I Married A Witch (1942)

A warlock (Cecil Kellaway) and his witch daughter (Veronica Lake) are burned at the stake in colonial Salem. But before being burned and her ashes imprisoned under an oak tree, she puts a curse on the man (Fredric March) who denounced her that he will never be happy in love. Jump a couple of hundred years later and Lake's and Kellayway's spirits are released and she plans to exact her revenge on March's descendant. Based on the novel THE PASSIONATE WITCH by Thorne Smith and directed by Rene Clair (AN ITALIAN STRAW HAT). This lightweight frothy farce is amusing enough if unmemorable and plays out like a well done sticom. It came full circle when it was actually turned into the popular 1960s TV sitcom BEWITCHED. The film bares little resemblance to its source material which was quite darker and sexual. As he proved in NOTHING SACRED, March could be an excellent farceur and he makes for a wonderful straight man to Lake's purring vixen. The Roy Webb score was nominated for an Oscar. With Susan Hayward (who can't do much with her one dimensional bitch part), Robert Benchley, Eily Malyon, Elizabeth Patterson and young Ann Carter (CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE).