Bell, Book And Candle (1958)

One of two 1958 movies in which James Stewart finds himself bewitched by Kim Novak, Bell, Book And Candle may be the less-mentioned of the two (the other being Vertigo, of course), but I am sure that those who love this film would sneer at anyone labelling it as a lesser work. In fact, I am now one of those people who love the film, and I know that I would sneer at anyone labelling it as a lesser work. The only label you should put on this is one that says "absolute treat".

Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a woman who owns a small store in New York. She takes an interest in her upstairs neighbour, a publisher named Shep Henderson (James Stewart), and decides to make a move on him, despite the fact that he is engages to Merle Kittridge (Janice Rule). Shep is helpless to resist the charms of Gillian, largely because she's a witch able to cast a love spell on him. Encouraged by her aunt, Queenie (Elsa Lanchester), and her brother, Nicky (Jack Lemmon), Gillian gets a bit carried away with her scheme, also engineering a meeting between Shep and a writer (Sidney Redlitch, played by Ernie Kovacs) he was eager to work with. If it's really meant going to be a genuine love story, however, then Gillian knows that she has to tell Shep the truth. But will they stay together if the spell is broken?

Based on a play by John Van Druten, Bell, Book And Candle is brought to the screen by writer Daniel Taradash and director Richard Quine. Both may have other contenders for their best films, but this one should be fighting for a spot very near the top. It doesn't feel hampered by the adaptation from stage to screen, it fairly zips along through the 106-minute runtime, and there isn’t a weak link in the central cast.

Stewart does what he does so well, being a level-headed and generally swell guy, while Novak manages to be as constantly mesmerising as she needs to be, especially in the shots that show her using her powers with the help of her familiar, a cat named Pyewacket. Lanchester and Lemmon are both great fun, far less coy about using their magical powers than Novak’s character and happy to play tricks on unsuspecting humans in their company. Kovacs is also fun, especially when he is relaying his “expertise” to characters that he doesn’t realise know far more than he does, and Rule does her best in a role that requires her to be pushed aside very early on. Hermione Gingold also needs mentioned here, portraying the powerful Bianca de Passe, someone who may be able to prove the unbelievable truth to our leading man, and may also be able to break the spell.

I am sure that there are great essays out there about this film, with so much to explore under the rom-com surface, but I am just here with a brief and light review. I will mention the wonderful dialogue, the delight viewers will feel as they watch the plot strands weave together, the great score from George Duning, and the sequence that has Jack Lemmon energetically playing the bongos. But I would also encourage fans of the film to check out more in-depth examinations of it, because it certainly rewards further exploration.

“Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble”, I may have got myself in a bit of a muddle, trying to end by encouraging people to see this . . . on the double.

9/10

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Noir-vember: The Big Clock (1948)

Based on a novel by Kenneth Fearing, and with a screenplay mainly credited to Jonathan Latimer, The Big Clock is a superb classic noir that also has a lightness of touch to give it a greater sense of fun than most of the other films it could sit alongside.

Ray Milland is George Stroud, the hero of the piece. He works for a crime magazine, and he's long overdue a holiday with his wife, Georgette (Maureen O'Sullivan). Unfortunately, he also works for a very demanding and ungrateful boss (Earl Janoth, played by Charles Laughton). After another very bad day at the office, so to speak, George ends up on a drunken evening out with Pauline York (Rita Johnson). Pauline is an on-off girlfriend of Earl, and she thinks that she and George can team up to effectively spite him. That's not about to happen, however, as Pauline winds up dead, and George is tasked with trying to find the perpetrator for a scoop. He isn't told who the victim is, which leads to him unwittingly getting his team to look for a mystery prime suspect who starts to feel VERY familiar.

Although it has that aforementioned lightness of touch, don't go thinking that The Big Clock doesn't keep winding up the tension as events unfold. It is, to use the overused phrase, a coiled spring throughout most of the middle section. Things look bleak for George, despite the fact that he should be able to have the truth on his side. Director John Farrow makes great use of his cast, using them to lift the material (not that the script is terrible, not at all) with how well they all interact with one another, and he ensures that the plotting stays simple and clear throughout. Things may be a bit contrived in the first half of the movie, but it is so enjoyable that it doesn’t feel problematic.

Milland is a dependable lead, good at being the kind of everyman you want in this role. Johnson makes a strong impression with her few main scenes, allowed to have a lot more fun than O’Sullivan, who has to do little more than be the loyal and supportive wife throughout. Laughton is a great antagonist, working through a plan that is formulated by a conniving character also employed by him (played by George Macready), and you also get a performance from Elsa Lanchester that allows her to steal any scene she is in.

