BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE: Blu-ray (Columbia, 1958) Sony Home Entertainment

Can a witch and a mortal find true happiness in Greenwich Village? Possibly, at least in John Van Druten’s sexy comedy, Bell, Book and Candle, produced on Broadway by Irene Mayer Selznick and winningly brought to the screen by director Richard Quine in 1958. The play, a light-hearted romp with few obvious moments for cliché or hyperbole, nevertheless proved an adroit winner with theater folk. The movie – alas – has more of a challenge selling its wares, not because Quine and screenwriter, Daniel Taradash have altered the original chemistry or even construction of the piece, but rather because witchcraft and the occult seem, at least on film as strange bedfellows on which to pin the conventions of a mainstream rom/com without the obvious laughs factored into the equation. Bell, Book and Candle is not a bad movie – just a thoroughly weird one, attempting to capitalize on the on-screen chemistry between its two co-stars, James Stewart and Kim Novak. The pair had already made their splash together in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, released a scant 7 months prior to Quine’s offering. And despite Vertigo’s box office implosion, critics had been quick to point out the sparks generated by Stewart and Novak on the screen. Curiously, these same embers of mutual attraction failed to gel in Bell, Book and Candle; Stewart – the bookish fop, and Novak as his occultist/muse, strangely off their mettle here. Bell, Book and Candle is sincere to a fault about its subject matter. This isn’t TV’s Bewitched or the big screen’s precursor to the adventures of Harry Potter, but a fairly well-grounded, if slightly sadistic manipulation of the natural state of love, pitting the naiveté of one hapless male, whose genuine affections are almost dispatched, merely to satisfy the figment of a woman’s guileless boredom with love itself. Stewart is Shepherd Henderson, a congenial book publisher, looking to expand his credits into the occult after author, Sidney Redlitch’s (Ernie Kovacs) novel ‘Magic in Mexico’ proves an unlikely overnight sensation.

Enter, Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak), the sinfully mysterious proprietor of a gift shop specializing in African art. As it turns out, Gillian and Shep’ are neighbors. He rooms just above her establishment. After Gillian’s Aunt Queenie (Elsa Lanchester) casts a spell on Shep’s telephone, Shep’ inquires if he might use Gillian’s to confirm a rendezvous with fiancée, Merle Kittridge (Janice Rule). Although Gillian allows Shep’ this courtesy, she has already secretly decided to have a relationship with him too. Gillian suggests to Shep’ he might take Merle to the after hours Zodiac nightclub where she intends to celebrate Christmas eve with Queenie, and her brother, Nicky (Jack Lemmon) – who also plays the bongos in the jazz quartet.  Yet, almost from the moment Shep agrees to her invitation, Gillian systematically sets about to ruin his pending nuptials. At first, Gillian’s deceptions are playful. Recalling she and Merle once shared a dorm in college, and furthermore, that Merle was deathly afraid of thunderstorms, Gillian has Nicky and the boys in the band break into a wild rendition of Stormy Weather, complete with flashing light effects to simulate lightning. The song sends Merle over the edge and she flees the Zodiac with Shep in tow.

Later that evening, however, Gillian plots a more deliberate temptation for Shep, enticing him to the backroom of her shop and casting a love spell over him. Unable to control himself, Shep’ falls for Gillian and the two spend a blissful Christmas day together. Afterward, Shep’ goes to Merle’s apartment and rather cold-heartedly dissolves their wedding plans – growing ever more pleased with himself as he smartly dashes off in pursuit of Gillian. The wrinkle herein is, of course, Gillian has no lasting interest in Shep. He is merely her latest distraction. Gillian next uses her powers of black magic to summons the lovably alcoholic Sidney Redlitch away from his island retreat. He arrives at Shep’s office and proposes a sequel to ‘Magic in Mexico’ entitled ‘Magic in Manhattan’. Overjoyed to near euphoria, Shep agrees to publish this, as yet, un-produced manuscript. In the meantime, Nicky decides to have a little fun with Sidney by revealing he is a warlock. Astounded and confused, Sidney agrees to co-author his book with Nicky. The one fly in the ointment is Gillian’s arch rival, Bianca de Passe (Hermione Gingold). When Gillian threatens to boycott Nicky’s collaboration on Sidney’s book with another spell, Nicky does his sister one better by taking Shep to Bianca’s isolated home in the country to permanently undo Gillian’s love spell. This Bianca does quite effectively; perhaps, too well. After his reawakening, Shep’ reads Sidney and Nicky’s book and thinks it ‘A’ number one trash. The great tragedy, however, is that Gillian has decided to forsake witchcraft for her one and only chance to be happy with Shep’ as a mortal. The proof of her contrition is in her sudden ability to feel genuine emotions and cry – something witches apparently cannot do. Shep’ who has already read about this anomaly in Nicky’s book, realizes what a monumental sacrifice Gillian has made for him and falls in love with her all over again – only this time their magical chemistry is real.

