31 Days of Halloween: I Married a Witch

1942,  René Clair (And Then There Were None) -- download

Of note, as we watch one or more episodes of "Below" or "Carrie" every night, until they are gone, I notice I am sacrificing movies. I don't want to write about each episode, as the whole (conclusion?) will be the proper writeup, but... I will probably plug in some fillers later on the month, but admittedly I don't have as many choices The Peanut Gallery is not interested in this year.

Cute. Made by a French film director during his American exile during WWII, this movie is a comic fantasy about two burned-at-the-stake witches from Salem who come back to "life" when the tree that has entombed them is struck by lighting. The witches have laid a curse upon the family who condemned them, causing all the men in the family line to marry/love "the wrong woman". They, Jennifer (Veronica Lake, This Gun for Hire; interesting, though her name is common place in "classic black & white movies" I could look at her list and identify a single one that stood out) and her father Daniel (Cecil Kellaway, Harvey), come out of the tree as Wallace Wooley (Frederic March, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde), a man set upon becoming Governor, is about to marry Estelle (Susan Hayward, The Fighting Seabees), though its very apparent that she is only doing this because her father, backing Wooley's campaign, demands it of her. Jennifer immediately sets about ruining his life, that is, until her love potion backfires.

Screwball comedy. Kent's been wading through the tag, much to my surprise, so he has a better handle on what makes one screwball, but in this one, its because Jennifer is constantly wandering around making Wally's life worse, even when she shifts gears for him instead of against him. Apparently Lake and March did not get along on set, her going so far to fiddle with his faddle under the table when the cameras were waist up. He was 25 years her senior then but didn't appreciate this new upstart actor playing games with him. But to be honest, she was absolutely stunning, and really into this oddball, and more than a little naughty, role.

So, yeah Jennifer and her father emerge from the tree as wisps of smoke. While Daddy sets about causing chaos at the "Pilgrim Hotel", Jennifer uses it as an opportunity to become a once again fully formed female, who Wally rushes into the burning hotel to save. She's naked, but they find a decent fur coat and leather boots, and escape out a door just before the place collapses. She's not exactly skilled in what it means to be human, but Wally isn't noticing.

The fire actually propels campaign hopefuls forward, but kind of ruins his chances of getting married, as Jennifer ends up in his bed over night. She wants him to fall for her, he still loves his fiancé, I guess, sort of? She's a bit of a shrew. But Daniel reminds Jennifer of love potions, exceeeept, she gets bonked on the head by a painting and accidentally quaffs down the cold refreshing ... love potion. So, now Jennifer may still be an Evil Witch set upon destroying humanity, except she really loves Wally. Well, Magically Really. 

Once she has successfully ruined any chances of Wally marrying Estelle, which also ruins any chance of him becoming Governor, she admits she's a witch and proves it by magic-ing up a complete landslide win -- the opposition doesn't even vote for themself. Except Daddy isn't happy with that and takes away her powers; she should not be telling the Mortals what she really is. 

The couple tries to escape but their cab driver has been replaced by Daddy, who flies the cab, and then slams it into the tree, killing the two of them (dark!). A grieving Wally returns Jennifer's body to the country inn where the two witches first spied Wallace and Jennifer revives her body, which is returned to full witchy power, and traps Daddy in a bottle of whiskey.

Some time later we see the happy family, three kids, one of whom is starting to show her own witchy powers.  And Daddy is still in the whiskey bottle, which is corked under a heavy duty weight and behind a pad-locked door over the mantle. The End.

I wonder what the state of Witches of Halloween was during the making of this movie. I mean, The Wizard of Oz was only a few years ago, and the classic image of the green faced hag in a pointy hat must have made many a costume party in years following, but there is nary a trope in this movie, but for spells and riding a broom. Part of me also wonders whether this movie, and the novel from which it was based, was inspiration for the later TV series Bewitched.