Bell, Book and Candle

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:41pm

I've never seen it but I think it was the inspiration for 'Bewitched'. I also know that the amazing Kim Novak was in it.
Any thoughts?

[luvliza89]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:45pm

It's playing on TCM on July 3rd if anyone was curious. It's part of the Witchy Women segment along with TCM's annual showing of "The Wizard of Oz". I've never seen it but I'll probably end up watching it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:45pm

Would make a great musical

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:46pm

I want TCM!!

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:47pm

Very similar. Kim plays Gillian who sets out to win a man using witchcraft. She has a "familiar", a cat called Pyewacket, and a brother called Nicky and a daffy aunt who are also witches. I think she loses her powers if she genuinely falls in love...which, of course, she does.

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:48pm

I've seen Novak in Vertigo and The Mirror Cracked.
I likeeeeee.

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:52pm

And in PAL JOEY, n'est-ce pas, Glebby?

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 9:58pm

I thought Bewitched was based on a movie called "I Married a Witch" starring Veronica Lake...but I could be wrong.

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 10:00pm

Now you've gone and exposed me.
I've never seen 'Pal Joey'.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 10:00pm

redhot you are correct.......Bewitched was based on I Married a Witch.

My dad sat next to Kim Novack on a plane years ago.....

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 10:05pm

Where did I see her name associated with Desiree in NIGHT MUSIC recently? She was supposed to play it somewhere?

[NCGuy]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 10:19pm

Kim as Desiree? Intriguing, Wildcat.

I remember reading (sometime in the last few years) that a house fire destroyed the memoir she was working on. I really hope she took it up again (between Harry Cohn and Sammy Davis, I'll bet she has some fascinating stories).

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 10:22pm

Novak/Desiree = intriguing in my opinion as well Wildcat.
Let's hope it happens.

[harris007]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 10:43pm

this is wonderful show, i Stage managed it 12 yrs ago, it we had a blast.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 10:45pm

I just saw the play, and in the notes it said that Bewitched was based on IT. It's a cute play, I guess I didn't know there was a movie...

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/30/05 at 11:22pm

Yay!

[kjklo]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 12:50am

Speaking of Novak, anyone for "Strangers When We Meet," also starring Kirk Douglas, Ernie Kovacs, and Walter Matthau?

Novak's husband is impotent, so she begins an affair with married architect Douglas, whose trapped, WASPy, suburban wife is being sexually harrassed by neighborhood sleazeball Matthau. Douglas is presented as a hero, because he's about to begin cutting down the Hawaiian rain forest in order to build an ultra-moderne super-city a la Brasilia. Kovacs is a confused creative type with writer's block.

All this in the lushest imaginable technicolor. Delicious.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 1:04am

Loved "Strangers."

Loved "Bell, Book."

"Vertigo" is the best of all Kim's films, in my opinion.

I even liked her in "Of Human Bondage" with Laurence Harvey.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 6:20am

Vertigo keeps me glued to the screen, no matter how many times I see it - one of the finest films ever made, and Novak is simply stunning in the role/s...Bell Book and Candle might just make a really sweet musical.

[wildcat]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 10:58am

As I recall, "Strangers When We Meet" has a rare film performance from Helen Gallagher and she's rather good.

I think Kim was asked to replace Lee Remick in that L.A. revival of NIGHT MUSIC that Lois Nettleton ended up doing, and she was unable to audition for some reason...

[NCGuy]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 11:32am

I’m not crazy about the movie version of “Picnic” (the story is so dated, Rosalind Russell is just unbearable, and William Holden, hot as he is, is too old for his part), but I absolutely love Kim’s performance in it. She’s very young and still a little stiff as an actress, but there’s something just so appealing about her as Madge.

Completely agree with everyone on “Vertigo”…she’s heartbreaking in her scenes as “Judy” (and Kim looks fantastic as a brunette!).

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 11:41am

Ooooooooooo

"Picnic"

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 11:47am

Did somebody say he's never seen PAL JOEY?

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 12:31pm

Another interesting "Bewitched" and "Bell" connection...

Elza Lancaster played Kim Novak's aunt?/mother? in the movie, and wasn't she the original Aunt Clara in "Bewitched" in first episodes before she died?

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 7/1/05 at 12:31pm

I didn't say it, but I haven't seen Pal Joey myself either.