"Absolute trash. Garbage. Very frankly this is the most idiotic thing I've ever read in my life," says Manhattan book publisher Shep Henderson (James Stewart) after reading a tell-all manuscript on witchcraft co-written by a pop culture author (Ernie Kovacs) and an actual practicing warlock (Jack Lemmon). Like most, Henderson doesn't believe in magic, even when it's spelled out right in front of him. Unfortunately for him though, he's been living under the influence of magic for months thanks to his witch girlfriend, Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak). Just as her life as a supernatural being is kept secret from Henderson, so is the love spell she's nonconsensually cast on him in Richard Quine's film adaptation of John Van Druten’s 1950 comedic play, Bell, Book and Candle. Released six months after Stewart and Novak appeared as the leads in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), the silver screen version of Bell, Book and Candle probes into the gendered psyches of relationship contemplation amid a vaguely referenced Greenwich Village (which, for the stage, was originally Murray Hill).
Henderson, an everyday gentleman of the typical Jimmy Stewart variety, lives in a building above Gillian's live-work shop where she sells African and Oceanic “primitive art.” Also in the building are her brother Nicky Holroyd (Lemmon) and her aunt Queenie (Elsa Lanchester). Together, the three Holroyds lead inconspicuous lives working jobs and (mostly) try to hide their witchcraft from the public. What makes that a little easier is that they cannot fall in love, as doing so would vanquish their powers. But when it turns out that Henderson's fiancée is Merle (Janice Rule), who had been a conniving liar and a notorious beau-snatcher when she was Gillian's classmate at Wellesley, the witch can't help herself from turning Henderson's affections away from such a cruel woman. Aided by Pyewacket, her cat familiar, Gillian casts a spell over Henderson that prevents him from ever leaving her, even if—and when—he tries.
Focused mostly on Gillian, the film reveals what two self-sufficient adults think about commitment. Accustomed to independence, Gillian tries to get out of Henderson's pleas for marriage by pointing out that she's lived "selfishly" and "recklessly" for years. "I'm jealous and I'm vindictive," she says. Henderson won't buy it. Continuing to astonish him, Gillian claims never to have considered marriage and cites that it would mean giving up her "whole way of thinking, behaving." While her doubts and anxieties of coupledom still ring just as true today—whether witch or human—they're refreshing to hear spoken amidst the many lines promoting traditional gender roles in the film. Of course, Gillian is alluding to not wanting a human to discover she's a witch, or rob her of her powers, but could she also be talking about her freedom to choose whom she plays with (like Henderson), what she conjures (like Christmas gifts), and how she keeps secrets (in plain sight with her family)?
Gillian's spell is a staged promise she's been gaslighting Henderson into believing, without fear of repercussion, so long as he doesn't find out he's been bewitched. "You already got him, whaddya wanna marry him for?" asks Nicky when Gillian reveals their plans to wed. Nicky has a point: Gillian would not only be growing the lie she's built for Henderson, but she'd also be trapping herself into a role she doesn't need to be playing and had no intention of taking on in the first place. Is it really that boring to be, as Gillian says, "special," compared to merely being human that she's willing to denounce her whole lifestyle in order to keep up a façade for someone who thinks he loves her?
Bell, Book and Candle screens tonight, May 26, and on May 27, at Film Forum as part of the series “Jack Lemmon 100.”
