Bell Book and Candle | | Cast : | James Stewart, Kim Novak | | Director : | Richard Quine | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | October , 1958 | | DVD Released Date : | March 28, 2000 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 28, 2005 | | Summary | A Blast from the past | Content
 | I remember watching this movie on the classic movie channel when I was a little girl. It is a must have for Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak fans. Jack Lemon is also a nice surprise. If you love a bit of the super natural you will enjoy this one. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 26, 2005 | | Summary | "I know it is just a movie but..." | Content
| Why are people saying this is a romantic movie. The main character has to give up all that she is and what interests her in order to find love. The one she finds love with is conservative , boring, mundane and as creative and imaginative as a dead toenail. That doesn't sound like romance and sure is hell isn't what love is supposed to be to me at least. The saddest part was watching her in that stupid seashell shop instead of the original one she had. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 08, 2005 | | Summary | Bewitching | Content
| Shepherd "Shep" Henderson (Jimmy Stewart) is a nice, normal, everyday kind of guy. He is a publisher with everyday problems and works in an everyday kind of office. His fiancé, on the other hand, is much less than everyday, being the beautiful, and slightly obnoxious, Merle Kittridge (Janice Rule). When Shep's neighbor Gilliam "Gil" Holroyd (the always stunning Kim Novak) becomes irked with Merle, she decides to cast a spell on Shep to make him fall in love with her. Be careful what you ask for, sometimes you get it.
At the beginning of this movie Merle acts in a way that makes the audience generally dislike her. While we have yet to like Gil, we know that Merle is a manipulator. Thus, we find it easy to accept what Gil does to Shep and indirectly to Merle. Unfortunately for Gil, the more she is around Shep, the more she grows to like, and then love him. Of course, there is the inevitable heart breaking scene when Shep discovers, and believes, that she is a witch. There are moments near the end of the movie where you want the two to get together, but you wonder whether it can possibly happen. Kim Novak's Gil is perfectly played in the closing moments, where all of us want to smack Shep and tell him to wake up to the fact that Gil truly loves him and that love has changed her forever.
This movie features an excellent cast of supporting characters. Jack Lemmon is Gil's brother Nicky Holroyd. Nicky is the kind of warlock who enjoys doing little things, such as turning lights off and on, and tricking people. However, Nicky is humorously harmless. Hermione Gingold is Bianca de Passe, a rival witch to Gil, who has a more traditional approach to witch craft that appears relatively old-fashioned compared to Gil's modern sophistication. Shep turns to Bianca to help remove the spell Gil has cast on him. Elsa Lanchester is Queenie, a slightly bumbling witch who admires, assists and may be slightly afraid of Gil. Ernie Kovacs is writer Sidney Ridlitch who has been working with Nicky on a book about witches. Gil will never allow the book to be published, so the scenes with Sidney are an exercise in humor and futility.
Then there is Pyewacket the cat, Gil's familiar. The name comes from an interrogation by witch finder Matthew Hopkins in England during the 17th century. The name seemed to fit witches' cats, and other such cats have been name Pyewacket since, though Hopkins did not record what kind of animal Pyewacket was to have been.
The words "Bell, Book and Candle" refer to an exorcism. The movie opens with striking the bell, opening the book, and lighting the candle. The movie ends with striking the bell, closing the book, and blowing out the candle, which is supposed to be how to remove a witch's powers.
This movie was Jimmy Stewart's last appearance as a romantic lead. His costars were getting younger, with some half his age, and Jimmy felt the pairing was inappropriate. For the final third of his career he played father figures or average Joes.
"Bell, Book and Candle" is a charming romantic comedy that is interesting from several viewpoints. It is an interesting artifact of sophisticated New York, and the highly idealized way New York society appeared to be in the 1950's. The treatment of witches is somewhat different from other portrayals, where witches are often old hags bent over a cauldron in a smelly cave or broken-down hovel. The hip Zodiac Club had avant-garde music with a strong beatnik flavor. Few movies captured the essence of the beatnik style, with this movie being one of them. Jack Kerouac could easily have been in the audience.
This movie is a winner that showcases Kim Novak's talents even more than Jimmy Stewart's. Most of the movie is lightly humorous, but the end of the movie is emotionally powerful as Kim Novak's emotional performance pushes the light comedy aside. This movie is a wonderful treat from an era when sophistication still meant high style, and we could still be amazed by happy endings even when we expected them.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 01, 2005 | | Summary | This movie does everything right | Content
| This is a light-hearted romantic comedy with elements of witchcraft mixed in to take it beyond the ordinary. Jimmy Stewart plays a book publisher who had everything figured out in his nice, stable life, until he met the witch downstairs, played enchantingly by Kim Novak. Throw in Elsa Lanchester and Jack Lemmon, both seeming to be enjoying their roles, which they perform with effortless grace and a smile. The dialogue, the scenes, the filming -- everything is done right. The result is a joyous, quirky, memorable film. Nothing to win an Oscar, but sure to win many a smile. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 25, 2004 | | Summary | Bewitched! | Content
| An underground society of Witches and Warlocks reside in the darkness of the big apple, congregating at a secret swank night club known as "The Zodiac". Stewart plays an unassuming publisher living in a posh apartment building just above a witch {Kim Novak} who takes a liking to the mortal, and thus casts a love spell on him, to which he is powerless to refuse, to his eventual delight. Bit by bit, to his initial disbelief, he begins to realize that these magical people are a reality, and together with an author {who himself was summoned from Acapulco by enchanted luminous paper, which strongly reminded Me of the immolation of the parchment}, they begin to uncover this occult world of witchcraft, seduction, and intrigue.
Enjoyable scenes include the justified mental torture of Stewart's temporary financee', with a combination of blasting horns, strobe lights, and a well-timed shriek by Novak's lokian warlock brother. And he is quite a character himself, primarily using his powers for flipping street lights on and off, changing traffic lights, and sexual conquests. It seems that because of her pretentious nature, she was also terrified by storms conjured by Novak in an art class, for being a critical lying sneak. All justified recourse. An author becomes wise to this secret society of witches and warlocks {yes, the film does make an appropriate distinction}, thus, with the suprising cooperation from Novak;s brother, decides to publish a book on the subculture, much to the chagrin of Novak, who was planning on marrying the mortal Stewart, even though it is allegedly against "witch policy" to do so. She fears that his knowledge of her true being would frighten him away.
Another thing that witches are supposedly unable to do is shed tears {LIE}, which is thwarted in a scene when her feline familiar "Piwacket" takes to the street, and much to her surprise, tears flow down her face. Novak casts a spell with the use of her familar and a memorable little tune she humms, wherein she prevents the publication of the revelaing book for the good of urban witchdom. She does, however, reveal what she is to him, and after some convincing events, finally accepts her and has actually truly fallen in love with her. despite the initial charm. They are finally wed, and could not be happier, even though she does end up losing her 'powers'.
A delightful film overall; the characters are cultured, the accounts about Witches and Warlcoks are about 70% correct, which can be overlooked for the fictional plot, which is devoid of the demoralization process. Also, I Am sure that this film did in large part inspire the Bewitched series. |
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