Romancefest 2016: I Married a Witch

So far most of these flicks have been fairly contemporary so let's head back to 1942 for Rene Clair's I MARRIED A WITCH.

This delightfully offbeat Hollywood comedy features Veronica Lake as the titular witch, so I was excited to see it since she's such a legendary screen presence. I think the only other thing I've ever seen her in was SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS, so I was pumped to get another dose.

The titular "I" is Fredric March, visiting from HORRORFEST where he memorably portrayed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He's also a romancefest alum, having starred in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. So I was excited to see him also.

The story starts back in Puritanical Salem-y times in America, where March's ancestors have just captured Lake and her warlock father (Cecil Kellaway, another FEST alum, except that kind of doesn't count, because I'm pretty sure he was in basically every movie ever made) and are about to burn them at the stake when they put a curse on March's family: thanks to their witch-finding ways, they will now never have a happy marriage again.

So we warp through the ages and see several examples of March's various ancestors failing at marriage until we arrive at present-day March, a politician on the eve of marrying a kinda unpleasant Susan Hayward. Lake and Kellaway just so happen to raise themselves from the grave right around this time and vow revenge against March (as if the curse isn't enough) and this is where things get kinda weird: Lake's plan is to seduce March. But he's already destined to marry the wrong person, per the curse. So really wouldn't it still be revenge for Lake to just let him get married? I guess she's intent on tormenting him with her sexuality, thinking it will suck for him to be into her while he has to get married to someone else. So the marriage will suck and so will the temptation.

But guess what! They REALLY fall in love. But witch-dad Kellaway is none too happy about this, so, in between bouts of drunkenness, he attempts to stop Lake in her new attempts to destroy March's wedding and fix his political career.

This is a light little romantic comedy without a lot of substance, but there is a ton of style in the cool visual effects, and even a little poignancy towards the end of the flick when it looks like Lake is going to go back to being dead rather than hooking up with March. Of course March and Lake are great and so is Kellaway with the assist. The jokes are inventive, also, including a sequence in which Puritans sell "pop maize" to spectators at a witch burning.

Watching the flick makes one wonder if this might have been an inspiration for I DREAM OF JEANNIE and BEWITCHED. If so, the creators of those shows had good taste.