This film must be one of the sources in mind by the creators of "Bewitched".
It's too bad jump-cut magic had not been thought of earlier, as it would have made "Bell Book and Candle" that much better. Perhaps the recipe for a modern remake could add the jump-cut magic of Bewitched and the wittiness of Jeannie for a tasty brew.
Actually the movie "I Married A Witch" was the precursor for the series Bewitched. Good movie....you should see it! I would hate for them to remake Bell Book & Candle as they could never make it as cool and hip as it was then. I think most every girl who has seen this movie wants to be Kim Novak....god knows I did :D
shareMaybe ten years ago, I read a blurb about a remake of "Bell Book and Candle", with Kim Novak returning
as Aunt Queenie (shocking)...then nothing...kinda glad...anybody know about it?
I think a re-make might be interesting It would be strange to see it in a modern setting but interesting thats how some people still do the play!
shareI played Gil when we did they play in High School. It was so much fun! We kept it set in the 50's and had Frank Sinatra's "Witchcraft" playing before the curtain went up. I didn't see the movie until after the play closed and loved it. Our director was obviously influenced by the movie. I always wondered about the connection to Bewitched.
<<I think most every girl who has seen this movie wants to be Kim Novak....god knows I did :D>>
...and I myself want to be WITH Kim Novak... in the biblical sense. He he. She seems like she is definitely a Non-vanilla type of woman. Oh, to go back in time to the year before I was born and be on either this or the "Vertigo" set and just gaze at such striking, captivating beauty. She was definitely a seductress of the likes of Angelina Jolie. Jolie - lips... Novak - eyebrows, both enchanting features.
Ted in Gilbert, AZ
Oh, to go back in time to the year before I was born and be on either this or the "Vertigo" set and just gaze at such striking, captivating beauty. She was definitely a seductress of the likes of Angelina Jolie. Jolie - lips... Novak - eyebrows, both enchanting features.
I think Kim Novak was a very attractive woman, but those drawn on eyebrows were ridiculous. They were all right in non close-ups, but when it was a tight shot....I couldn't help but stare at them. They ruined those beautiful eyes. I know that was very common back in the day, but still.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
Actually both you are correct. Bell, Book, and Candle were the inspiration for Bewitched, however I Married a Witch was the inspiration for the Bell Book and Candle Play Script. The reason I Married a Wotch was not the inspiration for 'Bewitched' was because the main witch was evil and Samantha was far, far from evil.
shareI can see a lot of parallels between all three. Disapproving family relations, blonde witches who reform and give up magic (are there no brunette sorceresses?), daughters (in two of them) who cause problems growing up. And since I Married a Witch predates Bell, Book & Candle by 16 years, I'd say the former wins. If you don't agree with me, I'll turn you into a...a...shrubbery! (oops, wrong film)
shareI have a cat named Erik. But don't tell anyone, he isn't licensed.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
"Bell, Book and Candle' is most definitely the source inspiration for the TV series "Bewitched" (and not "I married a Witch").
Anyone who sees it, really can't miss the associatons -- the man who doesn't realize he is falling in love with a witch, the older witches (i.e., "Endora" in the tv show) and so forth. My only regret is that the TV show neglected to include the very talented cat, Piewackett!
"Bell, Book and Candle" is vastly more entertaining, however, and has the charm of Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, and more sublte and intelligent script than the rather lame and cutsey TV series....I think this film is highly underrated. Especially in light of the tired big screen "remake" of "Bewitched", it's time to take another look at "Bell". It would certainly be worth remaking and has a lot more to work with than the TV series offers!
>>>"Bell, Book and Candle' is most definitely the source inspiration for the TV series "Bewitched" (and not "I married a Witch"). <<<
Actually both were, Although BB&C was a bigger influence. However I Married a witch did have the wind scene. the Scene that was in the pilot episode!
>>>Anyone who sees it, really can't miss the associations -- the man who doesn't realize he is falling in love with a witch, the older witches (i.e., "Endora" in the tv show) and so forth. My only regret is that the TV show neglected to include the very talented cat, Piewackett!<<<
It’s Pyewacket (notice the name), and The Bewitched movie did give credit to Pyewacket. And both I Married a Witch and BB&C did not have what 'Bewitched" had, in Bewitched she never put a spell to make Darrin fall in love with her!
>>>"Bell, Book and Candle" is vastly more entertaining, however, and has the charm of Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, and more sublte and intelligent script than the rather lame and cutsey TV series....I think this film is highly underrated. Especially in light of the tired big screen "remake" of "Bewitched", it's time to take another look at "Bell". It would certainly be worth remaking and has a lot more to work with than the TV series offers!<<<
Strictly your opinion, I do not want to be a troll here!
