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James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold ... see more see more... , Elsa Lanchester , Janice Rule , Philippe Clay , Bek Nelson , Howard McNear , Wolfe Barzell , Gail Bonney , Monty Ash , Don Brodie , James Lanphier , John Truax , Ollie O'Toole

John Van Druten's stage comedy Bell Book and Candle starred Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer on Broadway. The 1958 filmed version stars James Stewart and Kim Novak, fresh from their successful teaming in... read more read more... Hitchcock's Vertigo. Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a genuine, bonafide witch. Falling in love with publisher Sheperd Henderson (Stewart), Gillian casts a spell on him, obliging him to dump his fiancee and rush to her side. All of this goes against the grain of Gillian's mentor Mrs. De Pass (Hermione Gingold), who does her best to counterract the love spell. Meanwhile, Gillian's wacky warlock brother Nicky (Jack Lemmon) courts disaster by coauthoring a book on black magic with pompous, bibulous novelist Sidney Redlitch (Ernie Kovacs). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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67% liked it

5,515 ratings

Critics

70% liked it

10 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 46 min.

Directed by: Richard Quine

Release Date: January 1, 1958

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DVD Release Date: March 28, 2000

Stats: 298 reviews

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Bell, Book and Candle Bell, Book and Candle Bell, Book and Candle Poster Bell, Book and Candle Poster DVD cover Elsa Lanchester, Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs, James Stewart
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Flixster Reviews (298)

  • moonrivers
    August 7, 2011
    moonrivers
    Interesting idea ("there be witches among us!") given a weak treatment. Stewart and Novak, together again after Vertigo earlier in the same year, cannot overcome the 25 years of age difference between them this time given a script without substance. Lemmon refuses to let the ma... read moreterial overcome him though, and the cat, one Pywacket by name, seems to fare well. Eventually developed into the old teevee series, Bewitched.
  • ajv2688
    November 17, 2010
    ajv2688
    This movie is so fun, and was probably the inspiration for the show Bewitched. It has a great cast too. The movie is pretty good, but it could've been better.
  • jjnxn
    April 16, 2010
    jjnxn
    Enchanting comedy with a nice sense of whimsy. Jimmy and Kim are well matched and the supporting cast is perfect. The casting director was spot on the day they cast Elsa Lanchester, Hermione Gingold and Jack Lemmon, with his mischievious grin, as witches and warlock. Kim Novak wa... read mores at the peak of her beauty here and her clothes not only compliment her character she looks amazing in them.
  • bottcorecords1
    March 26, 2009
    bottcorecords1
    A light romantic comedy with supernatural undertones starring the two leads from Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo"? "Bell, Book and Candle" comes off like a light-hearted "Rosemary's Baby" or an adult version of Harry Potter. Jimmy Stewart stars as Shep, a book publisher living in a b... read moreuilding full of witches (only he doesn't know they're witches). The pretty blonde witch, Gil (Kim Novak) decides she wants to use Shep as her personal love slave, and decides to seduce him away from his fiance (a girl who vexed her back in their school days). They all meet at christmas down in a cellar nightclub that's actually a haven for witches and warlocks. She casts a love spell on him and soon he's breaking off his engagement and pursuing the witch. Ernie Kovaks comes up from mexico as a novelist who specializes in books about witchcraft, and he explains that witches can't cry or blush, unless they fall in love, but then they lose all their power. It's a silly enough plot, but I read somewhere online that the nightclub and the witches and warlocks are all supposed to represent the homosexual community scene of Greenwich village in the late 50s. Whether this was the intention of the filmmakers or not, I don't know. There is, however, a lack of comedy here. There's just not alot of comedy here. It's a pleasant enough film though, and certainly enjoyable for what it is.
  • garyX
    July 14, 2007
    garyX
    Enjoyable old fashioned fantasy that reunites the stars of Vertigo in a far more light hearted way. Probably the inspiration for TV show Bewitched, it has similar wicca based laughs with great support from the legend that is Jack Lemmon.
  • SunilJawahir
    April 13, 2009
    SunilJawahir
    Kim Novak really is magical in this movie. Funny and very cute.
  • broadwaymo
    April 7, 2007
    broadwaymo
    A stoic, older Jimmy Stewart is bewitched by a very sultry Kim Novak.
  • PinkMinkPrincess
    July 14, 2011
    PinkMinkPrincess
    I think the TV series Bewitched was born of this movie.Beautiful Good Witch(Novak)casts a Love Spell on Jimmy Stewart & steals him from his Snob Girlfriend,who was mean to Novak in College, with the help of her cat(with a name I don't dare attempt).She has a nutty Beatnik~ish War... read morelock Bother(Jack Lemmon), & kooky Aunt(Hermine Gingold) & they set out to coauthor, a far too true, book on Witchcraft & the Black Arts.This cast,that includes the cat not given credit here, is the PURRRfect recipe for a Love spell on us, the Audience.Deliciously Wicked in the most adorable way.MEOW, it will cast a spell on you too
  • CHILIcheeseDONUTSwithTUNAonTOP
    March 2, 2011
    CHILIcheeseDONUTSwithTUNAonTOP
    Jack Lemmon and Jimmy Stewart star in this comedy about witchcraft. Jimmy's neighbor is a free-spirited jazzing-loving beatnik; she has a crush on him and casts a lovespell when she learns he's already engaged. But, if she truly falls in love with him, she will lose her witchy po... read morewers. Thats pretty much the story with the typical Hollywood romance staples.
  • TonyPolito
    August 28, 2010
    TonyPolito
    The film's best recommendation to today's viewer - and there really is only the one reason - is the romantic repairing of Stewart and Novak fresh out of "Vertigo."

