Thursday, June 25 at 6:00 PM – Gene Siskel Film Center – 164 N State St
Tickets: $13 at the door or purchase in advance
I MARRIED A WITCH
Directed by René Clair • 1942
Veronica Lake stars as the embodiment of a mischievous witch’s spirit who returns to the mortal plane nearly 300 years after her death, intent on haunting the descendant of her Puritan persecutor. The heir to her vengeful desires and supernatural wiles is Salem’s reluctant gubernatorial candidate, played by a hapless but ultimately game Fredric March. Lake’s burst of stardom in the 1940s was short-lived, ending with her self-imposed exit from Hollywood and steep decline into alcoholism, but in I Married A Witch she’s at her funniest and most effervescent. Her presence as the Pepé Le Pew-like temptress adds fizz and sparkle to a film already rich with dreamy optical effects, gorgeous Edith Head costumes, and art direction by Hans Dreier and Ernst Fegté. In the words of Guy Maddin, “Sorting through the career trajectories of those who worked on I Married a Witch makes me feel like an air traffic controller amid a strange confusion of spirits — phantoms arriving from far-flung corners of time’s oblivion to work together on one bedazzling movie.” (RL)
77 min • United Artists • 35mm from the Library of Congress, permission Shout Factory
Preserved by the Library of Congress and the Film Foundation. Funding Provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
**Introduction by Andrew Whitmore, Archives Technician at the Library of Congress.
Preceded by: “Day of the Dead” (Charles Eames and Ray Eames, 1957) – 15 min – 35mm from the Library of Congress
Restored by the Library of Congress with funding provided by the National Film Preservation Foundation.
NEXT UP: 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER on Monday June 29 at the Music Box