Home :: DVD :: Romantic Comedies :: Classics  

Classics

Contemporary
General
Bell, Book and Candle

Bell, Book and Candle

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $19.96
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BESPELLED ......
Review: KIM NOVAK! Boy, she ignites the screen [with feline companion] as the elegant gowned [courtesy of artiste Jean-Louis] Witch Gillian - seducing the befuddled, bemused and bewildered James Stewart - what a LADY and what appeal! Just a delight to watch this innocent tale of Witchery set in mid fifties Manhattan where everything seems possible - and is! Kind of a pre-curser to "Bewitched", and the rest of the delightful followers this is the counterpoint to the innate darkness of "Rosemary's Baby".

James and Kim are perfectly cast - aslo teamed in the different "Vertigo" - others? Hermoine Gingold as the rival Witch, Elsa Lanchester as the dotty Aunt, and Jack Lemon as the playful sprightly bongo-playing young warlock is a dream - also Ernie Kovacks- so funny and brilliant as the bumbling, slightly intoxicated author.

BUT it is the utter charm and devine beauty of Miss Novak [especially in those backless creations by Jean-Louis] that entraps and enspells all - not forgetting the feline Piewacket!

DVD is great - presenting widescreen and cropped format on the menu - no disc flipping. etc - neat!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Who is to say what love really is?
Review: Not to reveal anything about the plot or ending, I will not To get a feel for this movie look at the actor lineup:

Kim Novak "Boys' Night Out" ASIN: 6302985293

Jack Lemmon "The Apartment" ASIN: 6304308388

Elsa Lanchester "The Bride of Frankenstein" ASIN: 078323502X

I have seen the play several times and the movie is just as good if not better. My favorite scene is when Shepherd Henderson (James Stewart) is forced to drink a discussing liquid. And Bianca De Pass (Hermione Gingold) says, "Drink it while it still has strength." The look on is face is priceless.

Speaking of Hermione Gingold she was good in this movie however I think of her in "The Music Man" ASIN: 0790738082 where as Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn, she returns a book to the library and says, "It's a smutty book" with that Gingold look.

Ernie Kovacs plays another character, Sidney Redlitch. You do not see many films with him in them. However if you can get your hands on it "Wake me when it's over" is a great comedy that he is a fighter pilot. He also stared in North to Alaska (1960) ASIN: 6301805518 as a sort of Snidely Whiplash.

After watching this movie, can you imaging how many people now have cats named Pywackett?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Perfect Gem.....
Review: This has been my favorite movie of all time for 30+ years.....Kim
Novak was never more beguiling, Jimmy Stewart more expressive,
Jack Lemmon so cool, or a cat named Pyewacket (which, by the way,
is a traditional name for a witch's familiar), more in control
of his people. Romantic, funny and thoroughly entertaining, this
movie is what a classic is all about. The actors truly fit the
characters, or vice versa....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Romantic, fun and quirky
Review: This is a delightful film with Jimmy Steward and Kim Novak that tells story of a family of witches in modern day (1950s) America. Kim Novak is the aloof young witch who makes it her task to take Stewart away from his snooty girlfriend who just happens to be an ex-college friend of Novak's. Casting a spell over Stewart is initially easy but Novak soon falls foul of her own powers when her act of revenge becomes an act of real love for her hapless victim. Unfortunately witches who fall in love, loose their powers, and Novak soon finds she can no longer control her cat familiar Pyewacket who is the source of her powers. This causes her real heartaches as she strives to gain Stewart's love by mortal means and there are many rib ticklingly funny moments as the young witch learns that human love can be painful as it is wonderful. Jack Lemmon in one of his earlier roles plays her nutty but likable Warlock brother who spends most of his time in a nightclub banging out funky rhythms on his bongo drums and Ernie Kovics is great as an eccentric author drawn into the plot by his interest in the supernatural. This is a gentle fun film that sparkles even forty years on, with its wry wit, superb photography and cracklingly good music score that has your feet tapping long after the film has ended. Well worth watching if you like a romantic, supernatural comedy.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pleasant and Nostalgic
Review: This is a romantic comedy about witches and beatniks in New York City in the 1950's. Not hilarious, but PG charming. Stewart is good as the straight man, and the gorgeous Novak is as good as she can be considering her cool emotional range -- although if you think Sean Connery was too old for his Entrapment costar, you might think the same thing here. Jack Lemmon is my favorite character because of his sly, good-natured quips and stunts. The New York sets, especially in Greenwich Village, are fine depictions of how the city was in the beatnik days.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic Movie Fan
Review: This is one of my most favorite movies. I purchased the Columbia Classic version of this on DVD. I found the picture quality to be bright and clear, and the sound to be great (even though it is in mono). It is well worth the price.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bell, Book and Candle
Review: This movie is a classic. It is one of my all time favorites. Kim Novak and James Stewart are wonderful. Kim Novak is a witch that falls in love when she isn't supposed to. All of her friends (witches and warlocks) warn her against it but she can't help herself. This movie is beautifully filmed and shouldn't be missed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Vintage Stewart
Review: This movie is great fun for those of you who enjoyed movies in the late 50's and early 60's. One of Jack Lemmon's earliest movies, he is great in his secondary roll as Kim Novak's warlock brother. This film was made around the same time that Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak made the Hitchcock classic, Vertigo, and their onscreen chemistry is just as wonderful in this cleverly written, light comedy, as it was in the dark and riveting Hitchcock thriller. Even the musical score takes you back to a time when movies really were the perfect fare for escapism, instead of the sometimes nauseating food for depression that some films can be today. Enjoy.They truly DON'T make 'em like this anymore.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Stewart's only dud!
Review: This was a really bad movie. Jimmy Stewart made many great, classic films, but this wasn't one of them. He and Jack Lemon and the other cast members gave nice performances, but even their considerable talents couldn't uplift this movie. The movie gives you no reason to suspend your disbelief over the plot. Likewise, it gives you no reason to like or even care about most of the characters. You don't dislike them so much as you just don't care. The end of the movie is better than the rest of it, but it doesn't make up for the time you waste watching the film. There is a very good reason why this movie, which foreshadows in many ways the neo-pagan counter-culture of the 60's, is little known -- it is very bad!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dullsville Deluxe
Review: This was a vehicle on Broadway for Rex Harrison & Lili Palmer. Rex could read the label on an aspirin bottle & make it hilarious. Jimmy Stewart's a bit more humor-deprived. This movie is so 1950s Hollywood stiff & stuffy, the number of 4 & 5 star reviews here only prove how much we've regressed to that sad repressed era.

Can't believe the guy who thinks Chuck Jones copped Daffy Duck's mannerisms from Jack Lemmon. Jeez, man, get a life. Daffy's been around since the 1930s, OK?


<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates