I Married a Witch: The Wedding That Never Ends

Massachusetts, 1650: A crowd of soberly clad Puritans celebrates their victory over some pesky local witches. But Jonathan Woolley isn’t so sure celebration is in order, because one witch, who took the form of a beautiful young woman, cursed him. It was an odd curse, dooming him and all of his descendants to unhappy marriages. Jonathan scoffs; but the next scenes show his descendants marrying the wrong woman generation after generation.

Robert Benchley, Fredric March, and Susan Hayward

Now we meet the present day (well, 1942) scion of the Woolley family, Wallace (Fredric March). Wally is a rising politician preparing to run for governor, and it looks like the curse that bedeviled the family has been broken, since he is engaged to a beautiful society girl, Estelle (Susan Hayward).

It looks like the curse has been broken — until we get to know Estelle a little better. Lovely, beautifully dressed, rich, and poised, she is also a class-A shrew. Pampered and demanding, she wants what she wants when she wants it, and nobody had better get in her way. And she’s not sorry one bit.

Fortunately for Wally, as it turns out, the spirits of the witch who cursed his ancestors so long ago and her powerful father have escaped once again into the world of humans. Jennifer the witch (Veronica Lake) and Daniel, her wicked 3,000 year-old sire, set out to cause more mischief — though things don’t exactly go according to her plan. Intending to seduce Wally on the eve of his wedding, Jennifer falls madly in love with him instead.

Jennifer works on her unbreakable love potion

This delicious comedy sees American history, politics, relationships, and society through the ironic, playful eyes of French director Rene Clair. The plot is farcical, and like all good farces depends on mix-ups, in this case a love potion gone wrong.

But most entrancing are the performances. March’s Wally is a born politician — pompous, bombastic, and always ready with a suitable cliche. He’s quite a nice person, but his first response to almost anything is to make a speech. Veronica Lake is charming as Jennifer, first as she rediscovers the world of flesh, and then when she falls head over heels in love. Cecil Kellaway is her father, Daniel, sly, malevolent, and extremely powerful — but, fortunately for humanity, devoted to demon rum. Robert Benchley is fun as always as Wally’s best friend, Dudley.

Ready to tie the knot — seriously

But I think Susan Hayward, as Wally’s fiancee, Estelle, runs away with the picture, or the scenes she’s in, anyway. One can imagine all too clearly how this gorgeous redheaded Bridezilla planned the elaborate ceremony in Wally’s historic family home. Everything had to be perfect or she would know the reason why.

Wally’s house is smothered in decorations

The timbered front hall is festooned with about 10, 000 white roses, silk draperies, a full orchestra, and an unfortunate soprano whose seemingly simple assignment is to sing “I Love You Truly” as the happy couple proceed up the aisle.

“I love you truly…”

By the time the wedding is imminent, though, Jennifer is determined to save Wally from his fate, and stop the wedding any way possible. This includes calling up a sudden gale force windstorm — inside the house — and, eventually, pretending to drop dead.

A windstorm interrupts the wedding

Wally dutifully attempts to play his part, morning coat, spats, striped ascot, and all, and he starts up the aisle with the lovely but steaming Estelle about six times, with disastrous results every time. Just in case, he slips up the stairs to pacify Jennifer. Finally, growling “He’ll pay for this!” under her breath, Estelle storms upstairs and discovers Wally with Jennifer in his arms. Now she doesn’t want to marry him — she wants to ruin him.

“He’ll pay for this,” Estelle growls

Her brown eyes flashing, Estelle chooses a becomingly lit place to stand in front of the photographers and dramatically faints dead away in her father’s arms. Then she revives, prettily, and describes in heart-wrenching terms how Wally has betrayed her.

The poor soprano, misunderstanding the situation, starts to sing once more, only to be rudely told, “Will you shut up!” by Estelle’s father.

Wally and Jennifer sneak off and marry quietly

Wally and Jennifer flee to the countryside, where they are able to find a Justice of the Peace to marry them quietly, with no fuss. It might be a sign of Rene Clair’s French sophistication that in the scene pictured above, married couple Wally and Jennifer sit together on a double bed — breaking one of the ridiculous taboos imposed by the production code!

Of course, this isn’t the end of their troubles — for one thing, Daniel is extremely irate at his daughter having betrayed the witch’s first duty to torment mankind, not fall madly in love with one of them. And Wally’s quest for the governorship seems doomed — but is it?

I don’t know why this charming movie is not better known, except that it came out just at the start of World War 2, and might have seemed too frivolous. Fredric March might not be thought of as a comedy star, but he is very funny in this, as a guy who can find a platitude for any situation, Veronica Lake is delightful, and Cecil Kellaway does his best to steal every scene he’s in. This sprightly, cheerful film practically defines romantic comedy, with the added spice of real magic.

Cecil Kellaway as the ancient and wicked Daniel

4 thoughts on “I Married a Witch: The Wedding That Never Ends

  1. I watched this film for the first time around Halloween and it was quite a bit of fun! The wedding in particular was quite memorable, making it a great choice for the blogathon! A fun article for a fun movie.

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