I Married a Witch (1942) - Stars shine in Clair's bubbly screwball fantasy magic

♥♥♥♥♥

 

A sexually charged and very elegant poster for René Clair's I Married a Witch

A refined gentleman, who is poised to marry a fine woman, has his plans altered when he rescues a strange blond out of a burning hotel. This alluring female turns out to be a centuries old witch, who wants to change his life drastically!

 

I Married a Witch is written by Marc Connelly (Reunion in France (1942)) and Robert Pirosh (A Gathering of Eagles (1963)), with André Rigaud (Bright Eyes (1929)), Dalton Trumbo (Hawaii (1966)) and co-writer/producer/director, great French filmmaker René Clair (Paris Asleep/Paris qui Dort (1925)) contributing lines. It is an adaptation of The Passionate Witch (1941) by Thorne Smith (Rain in the Doorway (1933), finalized after his death by Norman H. Matson.

With a stunning visual energy (cinematography by Ted Tetzlaff (I Want a Divorce (1940))) and a splendid special effects tangent, I Married a Witch is an atypical screwball comedy that waltzes right into your heart and activates your laugh muscles. Fredric March (The Buccaneer (1938)) is a joy as usual, and he is wonderfully matched here with Veronica Lake (Isn't It Romantic (1948)), who is almost superhumanly lovely, - and a bit eerie, - as a cute housewife with allure and frighteningly huge power. A prime example of the 'monstrous female' on film.

Cecil Kellaway (Spinout (1966)) who plays Lake's father in the film is also delightful. Witty dialog, a rapidly flowing plot, and a beautifully carried out production, I Married a Witch is cheeky fun all the way. A bright favorite. 

 

Related post:

 

René Clair: Entr'acte (1924, short) - Clair's creative experiment in movement

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Approximately 2.75 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a huge hit (projected return of 6.5 times its cost)

[I Married a Witch was released 30 October (North America) and runs 77 minutes. Shooting took place from April - May 1942 in Los Angeles, California. Hostilities ran between March and Lake during the shoot. Variety reported that the film earned a 1.1 mil. $ rental figure in North America, coming to approximately 2.75 mil. $ in box office. The foreign release was impeded by WWII and went slow over the next several years, likely with similarly stunted results. A 3.25 mil. $ final gross projection takes this into account, while a projected cost of 500k $ belies March, - the film's leading star's salary level of 100k $ per picture at the time. This would make the film a huge hit. It was nominated for one Oscar, for Best Music, Drama/Comedy (Roy Webb (Top Secret Affair (1957))), lost to Max Steiner for Now, Voyager. Clair returned with a segment in Forever and a Day (1943) and with an entire feature with It Happened Tomorrow (1944). March returned in The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944); Lake in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942). I Married a Witch is fresh at 96 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of I Married a Witch?

Entr'acte (1924, short) - Clair's creative experiment in movement

♥♥♥

A later made, pleasant poster for René Clair's Entr'acte

Here's a man, who is shooting a ball. A parrot sits on his hat. Then he jumps from a building. A camel attends his funeral procession along with a lot of men jumping.

Entr'acte is a famous short film by co-writer-director René Clair (The Grand Maneuver/Les Grandes Manoeuvres (1955)), which was created to function as an intermission [entr'acte] piece to be shown between the two acts of a production of the Relâche [canceled] ballet in Paris. Clair wrote it with fellow Dadaist artist Francis Picabia, who wrote the ballet. The film is an example of the Cinéma pur and absolute film movements of the time that occupied especially European filmmakers and French Dadaist artists. You can read more about these movements that scoffed at narratives and conventions in favor of movement and experiments here.
Entr'acte especially plays with slow-motion and super-impositions of up to four images at once. It is an amusing cinematic study in movement. Its interest for each viewer will depend a lot on one's own interest and patience for these sort of things.

Watch a 3-minute clip from the short here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[Entr'acte was first shown in the US on December 4 and runs 22 minutes. It was shot in Paris with music by Eric Satie (The Royal Tennenbaums (2001), soundtrack). The short is available as an extra on the Criterion DVD release of Clair's feature À Nous la Liberté (1931). 2,613 IMDb-users have given Entr'acte an average 7.5/10 rating.]

What do you think of Entr'acte?