Bell, Book And Candle DVD Comedy (2002) James Stewart Quality Guaranteed

Description

Meet Gillan Holroyd (Kim Novak), Greenwich Village’s most seductive sorceress. Powerful, glamorous,and a wee bit bored, Gillian knows that witches can’t fall in love. But they can have fun… especially if their lover belongs to another woman! So when Gillian discovers handsome new neighbor Shep Henderson (James Stewart) is the fiance of an old college nemesis (Janice Rule), she promptly puts the befuddled publisher under her spell. But while her sex hex may have heated up Shep’s heart, it hasalso unthawed her own, leading to a romantic complication that not even Pyewacket, Gillian’s mind-reading cat, could have foreseen. Presented in eye popping Technicolor transfer that beautifully captures James Wong Howe’s stunning cinematography, BELL, BOOK and CANDLE co-starring Jack Lemmon, ErnieKovacs, Hermione Gingold and Elsa Lanchester is “a delightful spoof on witchcraft with the cast members at their very best.” THE MOTION PICTURE GUIDE!
Bell, Book and Candle (1958) is a sparkling, exotic and intelligent comedy based on John Van Druten’s original play about the unlikely subject of witchcraft in Manhattan. In his last romantic lead role, James Stewart is publisher Shep Henderson, sucked into the underworld of Greenwich Village by the extraordinarily beautiful Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak). Their liaison kicks off when Gillian employs her skills to indulge in a bit of fun. By the time Shep gets wise and rejects the artificial premise for a relationship, she has sacrificed her powers to emotional awakening and all is set for a happy ending.
Largely thanks to an eccentric supporting cast, which includes Jack Lemmon as Gillian’s warlock brother, Hermione Gingold as a fruity nightclub owner and Elsa Lanchester as Gillian’s dotty aunt, the film has a delightfully off-centre quality. It’s also a bittersweet allegory about being different. “We forfeit everything and then we end up in a little world of separateness from everyone”, sighs Gillian. Novak is at the height of her beauty and here, as in her other 1958 triumph Vertigo (also with Stewart), her other-worldly quality fits the character so perfectly that her thespian limitations are well disguised. It’s entrancing in every sense.
On the DVD: Bell, Book and Candle’s vibrant Technicolor explodes from the screen in this DVD release, which is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions. Everything looks fresh and new–particularly the exotic nightclub scenes–and the mono soundtrack has lasted well. Extras include selected filmographies and original trailers, and detailed background in the booklet notes.