classic — i luv cinema

Quick Pick: “I Married a Witch” (1942)

1941: American leading lady Veronica Lake (Constance Ockleman, 1919 - 1973) wearing a glass-beaded dress in a scene from 'I Wanted Wings' about the fortunes of three recruits to the American Air Force, directed by Mitchell Leisen (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

I tweeted about this film last night as I watched its closing moments. I just wanted to take a moment to briefly post here about what an imaginative, creative piece of cinema this was. As a fan of the television series “Bewitched” (which this film predates by 20 years or so), I really was taken in by the story of a witch mixing with a mortal and all the wondrous things that come with that.

The film was directed by René Clair and is based on the novel The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith.

The supporting cast is also of note and includes the likes of Cecil Kellaway, Susan Hayward and the ever entertaining Robert Benchley.

For more information on this film, I refer you to the entry in the TCM Movie Database.

DVD Release: The Lady Vanishes on Criterion Collection

http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=3

The Criterion Collection is releasing a new master of this Hitchcock classic in a special two-disk set. I already own the original Criterion disk and am almost tempted to get this one to see the special features it had to offer.

This is definitely one of my all time personal faves from a favorite director – hopefully more of his films will get the “Criterion treatment” in the future.