Bell, Book and Candle

Amazon.com

Staid, secure publisher James Stewart leads a quiet life until he meets his bewitching downstairs neighbor, Kim Novak. John Van Druten's lighthearted Broadway comedy becomes a lush if lightweight romantic vehicle for Stewart and Novak, who would reunite for Hitchcock's Vertigo the next year. Novak is at her best as a Greenwich witch halfway between the worlds of magic and mortals, looking after her dotty aunt (Elsa Lanchester) and mischievous warlock brother (Jack Lemmon) as they keep their skills in practice. Novak's specialty is making men fall for her, but it's a one-way street: when a witch falls in love, she loses her powers. Director Richard Quine gives the witches an almost beatnik sensibility, a real Greenwich Village subculture hanging out in underground clubs and smart curio shops. Elegantly photographed in rich, glowing colors by James Wong Howe, Bell, Book and Candle is a fantasy world in New York set to a funky bongo-laced jazz score by George Duning. Quine's gliding camera is somewhat marred by abrupt editing, but his handling of actors is superb, in particular Novak, whose mysterious beauty masks inner turmoil and romantic yearnings. Ernie Kovacs appears as a wry author whose specialty is the supernatural, and Hermione Gingold is suitably florid as a witch elder with a penchant for theatricality. For once in his life Stewart is actually upstaged by the slyly comic performances around him. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Bewitched: A romantic comedy starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak.......2007-09-10

Kim Novak plays a beautiful Greenwich Village witch Gillian Holroyd, who casts a magic spell on her neighbor Shep Henderson (James Stewart) so that he breaks his engagement with his fiancée Merle Kittredge (Janice Rule), and begins to love Gillian. After a sometime, Gillian feels like a human unbecoming of a witch; she not only has fallen in love with a human, but she also has mixed feelings about breaking his engagement to Merle. She tries to fix things by reversing everything back so that it goes back to where it was, using her magical powers, but it turns out that she has lost her skills of a witch, and can not get Shep and Merle back together again. In a desperate attempt she confides to Shep that she is a witch, and she is behind the break in engagement with Merle. Later, in a desperate attempt, Shep turns to another witch, Mrs. Bianca de Passe (Hermione Gingold) to cure him of the spell. Months later, Shep returns to Gillian's witch (Voodoo) store and discovers that she has lost her magic powers because of her love for him.

Jack Lemmon plays meddling brother Nicky Holroyd, and Ernie Kovacs plays a researcher and an author of witchcraft. The two has supporting role, but Kim Novak looks adorable in this hopelessly romantic story. The viewers can't help but think that Jimmy Stewart is a little old for the young and beautiful Kim. In fact this was the last movie of Jimmy Stewart in the romantic lead role. This movie is second on-screen pairing after a very successful Hitchcock movie Vertigo.

There are similarities between this movie and the earlier "I Married a Witch" and the television series "Bewitched." It is unclear if this movie was an inspiration to the production of the TV series starring Elizabeth Montgomery, but fans would be very happy to see this pair in a romantic mode.

Bell, Book and Candle Original Soundtrack

What A Cast!!! & What A Spell They Cast!!!.......2007-07-29

This little gem boasts one of the great casts of the 1950s. Jimmy Stewart who had become the leading man to go to after Cary Grant and Kim Novak who was soon to become indelible in the publics mind in Vertigo, again with Stewart, led an ensemble that worked their magic everybit as dexterously as the witches in the movie. Jack Lemmon young and kinetic, bouncing around with that comic energy that would make him a supertar. Stellar support from Elsa Lanchester and Hermione Gingold, two old pros slyly stealing scenes from Jimmy and Kim while charming their way into their good graces no doubt. But the real jewell here is Ernie Kovacs who was at this time still searching for his movie persona. He never quite found it before his untimely death, but his genius shines through in every little scene he outright hijacks in this movie.

When you have all this talent working with a tale of romance, the supernatural, and human folly you can't go wrong. It's funny, it's heart-tugging, and thanks to Lemmon and Kovacs, it's outright hilarious. Fun for the family.

Wonderful Witchcraft!.......2007-06-14

This film is a wonderful classic love story with a twist. Anyone who remembers the early episodes of Bewitched is bound to see the similarities. It has become one of my "comfort" movies.

A rare bird...........2007-04-26

Yet another one of the perfectly made romantic comedies of the late fifties/early sixties that, along with "Auntie Mame", "Charade" and the slew of Doris Day movies, starting with "Pillow Talk" and ending with "Send Me No Flowers", gave an ideal and funny take on life in an innocent time.

