My bride is psychic
Movie | |
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German title | My bride is psychic |
Original title | Bell, Book and Candle |
Country of production | United States |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1958 |
length | 106 minutes |
Age rating | FSK 12 |
Rod | |
Director | Richard Quine |
script | Daniel Taradash |
production | Julian Blaustein for Columbia |
music | George Duning |
camera | James Wong Howe |
cut | Charles Nelson |
occupation | |
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My Bride is Psychic is a romantic comedy by director Richard Quine and starring James Stewart and Kim Novak . It was the second film after Vertigo - From the Realm of the Dead that Stewart and Novak worked together. The film is based on the play by John Van Druten .
action
Gillian Hollroyd, who works as a trader in African handicrafts in Greenwich Village during the day , does magic in her free time because Gillian is a witch . Supported by her cat Pyewacket, she and her brother Nicky do all sorts of magical nonsense.
Around Christmas time, Gillian feels bored and shows an interest in Mr. Shepard Henderson, a publisher and new tenant in the house where Gillian has her shop. When Shepard wants to call Gillian because her aunt Queenie has bewitched his phone, Gillian invites him to the Zodiac , a club that is a meeting place for witches and warlocks. Shepard, curious, accepts this invitation and visits the Zodiac together with his fiancée Merle Kittridge, a painter.
Coincidentally, Miss Kittridge is also an old rival of Gillian. During her school days, Merle denounced Gillian several times to the principal, whereupon Gillian turned Merle into a bundle of nerves with magical thunderstorms. In the Zodiac , Gillian mentions the occurrence of a thunderstorm period that lasted for weeks and Miss Kittridge's sensitivity to thunderstorms. Then she lets her brother Nicky and his band play the title Stormy Weather and also has an influence on the lighting, so that Merle Kittridge must feel like a thunderstorm. Miss Kittridge and Shepard then leave the Zodiac . Gillian, who originally didn't want to take Shepard away from a woman, decides that Shepard must magically fall in love with her.
After returning from the Zodiac , Gillian, Nicky and Queenie celebrate a little present in which brother Nicky gives Gillian a substance that requires the person depicted in a photograph to come to the person who coated the photograph with the substance and then burned the photograph . Gillian uses this substance on a photograph of Sidney Redlitch, a writer on witchcraft, as Shepard had casually mentioned that he was interested in Mr. Redlitch. During the ritual, Shepard passes the shop and sees the flame. Because he fears the shop might burn, he joins the ritual. Gillian puts out the flame and Nicky and Queenie leave the shop.
Gillian offers Shepard a drink and after a while uses her hangover Pyewacket, whereupon Shepard falls hopelessly in love with Gillian. Shepard cancels the wedding planned for the next day with Merle.
A short time later, Sidney Redlitch, slightly confused, appears at Shepard Handerson's publishing house and offers him to write a book about witchcraft in New York for his publisher. Shepard takes Sidney to Gillian's shop, where Sidney also meets her brother Nicky. When Nicky is alone with Sidney, Nicky reveals himself to Sidney as a sorcerer. Sidney lets Nicky introduce her to the New York witch scene and writes a book about it. When Gillian finds out about it, she wants to prevent the book. By magic she causes any publisher to reject Sidney's new book. In order not to be blackened by her brother at Shepard, she admits to Shepard that she is a witch and that she bewitched Shepard. At first Shepard doesn't want to believe the whole thing, but an encounter with Aunt Queenie and an incident in Gillian's shop leave no doubt for Shepard. Shepard seeks advice from Gillian's brother Nicky. The three of Shepard, Nicky and Sidney drive to Madame Bianca de Passe, a celebrity among New York witches. With the help of a terrible brew, she takes the spell from Shepard and casts a spell that is supposed to make it almost impossible for Gillian to bewitch Shepard again with a love spell.
The next day, Shepard appears in Gillian's shop to give her a broom, completing Madame de Passe's procedure. During the verbal battle taking place at the same time, Gillian gets angry and threatens to send Miss Kittridge, Shepard's former fiancé, around the world and let her marry the first man she meets on this trip. After Shepard leaves, Gillian wants to put the prophecy into practice with the help of Pyewacket, but the cat runs away. While pursuing Pyewacket, Gillian notices that she is crying. A witch is unable to cry, and Gillian realizes that she is no longer a witch.
Pyewacket, who now belongs to Queenie, climbs to a window in Shepard's office, which has become quite obnoxious due to the separation from Gillian. Shepard locks Pyewacket in a trash and takes it to Gillian's shop to return Pyewacket. Gillian's behavior and her tears make Shepard realize that Gillian is no longer a witch. At the same time, Shepard realizes that he still loves Gillian and has always loved. They kiss while Nicky and Queenie watch from outside. While Queenie is thrilled, Nicky turns away, slightly disgusted. The movie ends with Nicky using witchcraft to extinguish almost all the street lights.
criticism
Lexicon of international films : "A pretty comedy that parodies hocus-pocus in an original way."
Awards
Oscar nomination in 1959 for set and costumes
Web links
- Bell, Book and Candle in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ My bride is psychic. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .