley men marry women who make them miserable. Finally, in 1942, a bolt of lightning splits the tree beneath which Jennifer and Daniel have been buried, thus freeing their spirits. They discover that history is about to repeat itself again. Wallace Wooley, the latest scion of the clan and a politician running for the governorship of Massachusetts, is about to marry the domineering and bitchy Estelle Masterson. Things take a strange turn, however, when Jennifer falls in love with Wallace, much to the disgust of her father, who wants to use his unexpected freedom as an opportunity to wreak further vengeance on the Wooley family. (The film, with its theme of a witch falling in love with a mortal, was the inspiration for "Bewitched").

This was one of Veronica Lake's early star vehicles. Although only 19, she had shown earlier the same year in "This Gun for Hire" that she was a gifted actress in film noir, and in "I Married a Witch" she showed that she could also turn her hand to comedy, making Jennifer a delightfully playful and sexy heroine. Another noted Hollywood beauty, Susan Hayward, plays Estelle. It is notable that although Hayward was five years older than Lake, and a more experienced actress, she was cast in an unsympathetic supporting role while it was the younger girl who took the lead. In the long run, however, it was to be Hayward who proved the more durable; Lake's career was all but over by the end of the forties, whereas Hayward was to remain a leading lady throughout the fifties and into the sixties.

There is another good performance from Cecil Kellaway as the drunken old reprobate Daniel, but the weak link is Fredric March who makes Wallace too much of a stuffed shirt for the hero of a romantic comedy film. I was disappointed in his contribution to this film, as I had previously always admired his work; possibly comedy was not his forte. March had previously called Lake "a brainless little blonde sexpot, void of any acting ability", so it is hardly surprising that they did not get on with one another and that there is little chemistry between their characters. (The relationship between the two leads in this film reminded me of that between Laurence Olivier and Marilyn Monroe in "The Prince and the Showgirl", another film where a middle-aged heavyweight actor dismissed his younger female co-star as a lightweight, only for her to prove herself more gifted at light comedy than him).

The film might have worked better with a younger leading man closer in age to Lake, although that might have entailed some rewriting of the script. (A twenty-something state governor is hardly plausible). The original choice for Wallace was Joel McCrea, but he turned the role down, having also fallen out with Lake on the set of "Sullivan's Travels". (Lake's fiery temper and her gift for making enemies were among the reasons why her career was to be a short one).

Overall, "I Married a Witch" is one of those forties comedies which still remains watchable today, largely because of an often humorous script and a vivacious leading lady. I felt, however, that it could have been better with a different leading man. 7/10

This is a fairly humorous story with decent special effects, especially considering it was made over 40 years ago. The key ingredient for success in this film was Veronica Lake. She's known more for her peekaboo blonde locks and for starring with Alan Ladd in several hit movies, but Lake was a good comedienne, too.

Susan Hayward does well playing a snotty woman and Cecil Kellaway always plays an interesting character. Frederic March plays opposite Lake and I wish I hadn't read Lake's biography in which she explains how much she hated March. In made the love scenes lose a lot of impact when I learned how "forced" those scenes were.

Oh, well. It's still a nice, lightweight comedy, nothing special but entertaining for the most part.....but it helps to be a fan of Veronica Lake, which I am.

The summary line only applies to the film, however.

This movie was intended by the studio for Joel McCrea. After making Sullivan's Travels, McCrea informed the top brass that he could not make another film with Veronica Lake. The role instead went to Fredric March, who declared "I Married a Witch" the most horrendous experience he'd ever had. It should be added that McCrea did work with Lake again 5 years later, after he had time to heal.

I have no idea why these actors had problems with this tiny, beautiful woman. "I Married a Witch" is a delightful light comedy which I suppose is the basis for "Bewitched." Apparently these Salem witches cursed an entire family so that they would be unlucky in love, and the movie quickly takes us through the generations of miserable men (all March in assorted wigs) until it gets to the present when March, a gubernatorial candidate, is set to marry a human witch (Susan Hayward). When lightning strikes a tree which was grown over the ashes of burned witches, Lake and her father escape. She takes human form and March "saves" her from a fire (that her father started). Then she mistakenly drinks a potion intended for him, and the situation really takes off.

Lake was 23 when this film was made; March was 45, and McCrea, had he made the movie, was 37. The very dignified March made a great politician, as the character in this film is - but he comes off as too old to be marrying Hayward or getting involved with Lake. Yes, we all know it happens. But this type of film was not March's métier. Eight years younger and ever boyish, of course, McCrea was more suited to the role in looks and acting.

My favorite scene is the botched wedding in which the soprano has to sing the beginning of "I Love You Truly" over and over as Susan Hayward becomes increasingly outraged. It's a young Hayward, but all the feistiness and strength is apparent.

Cecil Kellaway is Lake's father, and he gives a fine performance. Although her costars may not have agreed, I found Lake funny and beautiful in this movie, and it's a shame the last years of her life were spent as they were. She had a lovely screen presence.

I just love this little film that was probably the inspiration for "Bewitched", the 60s TV series. Planned before Pearl Harbor, and released after Pearl Harbor, it is probably just what American audiences needed. I feel that this is a great movie because it so perfectly embodies what a movie is meant to do: Entertain! There is no social commentary, political justice or ideological discourse. It is a: "park your troubles at the door" type of film which sweeps the viewer away into a world of whimsy.

In the 17th century two actual witches, father Daniel and daughter Jennifer, are burned at the stake by Jonathan Wooley. Before Jennifer dies she curses Jonathan and all of his male progeny by declaring they will all marry the wrong woman. After their death their spirits are trapped in a tree so they cannot rise from the dead and cause more mischief.

But mischief they cause via Jennifer's curse as one Wooley after another marries a shrewish bossy woman and we see all of them being ordered about. Wow, that was a great curse! Now we come to modern day - 1942 - and Wallace Wooley (Fredric March) is about to marry the daughter of his political backer, Estelle Masterson (Susan Hayward). I found Hayward unrecognizable but she is great at playing the shrew. But alas, the night before their wedding the tree holding Jennifer and Daniel's spirits is struck by lightning and they are free! Jennifer says she wants a human body again, but Daniel says that requires fire, so they decide to burn down the Pilgrim Hotel. Jennifer gets a body (Veronica Lake), but the spell provides only the body - no clothes. Wallace rescues Jennifer from the burning hotel and since she has no ID, he takes her home and puts her in his bed to rest - still with no clothes. Now this would look great on the eve of his marriage and shortly before his election for a naked woman to be found in his bed - and she is.

Now Daniel is still without a body and has run into his own troubles with modern society. In the meantime Jennifer decides to punish Wallace by making him fall in love with her and crushing his heart. But these things never go right for the inexperienced witch without dad's supervision, and the fun just goes from there. From Jennifer accidentally taking the love potion meant for Wallace, to her casting a spell so that Wallace wins EVERY vote, to Daniel not liking his new son-in-law and being rather vicious about it.

Veronica Lake was great here in a role that did not require a lot of range. Many have criticized her acting over the years, but I have never seen her in a film where she came across as a ham. Fredric March is great as a guy with Puritan pilgrim blood in him. He really makes you believe he is the stodgy offspring of generations of Puritans.

As for the perfectly cast Cecil Kellaway as the easily distracted Daniel, all I can say is that I guess it is easier to have a witch as a father in law than as a mother in law (Agnes Moorhead as Endora in Bewitched). Mothers in law can be a much more severe and long term problem apparently.