I Married a Witch

Plot synopsis:
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 quickly 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.

Tags: revenge, romantic

Review:
Utterly entrancing comic fantasy with a captivating Veronica Lake.The film is a light as air concoction directed by Rene Clair at breakneck speed which suits the material perfectly.
It's probably the greatest movie which Veronica Lake ever did, and probably one of the best classics to come out of the heyday of Hollywood.As captivating as Marilyn Monroe was to become,Lake is wonderfully demure and waif-like in her appearance, and Fredric March shows great range between befuddled and charmed by lake as she enraptures him.
Very well-crafted comedy with some memorable work by Veronica Lake and a charming role for Cecil Kellaway (perfectly cast in this picture).
This film has a great cast in Veronica Lake, Fredric March, Susan Hayward and Cecil Kellaway.
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.
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.
(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.
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.
(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 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).
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.
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.
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).
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.
Veronica Lake is funny and charming in a role that really showcases her skills as a comedienne- in my opinion, it's a shame she didn't get the chance to do more comedies, since film noir seems to be what she is best remembered for today.
A beautiful 17th-century witch (Veronica Lake) returns to life to plague politician Wallace Wooley (Fredric March), descendant of her persecutor (also Fredric March).I come to this film as a fan of horror films, and this is certainly not a horror film despite the subject matter of witchcraft.
Veronica Lake and Cecil Kellaway seem to get into the spirit of this whimsical comedy about witchcraft--while Fredric March (who reportedly disliked working with Lake whom he considered an inferior actress) does not come off well in comedy.
In the 17th century, a witch named Jennifer (Veronica Lake) and her father Daniel (Cecil Kellaway) are burned at the stake by Puritans.
Jennifer immediately sets her sights on Wooley's latest descendant Wallace, a politician engaged to marry an unpleasant woman named Estelle (Susan Hayward).Very funny and charming comedy with an excellent cast headed by the sexy Veronica Lake.
Jennifer sets about wooing Wallace with every trick in the book, while Daniel is less than impressed and does all he can to overcook the broth.I Married A Witch is now rightly acknowledged as the inspiration for the hit running series Bewitched, and as good as I found that particular show, it could never replace the love I have for this delightfully breezy picture.
Frederick March is a rising politician with no noticeable moral qualities on the verge of his wedding (to classy Susan Hayward) and an election, who is caught up in a series of increasingly compromising situations with a witch come back to take revenge on his ancestor, in the form of Veronica Lake.
But, for my money, you'd be hard pressed to find a more likeable Rom-Com this side of Thorne Smith's other comedic creation, Cosmo Topper, in "Topper Takes a Trip" or "Topper Returns".The plot, partly taken from Smith's unfinished "The Passionate Witch" is more logical than the novel, which was finished by Smith's collaborator Norman Matson after his death.The film follows a more typical Rom-Com formula (Witch meets boy, falls in love with boy, and marries his ancestor 200 years later) than the book, but never mind.
Rene Clair directed this clever comedy that stars Frederic March as several generations of the Wooley family, starting with Jonathan Wooley, who has condemned two witches named Daniel & Jennifer(played by Cecil Kellaway & Veronica Lake) who are father & daughter.
Now in love with him, she tries desperately to save him from the curse and her vengeful father...Veronica Lake was perfectly cast here, stunningly beautiful and alluring, aided by a witty script and effective direction.
Ten years after taping this from AMC and about thirty after first reading about this in the East Baton Rouge Parish Library film listings (when they used to show movies on Saturday afternoons or weeknights), I finally watched Rene Clair's adaptation of Thorne Smith's I Married a Witch starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake.
What a wonderful fantasy-comedy-romance concerning the two leads and surrounded by such hilarious supporting performances of Robert Benchley, Cecil Kellaway, a young Susan Hayward, and that lady who kept singing "I Love You Truly" (Helen St. Rayner)!
Good Haloween romance comedy with a screwball flavor.Veronica Lake is enchanting despite her lack of acting skill and we even get some extra flavor from Susan Hayward!March is somewhat miscast but still manages to pull it off.Great special effects for 1942 and also makes a good prequel to the Bewitched TV series.An essential cult classic for fans of Haloween comedies.Almost a mainstream classic if it only had a more longer running time.Only for fans of the genre and fans of the lead actors......
