Bell Book and Candle (1958) - film review

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...

After their highly praised appearance together in Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), Kim Novak and James Stewart are reunited once more in this quirky romantic comedy which, whilst dated and a tad predictable, has retained some of its charm.  Novak and Stewart are joined by two other notable performers who end up stealing the show – Elsa Lanchester, who is most famous 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 similarities with René Clair’s 1942 film I Married A Witch and may have partly inspired the popular 1960s TV series Bewitched.

© James Travers 2008

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