I Married a Witch (1942)

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Veronica Lake casts a seductive spell as a charmingly vengeful sorceress in this supernatural screwball classic. Many centuries after cursing the male descendants of the Salem puritan who sent her to the stake, this blonde bombshell with a broomstick finds herself drawn to one of them—a prospective governor (Fredric March) about to marry a spoiled socialite (Susan Hayward). The most delightful of the films the innovative French director René Clair made in Hollywood, I Married a Witch is a comic confection bursting with playful special effects and sparkling witticisms.

[ponderingtheuniverse]

I was surprised to see that no thread for this film existed on here, so I thought I'd make the thread myself.

I watched it first on the Criterion Channel in September and then the blu-ray last month. It makes a perfect film for the last months of the year, October through December. I'd love for this to get a new and even better restoration. There were times the print looked rough and the audio not as good as it should be. Nevertheless, I am glad that Criterion considered this film worthy enough to be in the collection. Its a cute little comfort film everyone should see at least once.

[Winslow Leach]

I MARRIED A WITCH is one of the funniest, most charming comedies ever to come out of Hollywood. Wonderful film.

[Alls Wills]

I love this movie! I've had the blu-ray since it released nearly a decade ago.

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Originally Posted by Winslow Leach

I MARRIED A WITCH is one of the funniest, most charming comedies ever to come out of Hollywood. Wonderful film.

Just like Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, Veronica Lake and Fredric March's personal troubles with each other didn't seem to really leak into the film at all. Its a shame this is the only film they did together and didn't like each other because they had great chemistry in this.

For a film thats eighty years old, the practical effects haven't aged badly at all and what I feel is a part of the charm of the film. Its too bad we didn't get a new, upgraded release for its eightieth anniversary last year.

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Originally Posted by Alls Wills

I love this movie! I've had the blu-ray since it released nearly a decade ago.

This year does make it a decade since the Criterion release! I wish I had discovered it earlier than last year. Though I can say that for a lot of things I watched last year.

[traths]

There wasn't a thread created for this release until today?

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Originally Posted by traths

There wasn't a thread created for this release until today?

On the page for the release, at the bottom under forum discussions, it says "No related forum discussions for I Married a Witch yet." Since it said that, I assumed no one made one for the film after all this time, so I made the thread today.

[Mr. Thomsen]

People in NY has a chance to watch it on the big screen this month at MoMa.

It even appears to be a new digital restoration by the LoC and the Film Foundation. Interestingly, MoMa also states it is screened courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA).

As is the case with many independent productions, the original elements of I Married a Witch took a serious beating as the film passed from distributor to distributor, and for this restoration the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center of the Library of Congress digitally combined three sources to recover the film’s striking visual quality.

https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/8368

[Dragon78]

Never heard of this one.

[Beckford]

An excellent movie. But I've always thought it would have been even better with Joel McCrea and Paulette Goddard in the leads. These two were in peak form in the early 40's and were practically born to play these roles.

[sb5]

Originally Posted by Beckford

An excellent movie. But I've always thought it would have been even better with Joel McCrea and Paulette Goddard in the leads. These two were in peak form in the early 40's and were practically born to play these roles.

It was originally supposed to be Joel McCrea, but he pulled out because he had had enough of Lake after Sullivan’s Travels.

[Beckford]

Originally Posted by sb5

It was originally supposed to be Joel McCrea, but he pulled out because he had had enough of Lake after Sullivan’s Travels.

Yes, I'd heard that. He'd have probably been happy to do it opposite Goddard.
With her delicious cracked-ice voice, mischievous sense of fun and all-round sexiness she'd have been a bewitching dream in the part.

[50strat54]

Cute film.

I bought it because I love Bewitched and thought this was partially the idea behind the TV series.

I also love Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid kind of an early Splash.

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

People in NY has a chance to watch it on the big screen this month at MoMa.

It even appears to be a new digital restoration by the LoC and the Film Foundation. Interestingly, MoMa also states it is screened courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA).



https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/8368

When I saw the tweet about it, I hope it meant good news in terms of a new restoration coming out in (the possible near) future.

And this is just a little fun fact (not having anything to do with the restoration), but Grandmama Addams from the original Addams Family television show, who was played by Marie Blake aka Bossom Rock, played the small part of Jonathan Wooley's fiancée at the beginning of the film. Talk about hilarious in hindsight given what kind of character she'd play in the future.

[dig311dug]

great title... thought it was getting a 4k release with the posting of this thread!
Veronica Lake in 4k? humminahumminahummina

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Originally Posted by dig311dug

great title... thought it was getting a 4k release with the posting of this thread!
Veronica Lake in 4k? humminahumminahummina

I'm sorry if I got your hopes up by making the thread. I wish I could've been making a thread announcing it in 4K, but who knows when or if we'll get it. I'd love to see her in 4K too.

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Let me just start this out with no, unfortunately, this is not a 4K announcement. I was just checking the Criterion Forum of the blu-ray and someone mentioned that they saw the screening of the new LOC/AGFA back in January and said that it indeed looked better than the current Criterion release. I really don't know how likely it will be that this will ever get a 4K release, but we do know that a better restoration out there exists. In fact, here are screencaps from AGFA's page on the film:







Oddly enough, it mentions Shout! Factory under the title on the AGFA page.

Also, I just learned that Ann Carter, best known as Amy Reed from Curse of the Cat People, played the uncredited part at the end of the film as Wallace and Jennifer's daughter, Jennifer.

[Areyakiddin]

Originally Posted by ponderingtheuniverse

Let me just start this out with no, unfortunately, this is not a 4K announcement. I was just checking the Criterion Forum of the blu-ray and someone mentioned that they saw the screening of the new LOC/AGFA back in January and said that it indeed looked better than the current Criterion release. I really don't know how likely it will be that this will ever get a 4K release, but we do know that a better restoration out there exists. In fact, here are screencaps from AGFA's page on the film:

[Show spoiler]

Oddly enough, it mentions Shout! Factory under the title on the AGFA page.

Also, I just learned that Ann Carter, best known as Amy Reed from Curse of the Cat People, played the uncredited part at the end of the film as Wallace and Jennifer's daughter, Jennifer.

FYI, Shout! Factory owns this movie through their ownership of Westchester Films.

[ponderingtheuniverse]

Originally Posted by Areyakiddin

FYI, Shout! Factory owns this movie through their ownership of Westchester Films.

I didn't know that. It explains why they're listed on there. Does that mean that Criterion doesn't own the rights (anymore?)