Dialogue: Introduction by Andrew Whitmore, Archives Technician at the Library of Congress.
Thursday, June 25, 6:00 p.m. | 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." (Rebecca Lyon, Chicago Film Society)
Preceded by: DAY OF THE DEAD (Charles Eames and Ray Eames, 1957, 15 min, 35mm) 35mm prints from the Library of Congress
Chicago Film Society Presents | Ongoing Series
Founded by projectionists in 2011, the Chicago Film Society promotes the exhibition and preservation of film in context. CFS screenings provide access to the restoration efforts of archives, studios, and private collectors, the work of artists exploring the film medium today, and the experience of seeing film projected live in a theater, with an audience. As physical artifacts, the film prints we show hold the stories told by films—but also the stories of the industries that produced them, the labs that printed them, the places where they were exhibited, and the people who watched them. Through screenings, writing, film preservation projects, and workshops, CFS works to make all of this context visible and accessible to the public. Learn more about Chicago Film Society at chicagofilmsociety.org.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu