Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies: They Be Witches Edition, Pt. I

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Let's All Go To The Movies

They Be Witches Edition, Pt. I

Yes, 'tis the season for all things that witchy be!

Welcome to a spook-tacular edition of Let's All Go To The Movies. This week, it's all about witches and things that go bump in the night. In fact, they bump so frequently in the night that we've enough films for two sin-tillating posts.

So, let's grab a seat and enjoy our trick or treats, as we learn a bit about that old black magic... the kind that truly powers Hollywood and The Silver Scream!

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I Married A Witch

(1941)

"No man can resist her!"

(Director René' Clair was searching for a project for his next American film. He read the novel The Passionate Witch and thought it a perfect vehicle for Veronica Lake. He then went to Preston Sturges and asked him to produce under Paramount's umbrella. Clair and Sturges bumped heads repeatedly, causing Sturges to walk off the picture). 

(Casting was also an issue. Joel McCrea was announced as the male lead. He'd appeared opposite Veronica Lake in Sullivan's Travels to great success. However, McCrea did not get along with Lake and refused to do another picture with her, saying "Life's too short for two films with Veronica Lake." The resulting production delays meant Lake had time to make the film, The Glass Key.)

"She was a beautiful witch... but she done him wrong!"

(Things with Frederic March got off on a bad note, when the actor called Lake "a brainless little blonde sexpot, void of any acting ability." Lake retaliated by calling him a "pompous poseur." And once filming began, things escalated. For a scene requiring March to carry Lake, Lake had 40 lbs. of weights sewn into her gown. She also had a habit of pressing her feet into his crotch when filming above the waist scenes.) 

 

"She's a witch (and we do mean witch) who gets what she wants with hex appeal!"

(René Clair said of Lake, "She was a very gifted girl, but she didn't believe she was gifted.")

"She knew all about love potions and lovely motions!"

(The film was a hit at the box office, with glowing reviews for both the picture and Lake's performance.)

"Young... beautiful... all a man could want and a witch besides. She knew how to bother 'em... bewilder 'em... bewitch 'em and make 'em love it!

(Susan Hayward does a lovely comic turn as the woman spurned.)

(No shortage of marketing material for this one.)

(There is a version available to watch on YouTube. The Boyfriend and I watched it. It was marvelous... absolutely charming.)

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The Witch

(1952)

"A daringly frank story of sex and passion!"

Mika Waltari's supernatural thriller!"

"See this startling fantasy in naked reality."

(An archeologist digs up the bones of a witch buried some 300 years ago. He makes the mistake brings them back to the mansion he is staying, for the villagers believe that unless the bones are buried in the earth, the witch will return. Suddenly, a vivacious, seductive woman appears, driving all the men of the village into a frenzy.)

(Based on a Finnish play by Mika Waltari. Considered one of the first Finnish horror films. Mirja Mane stars as the title character, giving, from all accounts, a lusty, crazed performance.)

(Never released on DVD, you can watch a version without subtitles on YouTube.)

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The Blonde Witch

(1956)

AKA: The Sorceress

"Marina Vlady as the strange fascinating beauty in a story of... uninhibited love!"

"For people who go for wild girls!"

"She is a lustrous bewitching creature... as buxom as Li'l Abner's Daisy Mae... bathing in the dawn intensely idyllic... has fascination... intensely romantic."

(A French civil engineer on assignment in Sweden for a lumber company is killed by superstitious villagers after he meets a wild woman who lives in the woods, falls in love, and has an affair. His attempts to civilize the girl provokes the ire of the locals.)

(Marina Vlady began her career as a second-rate Brigitte Bardot, but went on to win a Golden Globe and a best actress award at the Cannes Film festival for her stunning performance in 1963's The Conjugal Bed.)

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The Naked Witch

(1964)

"She had the body of a goddess... but the soul of a witch. Out of the mists of time... from the darkness beyond the grave. She came in the night. On her mission of death."

"The strangest story ever told!"

"The story of the witch who became restless in her grave."

(In the course of researching the German settlements of Central Texas, a student unearths the grave of a reputed witch. With revenge in mind, the witch rises from her grave nude and embarks on a campaign of seduction and murder against the descendants of her persecutors.)

(Shot in Luckenbach, TX in 1960, the film sat on the shelf until 1964. Made for $8K, it was independently produced outside the confines of Hollywood.)

(The film begins with a lengthy history of witches, narrated by Gary Owens of Laugh-In fame.)

(The film is notable for the introduction of the revived/resurrected witch theme, which would grow in popularity and dominate the genre in the 2000's.)

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Witchcraft

(1964)

"After 300 years in the grave... they returned to reap blood havoc!"

(Made in Britain, the screenwriter, Harry Spalding, got the idea after reading an article about a housing project which was built on an old cemetery.) 

"Only the witch deflector can save you from the eerie web of the unknown!"

(The film was completed in 20 days, and began on the day the studio fired 110 technicians. The director burned an actual house for the film's final climatic scene.)

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The Witches

(1966)

AKA: The Devil's Own

"Does witchcraft exist today?"

