OPEN POST: Monday At The Movies With "Bewitched!"

By

No, not TV's "Bewitched," but this truly unnerving little shocker from 1945 in which Phyllis Thaxter plays a heroine who may or may not be a murderous (and very slutty) psychopath. Yikes. Tackling the concept of split-personality decades before the likes of "Psycho," we meet Joan, a sweet young heroine possessed by a dark inner voice named - are you ready for this? - "Karen." Oh here go hell come, as they say, and in this case, hell do. 

If you're like me and love the heavy shadowed film-noir look from the 1940s, this movie delivers the goods - and how. Yet it also possesses a haunting, dreamlike quality which makes Joan's mental struggle feel visceral. Directed with smashing visual style by Arch Oboler, who got his start as a playwright and lauded horror radio show producer, "Bewitched" unspools in a swift 70 minutes, and for me, remains an essential hallmark of early film-noir. More than that, it's just plain fun, and though it may seem lightweight and silly in its first few minutes, you'll be more than chilled by story's end, I promise. 

To get you into the mood, here's the movie's spooky opening and closing credits music by composer Bronislaw Kaper, and...

...here's A LINK TO THE FULL MOVIE. 
It's a nicely crisp print, too, so all you need to do is enlarge it to "Full Screen" or cast it to your TV.

Enjoy, and hold tight!

Art Credit: MGM/Amazon

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OPEN POST: Isabella Rossellini and Joan Collins at Cannes!

By
Image
  Source: Isabella Rossellini on instagram Here are the iconic Isabella Rossellini and the iconic Joan Collins gracing Cannes this week. The two are starring in The Duchess and I,  a British drama directed by Mike Newell that focuses on Wallis Simpson's final years living as a widow and recluse in Paris. Collins plays Simpson, who suffered from many illnesses and became increasingly incapacitated around 1978.  Rossellini plays Suzanna Blum, a French lawyer who assumed control of the Duchess's affairs after the Duke of Windsor's passing in 1972. Blum isolated Simpson from family and friends, dismissed her staff, and sold off valuable heirlooms to personal contacts both before and after Wallis's passing in 1986. Blum maintained that all actions reflected the Duchess's explicit wishes, though she often withheld any documentation of her authority. Here's a photo of the two in full costume:  Credit: Venetia Scott, courtesy of British Vogue Will you be watching The Du...
Read more

PECKERWOOD'S WEEKLY LUNOCRACY POST! For the Week of 05/11/2026, Plus My Apologies!

By
Image
The Wealth Gap continues to thrive. "People are living longer, and wealthy Americans in particular are spending large sums on longevity. They are also spending more on themselves with luxury travel and upscale retirement communities..." More RIGHT HERE.  Have you managed to save much for retirement and old age?  Also ... I'd like to apologize to you, my Manor mates, particularly Knockout Zed, for several nasty comments I made last week in the Lunocracy post about The Voting Rights Act.  I suppose I could offer excuses, like "I'm so sorry if anyone was offended" or "This is not who I really am," but, no, actually, this is me now, as JLo says. By way of explanation, though not as an excuse, these days just beneath the surface of my skin is so much hate and bile engendered by the Trump years that it takes only a flicker of an eyelash to set me off. Not good. I'll try to argue intelligently instead of emotionally in the future. Will I always succee...
Read more