It’s tough to imagine a movie aging better than the screwball comedy I Married a Witch: We get one of the too-precious-few starring roles for a prime Veronica Lake, an all-time Hollywood firecracker. She’s in feisty sexy gremlin mode here. Her utter disregard for man’s society feels liberated and the exact opposite of fusty, a total delight to watch 84 years later. Director René Clair’s depiction of mischievous magic is cauldrons of fun, and the central storytelling gimmick of Lake’s witch Jennifer accidentally using a love potion on herself, flipping the film’s original dynamic on its head, is inspired. Romantic co-lead Wallace Wooley (Fredric March) is just fine but mostly gets out of Lake’s way.
Where the film stumbles is in the final act when a new conflict emerges after Jennifer and Wallace get together that turns Jennifer’s father Daniel (Cecil Kellaway) into an antagonist. It’s significantly less fun than everything that leads up to it, but not enough to blunt the overall delight of I Married a Witch.
This review appeared in Goodie Bag: Witch Movies
Is It Good?
Very Good (6/8)
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