Bell Book and Candle (1958)
Directed by Richard Quine

Film Review

After their highly praised appearance together in Alfred Hitchcock's classy thriller Vertigo (1958), Kim Novak and James Stewart are reunited once more in this quirky romantic comedy which, whilst it treads some familiar ground in the rom-com line, throws up a few unexpected surprises and is one of the most entertaining American films of its kind from the 1950s. This was to be Stewart's last outing as a romantic lead. Adapted from a successful Broadway play by John Van Druten (written in 1950), the film is directed with aplomb by Richard Quine, whose eclectic output includes the film noir drama Pushover (1954), in which Novak had her break-through role. Quine also directed the amiable Audrey Hepburn comedy Paris When It Sizzles (1964) and exuberant farce How to Murder Your Wife (1965).

In Bell Book and Candle, Novak and Stewart are joined by two other notable performers who practically end up stealing the show - Elsa Lanchester, remembered for her role in James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Jack Lemmon, just before he became a major Hollywood star.  The film has some striking similarities with René Clair's 1942 fantasy film I Married A Witch and may have partly inspired the popular 1960s television series Bewitched.

Film Synopsis

One Christmas Eve in New York, Gillian Holroyd suddenly discovers that she is attracted to her neighbour, Shepherd Henderson.  Of course, he is too preoccupied with his work as a book publisher to notice her.  And even if he did, what use would it be?  Gillian isn't mere flesh and blood.  Like her mischievous brother Nicky and her aunt Queenie, she is a witch, incapable of loving another in the way that humans do.  But when she learns that Shepherd is shortly to marry a college rival of hers, Gillian cannot contain herself.  She casts a spell on Shepherd which compels him to fall in love with her.  She soon realises that love and magic are a dangerous combination...