    Albeit here, in this mid-Century romantic comedy, Stewart is far from obsessed. Rather he's POssessed - by the wit... read morech's love-spell that Novak has cast upon him.

    Novak's low-key, sultry love-interest delivery mirrors well her work in "Vertigo" and so casts a hypnotic spell upon the viewer. On the other hand, Stewart's delivery is not at all mesmerizing; all his lanky joking and stuttering is thoroughly hexed by the thin plot and dialogue.

    The fact that this film follows the script of a 1950 Broadway play that went dark after less than 250 curtains is telling. To call these lines cute is a stretch; to call them funny is a outright fib.

    Jack Lemmon supports, but his delivery is buried deep under the weight of a weak and irrelevant subplot. Ernie Kovacs also holds a supporting role, but any viewer hoping for classic Kovacs shtick will be completely disappointed.

    Clearly this is the basic intellectual fodder for the far more comical 1960s "Bewitched" TV series, sans nose-twitching.

    RECOMMENDATION: For those admirers of "Vertigo" who crave one last dose of luscious Novak as femme fatale done well, have atl. However, admirers of the best of the mid-Century romantic comedy genre will likely want to burn this DVD at the stake.

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Critic Reviews

Peter Canavese
April 23, 2012
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

The airy Novak makes a strong impression, Stewart's comic chops remain in fine fettle, and the distinctive supporting cast can't be beat... [Blu-ray] Full Review

Pablo Villaca
May 13, 2006
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Realizado no mesmo ano de Um Corpo que Cai, traz Stewart e Novak sem um pingo da intensidade exibida no longa de Hitchcock. E por mais que Lemmon seja divertido, o filme soa como um ensaio mal-sucedid...

Staci Layne Wilson
January 17, 2005
Staci Layne Wilson, StaciWilson.com

Yep, I'm going to say it: Bewitching! Full Review

Ken Hanke
May 23, 2004
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Expert film version of the play with gay subtext for days.

John J. Puccio
April 7, 2001
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis

...a charming bit of whimsy.

March 26, 2009
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Bosley Crowther
March 25, 2006
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Andy Klein
May 8, 2005
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat

No review available.

Emanuel Levy
December 11, 2004
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Frank Swietek
May 24, 2004
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion

No review available.

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Bell, Book and Candle Trivia

  • The film, "Bell, Book, and Candle," starred Kim Novak as a beautiful, blond witch who falls in love with a mortal, played by Jimmy Stewart. In the movie, she uses her cat to cast spells. What was the cat's name?  Answer »
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