Down here in New Orleans we are experiencing the worst winter in 30 years, and considering people around here can't even drive in the rain, most of the city is shut down because of the 'winter weather.' I'm not complaining because I only had to work a half day at work and I spent the rest of the day in bed catching up on some good ol' me time. After watching a documentary about Candy Darling (Beautiful Darling - 2010) on Netflix, I hopped over to my Hulu Plus app because I remembered they had the Criterion Collection films. I've always been intrigued by the lovely Veronica Lake for awhile, but have yet to watch one of her films. When I saw her 1942 film I Married A Witch, I had no other option but to watch it!
I Married A Witch (1942)
When she finishes with him, he won't know witch is which!
The Players:
Fredric March as Wallace Wooley/The Wooley Men
Veronica Lake as Jennifer
Robert Benchley as Dr. Dudley White
Susan Hayward as Estelle Masterson
The Story:
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 about to marry a spoiled socialite. [Criterion]
My Favorite Scene:
Although the whole film was charming, I couldn't stop laughing throughout the troubled wedding ceremony. Poor Wallace didn't stand a chance against Jennifer and her father's powers. But it wasn't even them who kept me laughing, it was the lady singing at the wedding. She was certainly a trooper restarting the love song every time they were going to start the wedding again.
Trivia & Tidbits:
It seems Veronica wasn't the most professional person to deal with on set. She delighted in playing pranks on her co-star Fredric, which seemed to be a pattern of hers because her co-star in Sullivan's Travels (1941), Joel McCrea, declined to do this film because he didn't want to work with Lake again. This film was also part of the inspiration behind Sol Saks writing the beloved television show Bewitched (1964).
My Thoughts:
This film about a 17th century witch who comes back in 'modern times' to haunt the family of her persecutor was the perfect introduction to this pint sized starlet. Her gorgeous childlike screen popped off the screen in every scene. She honestly over shadowed the debonair Fredric March throughout most of the film and I couldn't get enough of her voice, it was so full of character.
Overall Rating:
Interesting trivia here. Especially on Joel not wanting to work with Lake again. I've never been a fan and I'm probably alone in saying that while she was interesting in the looks department (no denying that) I didn't care for her acting abilities and she bored me to tears on more than one occasion. (My apologies to the Veronica Lake fan clubs out there!)
ReplyDeleteAlso, seeing the poster for IMAW reminds me of something my mother used to say to us all of the time when we were kids. "Get your hair out of your eyes, Donna Peelman!" See, when my mother was a little girl, her neighbor Donna Peelman always had her hair in her eyes so her mother said the same to her and her sister. She carried that on to me and my sisters. It used to drive us crazy when she said that to us. I've never forgotten it though and I'm guessing if my mother were to see this poster she would yell it to Veronica or while looking at any glam photo of her. ha ha
All the best!
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