Romancefest 3: Sadiefest - Bell Book and Candle

It was interesting for me to see James Stewart and Kim Novak in BELL BOOK AND CANDLE because I’m so used to them from VERTIGO. These two very different movies both starred the same two actors in romantic roles in the same year, but where VERTIGO was dark and twisted, BELL BOOK AND CANDLE is light and fluffy.

VERTIGO is the better film, and features the better performance from Stewart, but there is something quite alluring about Novak in BELL BOOK AND CANDLE. Novak stars as a modern day witch living in Greenwich Village. In one of the movie’s more clever conceits, the witches and wizards of the world hide out in beatnik bars behind beatnik fashions. I’m not sure if this is to say the beatniks were the way they were because they were all witches and wizards, or if it was just a safe place for eccentrics to hide. Either way, it’s funny.

Even though Novak gets to play what pretty much amounts to a dual role in VERTIGO and shows quite a bit of range there, it is nice to see her with less makeup on, in less glamorous fashions, walking around a modern day apartment, barefoot. She has a breezy vibe about her, which up until now, I would have never associated with Novak – an easiness that stands at odds with her severe, but beautiful, face. She seems. . . inviting.

The plot involves Novak using her witch powers to cast a love spell on Stewart. Under the influence of the magic, Stewart falls for Novak and abruptly leaves his fiancé (Janice Rule) who just happens to be Novak’s old college nemesis and has one of the best lines in the movie. When Stewart tells Rule that Novak is a witch, Rule deadpans, “You just never learned to spell.” Zing!

The usual romantic comedy ups and downs ensue as the two leads wonder whether they’re really in love with each other, or if it’s just magic, spend some good times together, split up, get back together, etc. An added issue involves the film’s rules when it comes to witchcraft – apparently witches lose their powers once they fall in love, so Novak has to decide between magic and Stewart.

The film has an eclectic supporting cast, appropriate for a movie about magic, I suppose, including Elsa Lanchester (the Bride of Frankenstein herself) as Novak’s aunt who is also a witch, an early role for Jack Lemmon as Novak’s brother, a wizard, and Ernie Kovacs in a scene stealing role as a drunk writer. I was especially pleased to see Lanchester later in her career in such a comedic performance. On the other hand, knowing what Lemmon would do later in his career made him seem underused here.

BELL BOOK AND CANDLE is about magic, but it’s not quite magical. There is something flat about it. A movie like this should have momentum, be light on its feet, and jump effortlessly from one scene to the next. Instead it kind of slogs along, which is not the fault of the cast or even the screenplay, necessarily. It’s not bad, it’s not great, but it’s fine, and the ending is appropriately romantic enough for Romancefest.