(Based on the novel, The Devil's Own by Norah Loft, using the pseudonym Peter Curtis, this film tells the story of a school teacher who, after experiencing a horrifying incident with the occult in Africa, relocates to a small English village, only to discover that black magic resides there as well.)

"What do the devil's own do after dark?"

"Why does it attract women?"

"What does it do to the unsuspecting?"

(This is the final motion picture Joan Fontaine would appear in. She, like her older sister, Olivia De Havilland, won an Oscar for Best Actress - for her work in Hitchcock's Suspicion. She is the only actress to win an Oscar for work on a Hitchcock film. She and her sister Olivia are also the only sisters to win Best Actress Oscars. Both sisters were nominated for the award in 1942, which is the year Joan won. Olivia would win twice; in 1946 for To Each His Own and 1949 for The Heiress.) 

(The animosity between sisters Joan and Olivia represent a Hollywood rivalry which rivals the feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Olivia was the first to become an actress. When Joan decided to also become an actress, her mother, who favored Olivia, refused to allow Joan to use the family name. As a child, Olivia would tear up the hand-me-downs she'd give to her younger sister, forcing Joan to resew the clothing. Most of the animosity between the two stems from Joan's belief that their mother favored Olivia. The two sisters remained somewhat civil toward one another until 1975, when the stopped speaking to one another due to their mother's funeral and the fact that Joan, who was out of the country on tour at the time, was not invited. In a 1978 interview, Fontaine said of the sibling rivalry, "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!" She did. The day after Joan's death, de Havilland released a statement saying that she was "shocked and saddened" by the news.)

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The Naked Witch

(1967)

AKA: The Naked Temptress

"Burning passions!"

"Ecstasy beyond your wildest dreams!"

"Clothes cramped the style of..."

"She made Fanny Hill seem as innocent as Mary Poppins!"

"Scenes you've never seen before! Brutality! Violence! Madness!"

(Beth is shunned by society because of her haunting past and an evolving romance with a young fisherman. She eventually seeks refuge in the arms of a simple-minded hunchback.) 

(This is considered a a 'lost film', as copies of it are currently unavailable/have not been found. It was directed by Andy Milligan and made in New Jersey.)

(This marks the film debut of Beth Porter, as the title character. She would go on to do quite a bit of television and enjoy roles in Woody Allen's Love And Death and the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby.)

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The Witches

(1967)

AKA: Le Streghe

"Woman as she is... all thing to all men!"

(This Italian commedia all'italiana film, produced by Dino De Laurentiis in 1965, is an anthology of five stories, each by a different director, featuring some stunning visuals and an appearance by Clint Eastwood in the final story.)

 

"...is a woman!"

(Once Clint Eastwood became a big name star, United Artists bought the film - but not release it. Instead, they locked it away in their vaults to prevent the public from seeing it.)

(I am surprised a drag queen hasn't resurrected this look.)

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Simon - King Of The Witches

(1971)

"The evil spirit must choose evil..."

"The black mass... the spells... the incantations... the curses... the ceremonial sex.

(Simon, a ceremonial magician, wants to be a god. He is introduced to a world of drugs, wild parties and sexual sacraments.  In order to achieve his goal, he must perform a number of rituals.)

(The film features Warhol Superstar Ultra Violet performing rituals with a goat.)

"Simon says die... and you will."

(The Boyfriend and I sat through this one. It is definitely a film of its time, capturing a certain era of filmmaking. However, overall, the film is... oh, how did The Boyfriend put it? "Stupid.")

(The film was misleadingly marketed to take advantage of all the press garnered by the Manson murders. In fact, the film is rather tame, featuring very little nudity and zero blood.) 

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Virgin Witch 

(1972)

"She has the power to love, kill, torture and arouse."

"The Virgin Witch can do it all."

(The film concerns a pair of runaway sisters who wish to be models. One of them gets a job to do a photo shoot at a mysterious mansion and the other tags along. Turns out, it's all a scam; an attempt by a coven to induct the sister as a member.)

"She's the girl with the power... to turn you on! To turn you off!"

"She'll blow your mind!"

(Shot in 1970, the film did not see the light of day until 1972, due to censorship issues.)

"Her lust was innocence - her desires... evil."

(The film starred real life sisters, Ann and Vicki Michelle, who have since disavowed the film. 

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Season Of The Witch

(1973)

AKA: Hungry Wives

"Every night is Halloween."

"First - Night Of The Living Dead. Then - Dawn Of The Dead. Now.."

After meeting a local witch. a suburban  housewife in Pittsburgh becomes involved in witchcraft.

(The film was intended as a feminist drama, but the film distributor re-edited the film and marketed it as a soft-core porn film under the title Hungry Wives. When it failed to find an audience, it was retitled and marketed to take advantage of director George A. Romero's notoriety.)

"Celebrate the season of blood!"

"New York premiere of an early work by the master of horror!"

(Approximately 15 minutes of footage from the original film is missing, thought gone for all time.)

"Caviar in the kitchen, nothing in the bedroom."

"...with an appetite for diversion."

(The film was shot in the North Hills suburbs and Pittsburgh.)

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And that's all for now...

Tune in next time, for more witchy goodness.

Same time, same place, same channel!

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Witch Doctor - Cartoons