I Married a Witch (1942) *** (out of 4) A witch is burned at the stake but comes back years later as a beautiful woman (Veronia Lake) to take revenge on a relative (Fredric March) of the man who had her killed in Rene Clair's comedy.
Susan Hayward adds nice support but it's Cecil Kellaway who steals the film as Lake's Warlock father..
It's Jennifer who together with her warlock dad Daniel,Cecil Kallaway, who came back to life with the help of a lighting strike to hunt the decedent of puritan Nathaniel Wooley, Fredric March, who condemned them both to death back in the 17th century for practicing witchcraft.
Working together as a team Jennifer and her dad Daniel take aim at Nathaniel's great-to something like the 10th generation-grandson Jonathon Wooley also played by Fredic March who's expected to win the election for the state governor as well as planning to marry pretty red-head Estelle Masterson, Susan Hayward, the same evening as part of a double-header!With Jennifer suddenly coming on the scene with her making Johathon save her life in a hotel fire he ends up cooked with his both political and marriage lives in her taking control of them.
But this all changes 200 years later when lightning strikes the tree and releases their spirits back into the world of the living-and the first place Daniel and Veronica go is to the house of a man named "Wallace Wooley" (also played by Fredric March) who is a direct descendent of Jonathan Wooley-and he is soon to be married to a woman named "Estelle Masterson" (Susan Hayward).
I'm also always intrigued when I learn that the two leads in a film didn't get on, as was apparently the case here with old stager Fredric March and young whippersnapper Veronica Lake and yet you'd hardly notice any of that in front of the camera.In short the movie's a delight with March and the much younger Lake perhaps in their mutual enmity inadvertently finding the spark which helps the comedy here.
He's the stuffed shirt would-be senator being led by the nose to marry the shrewish daughter of a rich newspaper magnate, while she's the mischievous witchy offspring of an eternal warlock dating back to the Salem witch-trials who harbours a grudge against the descendants of the witch-finder general who saw him burned back in 1670, whose present-day representative just happens to be March's Wallace Wooley character.March proves himself adept at screwball comedy but Lake steals the picture with her smoky-voiced sexiness as well as excellent comedic timing.
There are several funny scenes like the on-off-on-off wedding to March's haughty fiancee played by Susan Hayward and the witty years-later epilogue with the happy coup!e coming to realise that one of their own daughters might also be a witch.Miss Lake reportedly stood less than 5' high and this film runs for only 71 minutes but both these facts are proof that good things definitely come in small sizes..
If you're in for a good laugh, go for it; just know what you're getting into.Veronica Lake, a witch, and her father, Cecil Kellaway, have been tormenting a particular family since the Salem witch trials.
Burnt as a witch, Veronica Lake (Jennifer) and her father Cecil Kellaway (Daniel) put a curse on Fredric March (Wooley) and his descendants so that they will always be unlucky in love.
Veronica Lake is great as witch Jennifer, who with her father (Cecil Kellaway) was burned alive 270 years ago.
I Married a Witch was a good fantasy/comedy that could have been a great one if it were not for the fact that the leading man and lady couldn't stand each other.Fredric March thought Veronica Lake was a no-talent studio creation and Lake thought March a would be rake who was put out because she wouldn't give him a tumble.
A twenty year old Veronica Lake is "Jennifer", who had put a curse on the Wooley family for all time.
Some fun co-stars helping out - the low key Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward (will go on to win an Oscar 15 years later), and Jennifer's father ( Cecil Kellaway, from Postman...) There is a scene where Jennifer gets out of Wooley's bed as the housekeeper walks in, and the housekeeper is shocked - pretty rough stuff for 1942.
Luckily, the sorceress in this romantic-comedy is open to other colors than black.When the spirit of burnt witch, Jennifer (Veronica Lake), is freed from the tree holding her captive, she's released on Salem in the 1940s.
Eventually Jennifer encounters the descendant of the puritan (Fredric March) she cursed to never find true love, only to find him vying for governorship, and engaged to the daughter (Susan Hayward) of his biggest financial supporter.In a twist of fate, however, the enchantress ends up falling for the candidate on the day of his wedding.An old Hollywood romance with a dash of Paganism, this amiable albeit naïve witch's tale is surprisingly funny, but poorly acted on the part of its stunning starlet.Incidentally, when you divorce a witch she's entitled to half your life essence.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
270 years ago in Salem, a witch and her father were burned at the the stake by a New England Puritan, who is cursed along with all his descendants by black magic and will never find happiness in romance; jump ahead to the present day (circa 1942), the witches are released from their holding spot and the bewitching lass discovers the latest descendant is a handsome politician with a shrew for a fiancée (the witch's father tells her men always marry the wrong woman--it's the girls who get away who cause the real unhappiness).
