I Married a Witch.

Review #1955: I Married a Witch.

Cast: 

Fredric March (Jonathan Wooley), Veronica Lake (Jennifer Wooley), Cecil Kellaway (Daniel), Susan Hayward (Estelle Masterson), Robert Benchley (Dr. Dudley White), Elizabeth Patterson (Margaret), Eily Malyon (Tabitha Wooley), Robert Warwick (J.B. Masterson), Mary Field (Nancy Wooley), Nora Cecil (Harriet Wooley), Ann Carter (Jennifer Wooley), and Aldrich Bowker (Justice of the Peace) Produced and Directed by René Clair.

Review: 

To start with a director, the middle is sometimes a pretty good idea. René Clair was a director of various films over four decades, born to a soap merchant in Paris in 1898. He served in World War I as an ambulance driver before becoming a journalist. His film career came to start because of persuasion by Damia (the stage name of singer Marie-Louise Damien) to visit the Gaumont film studio, which ended up resulting in him getting cast as a lead role in acting. He became an editor to a film magazine in 1922 before doing a bit of travelling to Belgium and subsequently becoming an assistant director to Jacques de Baroncelli. In 1924, he got his chance to direct with a couple of shorts in The Crazy Ray [Paris qui dort] and Entr'acte before his first feature film came with The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge [Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge] (1925). By the time the silent era was over, he developed a reputation as one of the most notable French names in cinema. His sound features would be an interesting case. Le Million (1931) and À nous la liberté (1931) were noted classics involving Paris, but the failure of The Last Billionaire [Le Dernier Milliardaire] (1934) was not only a flop but also the last film he did in France for years. A deal with Alexander Korda while in London led to a deal between the two to make films together, and Korda directed two films for him (The Ghost Goes West and Break the News). He then moved to America and directed a handful of feature films, which started with The Flame of New Orleans (1941). He did not return to France until 1947. He directed four films in America for various studios. His reputation dipped in light of the French New Wave deeming him a member of the establishment, with his last film being The Lace Wars [Les Fêtes galantes] (1965). Clair died at the age 82 in 1981.

 

The film is an adaptation of the book The Passionate Witch, which was being written by Thorne Smith (best known for his two ghost books in Topper) prior to his death in 1934 that saw Norman H. Matson finish it to see publication in 1941. Robert Pirosh and Marc Connelly are credited with the screenplay, but several writers were left uncredited for the dialogue, such as Clair, André Rigaud and Dalton Trumbo. Preston Sturges was originally the main producer of the film (it is him that brought Veronica Lake onto the project by convincing Clair and Paramount Pictures), but artistic differences with Clair led to him leaving the project with no screen credit. Incidentally, this film and Bell, Book and Candle (1958) would prove the inspiration for the television series Bewitched. There is something quite hypnotic that comes through with the chemistry of March and Lake, acting in their one and only feature together. Lake (a twenty-year old at the height of a career that saw her last three films be released in 1951, 1966, and 1970) proves quite bewitching in the right sort of timing, one who alternates between bubbly and later hopelessly smitten, which makes her ideal for a screwball supernatural film that rests on her shoulders for confidence and mostly succeeds; Clair later stated that she was a gifted actress who didn't believe she was gifted, and that statement seems to hold water now. March (25 years older than Lake, talk about contrasts) plays the straight and wavering role to general amusement without coming off as just the fool. They make a worthy pairing, which is probably an indicator of their talent given that they disliked working together (with names of "poseur" and "sexpot" being thrown around). Kellaway proves a solid conniving presence in support, a useful adversary in a silly film with plenty of goofs and magic to go around, while Hayward makes a solid icy foil of ambition. What can one expect from a film of witchcraft that sees wedding crashers and a flying car? It is offbeat, but it is consistently on time with amusement that never seems to cloy at the viewer in desperation or take itself too seriously. Instead, it uses peculiar charm and timing to make a film worth celebrating and viewing after eight decades because of the craftsmanship at hand to turn a bedeviling witch film into worthy entertainment for the young and old at heart. There may be no perfect answer to where to start with Rene Clair as a filmmaker, but this one is a solid place to consider.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: I know, not enough hints about what comes up next in a month for new voices. I got one hell of a spotlight coming with this one film from Korea...

The Old Fashioned Way.