Bell, Book and Candle is the sort of bizarre tripe that could only have worked quite so well during Hollywood’s golden age. Its crackling wit is an artistic subterfuge for an utterly nonsensical story without much of anything else going for it. The strength of the piece is therefore not derived from its narrative, but from clever character-driven star turns that manage to buttress our interests in the characters until the inevitable ‘true love conquers all’ dénouement. In hindsight, the reunion of Stewart and Novak blossoms because of our frame of reference with Hitchcock’s Vertigo – as though each star herein is playing to an extension of those instantly identifiable character traits merely hinted at in the other movie. As the diabolically manipulative Gillian in Bell, Book and Candle, Novak’s Gillian is playing an even more insidious game of ‘cat and mouse’ with Stewart’s affections than her Judy did in Vertigo, while Stewart’s Shep’ is even more obsessed with possessing Gillian than his Scotty was at keeping tabs on Judy in Hitch’s movie. It kind’ a works - because Stewart is so accomplished as an actor and is never anything less than genuine herein, while Novak, at long last, eschews her façade of cool glamour for a stab at real/reel screen sensuality, evolving it into a steely-eyed insincerity that simply smolders with refined sexual tenacity. And then, of course, there are the many distinguished in supporting roles who are every bit as integral to the kooky chemistry at play as its two principle stars. Hermione Gingold, Elsa Lanchester, Janice Rule, Ernie Kovacs and, Jack Lemmon (on the cusp of his own super stardom) make indelible impressions that continue to ‘haunt’ us even when they are not on the screen. James Wong Howe’s cinematography is a star in its own right, capturing the moody essence of these otherworldly beings who dabble in the lives of mere mortals.

Sony has finally come around to re-issuing Bell, Book and Candle under their own banner, albeit, as part of their MOD Blu-ray program. In 2012, this deep catalog title was made a Twilight Time Blu-ray exclusive. In comparing the two discs the 1080p transfers appear identical.  Bell, Book and Candle was shot at a particularly treacherous epoch for color film stocks, the old 3-strip Technicolor dye transfers replaced by cost-effective monopacks. However, almost immediately, studios began to notice that this new color system did not yield as rich a palette and was hardly as resilient against the ravages of time. Bell, Book and Candle’s original negative here hints at some ‘vinegar syndrome’. A handful of sequences exhibit a grainier than anticipated quality, further marred by residual softness. Color fidelity toggles between solid and questionable. Flesh tones that can – and do – appear quite natural in one shot, suddenly look quite pallid in the next, or worse, take on a yellowish cast. Overall, image quality here is uneven. Without a full-blown restoration, it is unlikely the movie can look any better. There is a distinct disconnect between scenes shot on a sound stage and others lensed on location in New York – with location work looking wan by comparison. The DTS 5.1 audio is a revelation, particularly when augmenting George Duning’s original underscoring. With a few rare exceptions, dialogue is incredibly natural sounding. We lose the Twilight Time extras here, including a brief featurette on Novak and isolated score. We gain 3 featurettes with Stephen Rebello interviewing Kim Novak, totaling just a little over a half-hour of bonus content. Bottom line: If you don’t already own TT’s now defunct and out of print Blu-ray, Sony’s home-grown effort will suffice. Judge and buy accordingly.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3

VIDEO/AUDIO

3

EXTRAS

2