Kim Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a kittenish practioner of the eldritch arts living in Greenwich Village, NYC, with her Aunt Queenie, played by Elsa Lanchester. Jack Lemmon plays her brother, Nicky, (always a favorite name of any young male involved in the dark arts in fiction for some reason.) It's Christmas, and, believe it or not, these three conjurers are celebrating it like anybody else, exchanging presents and watching it snow.

James Stewart plays the unlikely object of her desire, (the only mismatch I can think of that was worse about this time was Doris Day and Danny Thomas in "I'll See You In My Dreams"!) named Shepherd Henderson ("Shep"). I think maybe someone like John Gavin or Cary Grant or Robert Sterling might have been better choices, but there is one scene in this movie that only Stewart could have done, and it is HILARIOUS!

The plot goes like this: Gillian is lonely. She sees Shep moving into her very apt. building just before she and her small family celebrate Christmas. She wishes, using her cat, Pywacket, as a 'familiar', to actually meet him. Shep goes upstairs to get settled in and finds Gillian's aunt, Queenie, fooling around at his desk, even though he distinctly remembers locking the door when he left earlier. She explains that he did NOT lock the door, and she saw how sloppy his desk was and that his window was open on a snowy night, and straightened it all out. After objecting mildly about her unbidden presence there, he dismisses her, seeing how eccentric she is, (and conceding that it IS Greenwich Village, after all,) not realizing the whole truth. Queenie objects to his treatment of her and puts a temporary curse on his phone so he only hears garbled nonsense on it.

Early Christmas morning, after partying at the Zodiac Club with Shep and his fiancée, Gillian, Nicky and Queenie exchange gifts at Gillian's place. Gillian gives Nicky records, Queenie a scarf, and Nicky gives Gillian a vial of summoning fluid, which she puts to the test immediately. It isn't clear whether she uses it to bring Shep to her apartment, curse his fiancée or what, but Shep DOES show up fairly quickly and they get to know each other. This is AFTER Shep tells her that he and his intended are getting married later that very day. Gillian then starts humming the haunting theme song, again using Pywacket as a familiar, to put the kibosh to THAT business!

What follows is a series of classic scenes that didn't see any equals until the 80s! The scene in Miss De Passe's house where Shep goes to get "de-spelled" and is forced to drink a disgusting potion she whips up is almost worth the price of the DVD on its own. The scene where Nicky meets an author character, played by Ernie Kovacs, (Shep is a publisher,) and takes him to an occult apothecary, is also funny, as the camera pans down the list of diseases and spells it has remedies for.

For some reason, after the mid-sixties, Hollywood couldn't make another good romantic comedy to save its life. "A Thousand Clowns" was the last really good one, made smack dab in the middle of the decade, in 1965!

"Bell,Book & Candle" is a rare movie that's hard to find, no matter WHO you know, so, if you can find it, (and I found it right here at Amazon,) GET IT!!

You'll wonder why the people who produced "Bewitched" even tried, it's such a pale imitation. It's been reported that "B,B&C" was the basis for "Bewitched"...DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT! "Bell, Book and Candle" is in a class by itself, and so much more enjoyable than its saccharine TV counterpart, it isn't funny!

A Romantic Comedy Named After an Exorcism Method?!.......2007-04-11

I can see that this unusual and silly movie has its admirers. As there are a number of reviews on this page giving ample background on it, let me point out that perhaps the film's principal oddity is the fact that a lithe Kim Novak would be so smitten with the decidedly older and rather dull character played by James Stewart.

No matter, the actors are all quite droll, particularly a florid Ernie Kovacs. And a special shout-out to the Siamese cat that played Pyewacket.

SIDELIGHT: Pyewacket was allegedly a familiar of the "witch" that Englishman and "witchfinder general" Matthew Hopkins found in 1644. Through physical coercion, the woman named her other familiars as well. They included animals named Vinegar Tom, Pecke in the Crowne, and Griezzel Greedigutt. (I particularly like that last one.)

Also recommended: The Last Witchfinder: A Novel (P.S.)

Average customer rating:

Bewitched: A romantic comedy starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak
What A Cast!!! & What A Spell They Cast!!!
Wonderful Witchcraft!
A rare bird....
A Romantic Comedy Named After an Exorcism Method?!

Bell Book and Candle [Region 2]
Starring: James Stewart , Kim Novak , Jack Lemmon , Ernie Kovacs , and Hermione Gingold
Director: Richard Quine
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006AFIH