It is interesting to note that this film followed Vertigo(gr.film ever)w\Miss Novak as well.
They-Stewart & Kim-possessed fine chemistry between themselves...wish they coulda did a third so we would have a Trilogy !-ah,well,this fine Quine directed effort makes it nice nonetheless ....
Yep, well --two films this fine is fine enough!
I prefer this to 'Vertigo' in every single way except score (how can any Hollywood film top a Benard Herrmann score!?)...
Ernie Kovaks ... no one like him left, alas!
Come on, everyone, see Happy-Go-Lucky
Funny.
I just turned this on the tv and thought it was Vertigo for a while.
I wish my hair was Emo so that it would cut itself
Ernie Kovacs,alas,we'll never see the likes of him,again !
ps he & lemmon color the film exceedingly.
I've read that some sort of deal was struck with Novak and Steward which is why they both appeared in Vertigo and Bell, Book, And Candle in 58.
shareTo clarify . . . Vertigo ia a somewhat, shall we say, unconventional Hollywood movie, especially the ending (Novak dieing, Stewart left bereft) . . . Columbia, to salvage both their careers, gave them a light comedy, to balance off against the dark Hitchcock film, and thus Bell, Book and Candle . . .
Warner's did the same thing for the Bogart-Astor duo: the dark Maltese Falcon, followed by a more "normal" film (both are sort of heroes), Across the Pacific . . . both films are directed by John Huston . . .
Now that is fascinating...Vertigo since the early so called fiasco of box office returns and revealing-the-ending results initially has now become a towering achievement of filmdom.As the years have not only been kind to this Hitchcock masterpiece, but it appears that Vertigo is simply an astonishing feat of cinematic artistry ! That is what time can do.
Novak has seen this transformation and status of a film elevated in her own lifetime which originally was an embarrassment. Now it has become this special entity which many today would like to aspire towards as auteurs and create something of value to which could endure in perpetuity.
I'd love to see a double feature of "Bell, Book and Candle" and "Vertigo."
It's probably already been done ... but someone ought to do it again.