Although some may prefer their film noirs to have more darkness and grit, dismissing The Big Clock would be a big mistake. It’a a hugely entertaining thriller that only just misses out on being a minor classic. And I am now even more interested to check out one of the main remakes it had, No Way Out (1987).

8/10

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Willard (1971)

Considering how much I love the 2003 remake of Willard, it is surprising that it took me this long to get to the original film. Especially considering the fact that the cast includes Bruce Davison in the lead role, and support from Ernest Borgnine, Sondra Locke, and Elsa Lanchester.

Davison plays Willard Stiles, a young man who isn't being treated very well by those around him. His frail mother (Lanchester) makes a lot of demands on his time, his boss (Borgnine) seems to revel in the fact that he can keep him overworked in the company that used to belong to his deceased father, and his family home is in need of some repair, which would be easier to deal with if he had any decent amount of money for it. When asked by his mother to deal with a rodent problem, Willard instead starts training them, and he's soon in charge of a multitude of rats.

Director Daniel Mann may not have a lot of other horror movies in his filmography, although it's an eclectic selection, but he's certainly given fans a bit of a minor classic with this one. Based on a novel by Stephen Gilbert, this is equal parts character study and creature feature, with both serving each other well. Mann, working from a script by Gilbert A. Ralston, builds things up perfectly, using three acts to show, in turn, the mistreatment of Willard, his befriending and training of the rats, and his eventual use of them to help make his life better. The first half of the movie may be much lighter in tone than the second half, and horror fans may find themselves growing impatient for signs of actual horror, but it brilliantly sketches out the history and nature of the central character, making it all the more satisfying when we get to see him fighting back.

Davison is absolutely brilliant in what could well be his finest role. Considering his huge body of film work, it's easy to forget just how great he can be in films more deserving of his talent (I am thinking more of films like this one and Short Eyes than, say, Titanic II). Borgnine is an entertainingly loathsome baddie, which viewers will already know from some of his other performances, and he has some slimy acolytes in the shape of Michael Dante and Joan Shawlee. Lanchester does well in her small role, as frail and whiney as she has to be, Jody Gilbert is someone who tries to help Willard, but only to really also help herself, and Locke brightens up the screen as arguably the only person who sees how badly Willard is being mistreated and taken advantage of by those around him.

What could have easily just been a tale of a boy getting rats to attack his enemies is instead turned into something incredibly bittersweet and, yes, surprisingly moving. It may focus on the rats, and the damage and death they can cause, but it's equally about the need for companionship, the emotional support that can be gained just from knowing friends have your back, and how difficult it can be to move forward with your own life again once you have developed such a strong connection with others.

8/10

There's a double-pack available here.
Americans can get the one movie here.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

Some people put Bride Of Frankenstein above the original film. I am not one of those people. It loses a point for one important element - the performance from Una O'Connor. Never mind that now though, we'll come back to it later.

Most of the main players come back for this sequel, a story given a prologue in which Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester, who also plays the famous bride) tells her guests that there is more to the tale of Frankenstein than just her original story. She then proceeds to pick up from the end of the first film. Frankenstein has survived, his creature has also survived, and we get Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) added to the mix, an unscrupulous man who hopes to use Frankenstein's work to better his own.

William Hurlbut is the main credited writer this time around, although there are numerous other names who had a hand in crafting the screenplay, and James Whale is back in the director's chair, and it's clear that this is a film even more concerned with showing that the perceived monster isn't really the monster. In fact, he behaves better than almost all of the human characters that we see onscreen.

Thesiger is a lot of fun in his role, callous and calculating even as he seems to delude himself into thinking that he has good intentions, and both Clive and Karloff remain fantastic as the main creator and creation. Dwight Frye also returns, playing a different character not a million miles away from the one he played in the previous entry. Valerie Hobson takes over the role of Elizabeth, doing just fine in the role, and O. P. Heggie makes the most of his role, a blind hermit who befriends the monster and offers him some hospitality (a sequence among many brilliantly parodied in Young Frankenstein). Then we have Una O'Connor, mentioned in the first paragraph. I don't blame her for her performance, it was obviously asked of her, but I do find her to be one of the most irritating characters I have had to tolerate in any of the classic Universal horrors. Shrill and twitchy, I am constantly bemused when I hear from other viewers who enjoy her comic relief.

That performance from O'Connor IS enough for me to drop a point from my rating, but it's not enough for me to dissuade anyone from viewing, and loving, this horror classic. It's arguably the best of the sequels to the iconic horrors of this age and it often feels natural to stick it on for a watch as soon as the first film has finished.

9/10

This is a great collection for any fan.

This is it available in America.

And here is the Dead By Dawn schedule/site.