Today’s Post by Joe Farace
My Jack Lemmon film festival continues with Bell, Book and Candle a, more or less, comedy about witches and witchcraft.
Mary and I watched this movie the day before Halloween but interestingly enough even though the film is about witches, it’s set just before Christmas. And also interestingly, or maybe not, the film which stars James Stewart and Kim Novak was released the same year—1958—as Vertigo, which some critics have hailed as one of the best films ever made. Bell, Book and Candle, on the other hand, remains a minor footnote, which is too bad because it’s quite an enjoyable movie and holds up remarkably well all these years later.
Bell, Book and Candle’s concept about a man who is bewitched by, what else, a witch, just before he’s about to be married is not exactly new. René Clair’s I Married a Witch had mined this same story line in 1942 and that film might just have a lot more laughs. That’s mostly due to the wacky performance of Veronica Lake who is hilarious as Jennifer the witch and even the distinguished Frederick March is funny in scenes with her. James Stewart is equally distinguished but his scenes with Kim Novak, who is smolderingly beautiful and sexy as Gillian the witch, are funny. But if you’ve seen Harvey you know Stewart can do comedy.
Oh, Jack Lemmon…he plays Kim Novak’s brother who is a warlock and is positively demented in this role and plays off famously well against the many scenes he has with the legendary Ernie Kovacs, who portrays a frequently inebriated writer on the occult. Unlike the cringey scenes of drunks in The April Fools, his drunkenness is never played for laughs but is just a part of his character. Kovacs beautifully underplays his role as a writer who writes books debunking witchcraft, making his scenes with Lemmon, maybe not hilarious but always delightful to watch with a big smile on your face.
The film also features the wonderfully daffy character of Aunt Queenie perfectly portrayed by Elsa Lanchester. The amazing Hermione Gingold makes an appearance as a witch matriarch who contrasts wonderfully with Lanchester’s character. Janice Rule appears in the thankless role of Stewart’s jilted bride-to-be but she gets off one of the best zingers in the script—no spoilers. And don’t miss a brief appearance in one scene of Howard McNear—aka Floyd the barber—as Stewart’s boss.
It has been said that 12 different felines played Pyewacket, Kim Novak’s cat in various stunt roles. And the poor kitty gets treated rather roughly in a few scenes that might offend some cat lovers. (It bothered me.) The movie was made well before the Humane Society was involved in “No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Film.”
Bell, Book and Candle has a 75% Tomato rating but I think it’s better than that. The cast is sparkling, the dialog makes it not just humorous but a movie made by grown ups for grown ups. It’s a perfect Halloween movie or maybe one to watch on Christmas Eve.
Postscript: And then there was that TV series… Bewitched creator Sol Saks admitted that he drew on Bell, Book and Candle as well as I Married a Witch. Screenwriter Paul Wayne said, “He was pretty honest about the fact it wasn’t a particularly original idea