This just in from Paul over at It Came From Hollywood. Here are his notes…
My wife is a WITCH! -OR- Pardon me, but this concept has legs!
This 1967 Spanish production pick-up by Producers Releasing Organization (PRO) was clearly inspired by the hit television show Bewitched (1964-1972), which itself was inspired by no less than two previous cinematic endeavors, most pointedly, United Artists’ 1942 release of I Married a Witch, and the 1958 Columbia Pictures film Bell, Book and Candle.
Columbia’s foray into supernatural nuptials was itself based on a critically successful Broadway play launched in 1950. So, have your scorecard handy because we now present a pressbook for a movie inspired by a TV show that was inspired by a movie which was inspired by a play.
It’s like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but without Kevin Bacon, and the charm of either I Married a Witch, Bell, Book and Candle, or, sadly, the goofy TV entertainment value that Bewitched offered up for nearly a decade.
A Witch Without a Broom has largely been forgotten within the family tree of the sub-genre known as “Oops, I married a gal who is a witch”, which, by the time Bewitched became a bonified TV hit in the mid-1960’s, had so many branches that history has now thankfully excised any logical connection to the 1942 film, of which, all of this obviously sprang!
In fact, the entire genre is now erroneously credited to the Bewitched television show which, in my opinion, borderlines as a criminal act. I Married a Witch is enjoyable, but Bell, Book and Candle remains the top film for this concept.
Alas, we are here to showcase the pressbook for A Witch Without a Broom, so we will stick to just that.
What really stands out in this pressbook is the presentation. Vivid red and black shades make the cover pop. The bulk of the pressbook is standard, but it closes with a jaw-dropping last page titled “Hexploitation.” This is the page that absolutely makes you stop and read every single line of baffling ballyhoo.
“‘Hexy’ Sexy TV Spots-The boob-tube will never be the same and neither will anyone who’s watching it…”
“Go Go Radio-These spots are so way out they’ve never been in!”
“‘Spell Binding’ Color Trailer-…It’s sure to cast a spell on your patrons and have them clamoring for the real thing.”
You can’t build any more buzz for a movie based on a concept you could watch on a weekly basis via television for free! If, as a patron after watching A Witch Without a Broom, you clamored to be duped into marrying a pretty young woman who was a witch, well then, you are cut from a different cloth!
Perhaps A Witch Without a Broom might find a wider fan base today among the fans of the Back to the Future trilogy, as it’s time traveling aspect might appeal to those folks more than its accidental magical marriage plotline.
The pressbook still has its merits among the movie marketing material of the era. PRO wasn’t generally regarded as having a full grip on marketing movies, but they kind of knocked this one out of the park.
