Review of Bell, Book and Candle (1958) by Laura H — 15 Jul 2009

In the opening, at first, the Christmas music drew my attention. I immediately associate this film with Christmas. Indeed, in the beginning, we see Kim Novak was talking to her cat and somehow like a monolog. In the line, she pointed out the Christmas was coming. This score shows the function of film sound obviously. The theme music of this film is very familiar. Iâ??ve heard the same melody or alike ones in other films. I recognize that Sex and Cityâ??s opening is quite similar to this. I wonder if this melody has become a frequently used music to symbol New York City or something else. Thereâ??s another distinct music in this film, is the song Kim Novak sang to the cat as a spell. The music reoccurred in the film, in most of case, in the love scenes and witchy scenes. It gave us the ability to find out the relation between scenes, and also gave us the expectations. Beside the music, the environmental sounds in this film are distinguished. Because this film is full of scenes about magic tricks, the sound effect is especially important. Without effect sound, the magic played in this movie would seem boring and ineffectual. By adding the effect sounds, it exaggerated the reality and made the magic look fantastic.

Due to the story of witch, the large number of magic scenes required great editing. The cat-eye scenes are on of the examples. I like the acting of James Steward in the film. Itâ??s really interesting. I especially love the scene that he was forced to drink the disgusting magic drinks. Thatâ??s hilarious.