FANTASIA OBSCURA: If You Thought Bewitched Was The First Witch-Mortal Marriage, Think Again…
There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, the love you take is far greater than the love you make…
I Married a Witch (1942)
Distributed by: United Artists
Directed by: Rene Clair
They say the universe was created in fury, all matter spewing forth from a point of singularity. Then when it came time for Earth to form, rocks of all sizes smashed into each other to build a planet. And then to reach this point, a series of catastrophic extinctions flayed the globe, killing of trilobites and dinosaurs to give us a chance.
All of which, had they thought about it, might have offered some comfort to the crew working on this film…
Our film opens during a time the title card describes as a “Long, long time ago, when people still believed in witches…” Here we find the smoke rising from the ashes of the burnt Jennifer, observed by the crowd to whom popcorn is sold as entertainment by plucky vendors. Among the crowd is Jonathan Wooley (Frederich March), who had denounced Jennifer as a witch after his having been enticed by her in a hayloft to pursue an engagement.
…and if that doesn’t strike you as a #MeToo moment, let’s unpack that for a second…
For having played with Jennifer, Master Wooley was cursed by her to never know happiness in love. With his wife-to-be Constance (Susan Hayward) threatening offering a firm hand to keep him in line, we see the curse has started to take hold before Jennifer’s father Daniel has been put aflame, after which an oak tree is to be planed upon their remains to insure that the witches’ spirits stay interned in the ground.
From there we see a sequence of Wooleys (all March) and their partners (all Hayward) having relationship issues right up until the 1940s, when we watch Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Wallace Wooley (March) at an engagement party-cum-campaign stop not getting along at all with his intended, Estelle Masterson (Hayward), daughter of Wooley’s biggest backer, JB (Robert Warwick). Centuries of the curse continue on unabated, with the latest Wooley a truly miserable creature despite his likely success.
And the misery just expounds when lightning cracks the old oak, releasing the witches. They manifest as puffs of smoke, with Daniel and Jennifer’s voices being provided by Cecil Kellaway and Veronica Lake. Jennifer, however, impatiently desires a body with which to better torture Wallace with. So, with Daddy’s help, she reforms corporally via a spell that allows her to manifest (into Veronica Lake herself) after setting fire to the Pilgrim Hotel, setting up the first meeting between the leads:
She tries hard to seduce Wallace and ruin his marriage and political career, but he keeps putting her off. Wanting to bump it up a notch, she brews a love potion to make him fall for her, but when she accidentally bumps her head and goes unconscious, Wallace gives her the draught instead. Which means that from now on, when she throws herself at him, it’s no longer part of a plot to get him in position to kill him or worse…
Which is certainly evidence of some kind of witchcraft, as Lake and March were hardly above wanting to do away with each other during the film, by the black arts or other means. Before production started, March was quoted as saying that Lake was, “a brainless little blonde sexpot, void of any acting ability.” Word got back to Lake, who made March’s life hell on the set by any means necessary, including sticking her foot into his groin in scenes they had together where the two were shot from the waist up.
There probably was some kind of curse on the film much like the ones the Wooleys suffered, considering the talent that came and left during production. Preston Sturges was originally attached to produce, with Dalton Trumbo to do the script adaptation (the original source being The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith). But Trumbo could not get along with Sturges, and after Trumbo left Sturges abandoned the film after clashing with Clair, whom the studio backed over the producer.
And yet somehow, it came together. To some extent, March’s assessment of Lake’s abilities were not that far off the mark, and her looks make up for her deficiencies only to a point. Still, she manages to convince us that she does feel passion for her ex-victim, and March to his 
credit is very professional in getting us to believe that yes, he does have attraction for his tormentor. Without the two of them being able to sell us on this relationship, the film would have folded in on itself.
The rest of the cast is also quite good, especially Hayward and Kellaway. They have a good script from Robert Pirosh and Marc Connelly to work with, with some decent gags to keep the film moving. And the score from Roy Webb is a wonderful bonus atop everything else.
It’s ironic that the film contains a storyline that acts in the past would reverberate through the generations: In interviews about his career, writer and producer Sol Saks credited this movie, as well as the film Bell Book and Candle, with the inspiration for his best known work:
The success of Bewitched and the impact it had on not only television but the growing feminist consciousness of the time seems all the more amazing when one considers how hard a task it was for its inspiration to get to the screen.
Thankfully, this time, no dinosaurs were harmed in the making of this production…
NEXT TIME: FOR RENT: Brooklyn (Park Slope): 2 BR/1 B, blocks from 2 and 3 train, great views, quiet neighbor, enchanted setting…
