Bell, Book and Candle
Starring:James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, Elsa Lanchester, Janice Rule, Philippe Clay, Bek Nelson, Howard McNear, The Brothers Candoli, Conte Candoli, John Truax, Maurice Marks, Ted Mapes, Pete Candoli, Ollie O'Toole, Joe Barry (II), James Lanphier, Pyewacket
Director: Richard Quine
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD
Editorial Review:
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
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful Witchcraft!
- A rare bird....
- A Romantic Comedy Named After an Exorcism Method?!
- Color oh Color
- Christmas with witches
|
Bell, Book and Candle
Starring: James Stewart , Kim Novak , Jack Lemmon , Ernie Kovacs , and Hermione Gingold
Director: Richard Quine
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
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Similar Items:
- The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
- Harvey
- Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
- Arsenic and Old Lace
- Topper/Topper Returns
ASIN: 0767821556
Release Date: 2000-03-28 |
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:
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.)
Color oh Color.......2007-01-26
The color in these old movies is the best. Sadly you don't see that quality today. Great movie too.
Christmas with witches.......2007-01-15
Lots of fun, characters were interesting. Didn't realize it was a Christmas movie!
![Bell Book and Candle [Region 2]](http://www.germanelectronics88.com/noimage.gif)
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful Witchcraft!
- A rare bird....
- A Romantic Comedy Named After an Exorcism Method?!
- Color oh Color
- Christmas with witches
|
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
General
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Genres
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Brodie, Don
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Gingold, Hermione
| ( G )
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| DVD
| Video
Kovacs, Ernie
| ( K )
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| DVD
| Video
Lanchester, Elsa
| ( L )
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| DVD
| Video
Lemmon, Jack
| ( L )
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Novak, Kim
| ( N )
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Rule, Janice
| ( R )
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| DVD
| Video
Stewart, James
| ( S )
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Quine, Richard
| ( Q )
| Directors
| Stores
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( B )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
- The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
- Harvey
- Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
- Arsenic and Old Lace
- Topper/Topper Returns
ASIN: B00006AFIH |
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:
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.)
Color oh Color.......2007-01-26
The color in these old movies is the best. Sadly you don't see that quality today. Great movie too.
Christmas with witches.......2007-01-15
Lots of fun, characters were interesting. Didn't realize it was a Christmas movie!
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