And, even though this seemed to be the case, I'm pretty certain that movie-audiences back in 1942 loved this crummy, brain-dead comedy to pieces and excitedly looked forward to more of the same from Hollywood.When it came to absolutely annoying, grate-on-your-nerves characters, I'd say that the petite, peek-a-boo girl, Veronica Lake, as Jennifer, the witchy witch, had me repeatedly cringing with contempt for her every time she appeared on screen (no matter how attractive the make-up artists tried to make her look).Incompetently directed by Rene Clair (who was obviously just a bungling boob who knew nothing about directing coherent comedy), I have now completely sworn off ever watching another stupid and sickening Screwball comedy, ever-ever again..
However she places a curse on her accusers that they will always find misery in love.The witch aided by her despicable father returns in the present day as a beautiful woman (Veronica Lake).
She plans to take revenge on the descendants of one of her accusers (Fredric March) who is about to get married and is also running for political office.However in this comedy by Rene Clair, the curse goes awry and she ends up falling in love with him.This is a charming film, rather risqué in places with sharp insights about politics.Both March and Lake make the most of their roles as they have a topsy turvy relationship but Cecil Kellaway is the scene stealer as Lake's father who uses magic to cause mayhem..
It's a cute but pretty forgettable little comedy about a modern-day descendant (Fredric March) of a family patriarch who was cursed by a witch way back when and condemned to a legacy of bad marriages.
Luckily for him, a slinky little witch played by Veronica Lake reappears after an absence of a couple of hundred years to make mischief, notably by making March fall in love with her instead.
Unluckily for him, the witch's father (Cecil Kellaway) also comes along and gets up to much meaner hijinks (like setting skyscrapers on fire), which include interfering when his daughter starts to develop feelings of her own for the man she's bewitched.Much is likable about the film, but little sparkles.
Served as French film pyrotechnist René Clair's second Hollywood venture when he was a hired- hand by the studios, I MARRIED A WITCH cashes in on a light-hearted script about witchcraft and head-over-heels romance, and headlined by a 20-year-old Veronica Lake (in her iconic peekaboo coiffure) and a visibly too-old-for-the-bachelor-role Fredric March.The fatuous story develops around a witch Jennifer (Lake), after miraculously awaken by a thunder striking the oak tree where she and her sorcerer father Daniel (Kellaway) were burned centuries ago, now is frivolously bent on seeking revenge from Wallace Wooley (March), the descendant of her denouncer in Salem, by seducing the latter into marry her, so that she can break his heart.
Veronica Lake is Jennifer and Cecil Kellaway is her father, Daniel.
Now Morley Wooley (March) is slated to marry beautiful vixen Estelle (Hayward) until witch Jennifer (Lake) decides to enter the picture.
Veronica Lake's fooling, charming, biting witch (released from the trunk of a tree by a freak lightning storm, she returns to upset the household and descendants of the man who had her burnt a few hundred years earlier) was a role that suited her to perfection: she was a spry, punchy little cockerel from Broolklyn  breeding ground of other feisty spirits such as Clara Bow, Barbara Stanwyck, Mae West and Susan Hayward  whose beauty hid brains, and whose brains worked fast to seize a chance and make the most of it...
It is about two witches named Jennifer (Veronica Lake)and her father who are burned at the stake, and their remains are trapped in a tree.
The great René Clair's whimsical fantasy featuring the unlikely pairing of Fredric March & Veronica Lake.
Johnathan Wooley is a Puritan who denounced Jennifer(Veronica Lake) and her father Daniel(Cecil Kelloway) as witches and sorcerers, and had them burned at the stake.
If you like the TV series "Bewitched," you'll like this whimsical Thorne Smith comedy because the TV series is a direct rip off.Veronica Lake and Cecil Callaway are witches in colonial New England consigned to live inside a tree by the Wooley family of Puritans.
Frederick March is excellent as the modern descendant, and Veronica Lake is quite good as the witch.