I just watched the first episode of "Bewitched". I prefered the early episodes, and this was a lot of fun. The speech Endora gave about the wild nature of witches was poetic and striking.
And the type of scene with using magic to frighten off of the rival women (who were both witchy!), was so alike in both.
"It's too bad jump-cut magic had not been thought of earlier, as it would have made "Bell Book and Candle" that much better."
This way, it's much more subtle. If there really were witchcraft or magic, this is probably how it would look. Passing for ordinary, although Bohemian type people, the witches in this story specialized in things which could easily be written off as coincidence. In fact, toward the end of the film, that fact becomes very significant.
I love this movie up untill the point she relinquishes her power...damn was Kim Novak hot...this movie has such a cool beatnik witchy feel to it...and damn was she hot!!!!
shareThe subtle approach is what does it for me in this film, it's seductive and passionate and if jump-cut magic had been included I think the realism would be lost, thats ofcourse if you believe in magic ;-) but .."whos to say what magic really is"
_Laudy_
I just wanted to say that there is witchcraft and magic, and that is how it looks.
shareElizabeth Montgomery (before her death), William Asher and the writers have repeatedly stated that neither Bell Book and Candle nor I Married A Witch were used as any inspiration or basis for Bewitched. Everyone assumes they're all connecting simply because they all three are about witches in love with mortals. They all draw on the same 17th century and prior folklore about witchcraft.
And really...the BBC is not about witchcraft at all. It's an allegory, a cover for something else, just as The Crucible wasn't really about the Salem Witch Trials, but the McCarthy "witch hunt" in the 1950's.
It's like saying that Red October is based on Operation Petticoat simply because they were both about submarines.
, author of "The Bewitched Book", Screen Gems executive William Dozier, (who later produced "Batman"), called in producer Harry Ackerman and pitched the idea of a show about man who married a witch, (it doesn't say where Dozier got the idea). Ackerman wrote a treament called "The Witch of Westport" and created the characters of Darrin, Samamtha and even Endora. Elizabeth Montgomery and her husband, William Asher, were developing a vehicle for her called "The Fun Couple" about a middle class guy who marries a rich girl and insists on living on his income. Dozier asked them to contact Ackerman and the concepts were combined.
But Sol Saks, who wrote the pilot, claims that the idea to make Samantha a witch was his idea. Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan....
As to whether any of these people had "I Married a Witch" or "Bell Book and Candle" in mind, who knows? I've never seen "I Married a Witch". I think "Bell Book and Candle", while having a beautiful blonde witch in love with a mortal, is rather different, more romantic and mysterious. "Bewitched" is a sururban sitcom with magic as a gimmic. There' s a few lovey-dovey scenes between Darrin and Samantha but the seductive atmosphere of BB&C is totally absent and Elizabeth Montgomery's comic performance is nothing like Kim Novak's feline presence.
"Before there was a Bewitched TV show, there was the premise of a pretty witch falling in love with an average mortal man. In fact, Sol Saks has stated in his book, The Craft of Comedy Writing, that 'the idea of a witch living as a mortal…has been used in Greek mythology, in fairy tales, in novels, on the stage, and in motion pictures. The only real originality, I’m quite willing to confess, was that Bewitched was the first to adapt the concept successfully to the television screen.'
"He drew inspiration from the 1942 classic I Married a Witch starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake and the 1958 film Bell, Book, and Candle with James Stewart and Kim Novak. Both movies were stories of typical American men bewitched by young, beautiful witches who had chosen to live in the mortal realm. I Married a Witch was actually based on Thorne Smith’s book The Passionate Witch, while Bell, Book, and Candle was based on John Van Druten's play with the same name.
"Saks discussed the similarities of the Bewitched theme with the two movies in the E! True Hollywood Story: Bewitched when he said that they didn’t have to worry about being sued because Columbia Pictures owned both of the movies, as well as the Screen Gems television division. So, Saks got busy zapping up a script about a pretty witch named Cassandra (later changed to Samantha), her new husband, Darrin, and her meddling mother, Matilda (later changed to Endora)."
888www.harpiesbizarre.com/prelude.htm
You've got me?! Who's got you?!
The timeline goes like this :
First it was "I Married a Witch" with Veronica Lake, then came "Bell, Book and Candle" with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, then voila (or abracadabra) "Bewitched" the TV series.
They both could have been an inspiration, inspiration after inspiration..
"I promise you, before I die I'll surely come to your doorstep"