Movie Monday: I Married a Witch (1942)
Continuing on with the monthlong theme of classic films that are perfect for Halloween, today’s film is one that inspired a television show! I Married a Witch was the movie that cause Bewitched to come to life. The classic 60’s, Bewitched, was one of the reasons I decided to go into the advertising profession, I used to watch Darrin Stevens work on all of the ad campaigns and it excited me. What a chain of events! Technically, I suppose you could say that I Married a Witch gave me my career path!
These photos are not mine.
This film, starring Veronica Lake and Fredric March, had some onset secrets. Behind the scenes Lake and March despised one another. Lake consistently played pranks on March, and they fought like cats and dogs. However, these two were able to pull it together for when the camera started rolling. Their characters were meant to be lovers in the film so you can imagine how secretly feuding onset would have made it incredibly difficult to portray a couple.
Even from the first day of filming the relationship between Lake and March was unsteady. Although, the trouble may have even started before they ever met. Before these two leads teamed up to star in this Halloween classic, March had called Lake “brainless” and claimed she had no ability to act. From that point on you can probably tell why their working relationship would be strained.
These photos are not mine.
Besides Lake and March’s shaky relationship on set, their acting styles were completely opposite of one another. Where Lake usually nailed her lines in the first take, March would need a couple of takes to get it right. The solution to this problem was to do a couple of takes and not tell Veronica Lake. This allowed March to warm up, and have Lake still get her lines right the first time. Often times, Lake was under the assumption that they were just rehearsing and never knew the cameras were actually rolling.
Another fun fact about this film is that Veronica Lake was actually pregnant in real life during the time I Married a Witch was filmed. If you notice in some scenes they carefully cover her stomach with something like a blanket or pillow. Luckily for the studio, Lake wasn’t far along in her pregnancy and the bump wasn’t obvious.
This film has a special place in my heart because, like I said, it was the inspiration of one of my favorite television shows. I also love the slight bit of comedy that is exemplified in this film because it adds that edge of lightheartedness that a genre like this one sometimes needs.
Much Love,
Sarah
Source for some of the fun facts found in this review: http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/66961%7C0/I-Married-a-Witch.html