Review #1883: The Old Fashioned Way.

Cast: 

W. C. Fields (The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs), Joe Morrison (Wally Livingston / William Dowton), Baby LeRoy (Albert Pepperday), Judith Allen (Betty McGonigle / Agnes Dowton), Jan Duggan (Cleopatra Pepperday), Tammany Young (Marmaduke Gump), Nora Cecil (Mrs. Wendelschaffer), Lew Kelly (Sheriff Walter Jones), Jack Mulhall (Dick Bronson), Oscar Apfel (Mr. Livingston), Samuel Ethridge (Bartley Neuville / Edward Middleton / The Drunkard), Ruth Marion (Agatha Sprague / Mary Wilson), and Richard Carle (Sheriff of Barnesville) Directed by William Beaudine (#463 - Billy the Kid versus Dracula, #535 - Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, and #1153 - Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter)

Review: 

There was plenty of time for director to have their assignment involve W. C. Fields, who ended up in countless comedies over the 1930s, with varying results. William Beaudine was a director who churned out movies at a rate in quantity and genre distinction like no other, which meant that there is a crop of varying quality with his films, which he directed for decades when he started at the age of 23 in the 1910s (with features in next decade, with plenty of comedies around). Of course, Beaudine was the man for hire with Paramount Pictures in a string of movies that he done on assignment for various recognizable names such as Fox Film (later in the decade, with studios chafing at meeting his salary finances, which meant he eventually had to go with cheaper studios). This film was written by Jack Cunningham based on a story by "Charles Bogle", which was just another name for W. C. Fields that I'm sure you are familiar with him doing the same thing in other movies such as It's a Gift, released the same year as this. This is an interesting presentation: it shows scenes from a play that the characters in the movie play for a crowd with The Drunkard: or, The Fallen Saved, (written primarily by William Henry Smith with unknown collaborators) which was first performed in 1844. The play was a temperance play, which meant that it was a play meant to warn of the dangers of consuming alcohol (remember that the United States did an entire Amendment dedicated to banning it in the early 20th century). It was actually quite popular as something to produce across the States in the 19th century. While it may seem like dated melodrama of its time, there actually is a little theater in Tulsa that has done a production of the play one time a week for nearly seven decades. Even Buster Keaton made fun of the play with his own parody in 1940.

Million Dollar Legs (1932) was his first Paramount appearance (with a few shorts sprinkled in that were done by Mack Sennett), while International House (1933) made him even more popular that would keep on a road to taking the primary lead in films that came out later such as Tillie and Gus and then this film (there were a few little anthologies along the way to go with other films like David Copperfield (1935), of course). Of course, the film shows the play within audiences that would engage with the drama on its own terms (i.e. reaction shots) in emotional involvement, whether that means a woman telling her husband to watch his heart or a couple asking if they think "this" is a good play. The film verges on the huckster played by Fields and not so much on the weirdness of the play, because you think of it for yourself (so can either look on the nostalgia of 19th century audiences enjoying a play or whatever). He approaches things with lofty patience for what he knows will be amusing sequences for himself besides the necessary parts involving would-be romances or other things. He's a misanthrope in the most fun way possible, weaving his way through oddballs of adults and children for general interest…and he also shows his juggling skill to the audience, which he was pretty adept in the old days of vaudeville that is a key highlight. As a whole, the movie works best in his time on screen in general huckster amusement, where he can maneuver select lines and facial expressions without the semblance of tiredness or forcing it in, down to the logical conclusion set at the end. He seems adept at trying to convince folks (read: studio executives) that he can carry his own film without needing to be just part of the ensemble, which seems easy to prove now but obviously needed to be shown for clear enjoyment there, such as when he plays sly in the opening when trying to reach a train looking for his deadbeat self...which he handles adeptly. The stuff with Allen and Morrison is okay, mostly since it isn't just a single-minded pursuit of a girl (because hey, she wants him to get a life in college). Baby LeRoy is a baby, which means if you care for stuff involving him "throwing" stuff, then it works fine. If one prefers to see Fields play a charlatan rather than a family man, then go right ahead. I thought it worked out fine for a serviceable pace that is easygoing enough for most folks to enjoy without losing focus. It isn't exactly his most distinct feature, but it works out in all the useful ways needed to make it worth a watch.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.