Bell, Book and Candle DVD

In this 1958 romantic comedy film classic, modern-day witch “Gil” Holroyd (Kim Novak) is living in Greenwich Village and masquerading as an art dealer. She likes her handsome new publisher neighbor, Shep Henderson (Jimmy Stewart), but despises his fiancée Merle (Janice Rule), who she knew in college. Her solution is to enchant him to love her instead...until she falls in love with him for real! Gil’s familiar is a lovely Siamese cat who goes by the name of Pyewacket, and is none too fond of the gentleman taking away his mama’s attention! 

Cat lovers will wince at the mistreatment they put poor Pyewacket through, especially toward the end. Movie trivia: The cat playing the role was a three time grand champion All American Cat named Houdini, and his owners were mortified when they viewed dailies of the film, but could not get him out of the deal by then. The child who loved him said that he appeared unchanged by the experience after he returned home to them.

The film also features Jack Lemmon playing Gil’s sorcerer brother. It was heralded for its cinematography, casting, and use of color.

Predates the MPAA rating system, so the film is unrated. DVD was released by Columbia/Tri-Star in 2010, and is available to backorder.

IMDB rating: 6.7 out of 10 stars.