One of the more offbeat Hollywood romantic comedies of the time. It’s a less-than-sober juggling act of screwball situations, supernatural whimsy and a splash of dark humor that will either be weird enough to entertain you or so sloppy that it annoys you. Not helping is the low-watt chemistry between Fredric March and Veronica Lake. In a movie that involves witches, curses and magic spells, the most unbelievable part is when politician March, during election week, falls earnestly in love with spacey weirdo Lake (who’s secretly a 200,000-year-old witch in the midst of a plot to his ruin his life over a grudge from many generations back in his family tree). It happens so suddenly and without much to support it that you’ll think you’re watching a cut version of the film and missed something. On the plus side, French director Rene Clair interprets the flimsy script with an eccentric eye. Most comedy directors in 1942 might have been happy with a few simple puffs of smoke to illustrate the witch-y stuff, but Clair really gets into showcasing the clever Gordon Jennings special effects that must’ve wowed the crowds at the bijou palaces of old.