I've come to love Bell, Book and Candle—which I came to very late, somehow—so much that it makes me a little sad that most directors seemed to have no idea how to frame Kim's charm and appeal. There should be a lot more classic Kim movies than, alas, there are. - ThreadSky

bcdreyer.social • 384 days ago

I've come to love Bell, Book and Candle—which I came to very late, somehow—so much that it makes me a little sad that most directors seemed to have no idea how to frame Kim's charm and appeal. There should be a lot more classic Kim movies than, alas, there are.

Reposted from Benjamin Dreyer

Happy birthday, Kim Novak!

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wndlb.bsky.social•384 days ago

Salina Kim, probably close to what the 25yo really looked like, was barely good-looking.

chelseagsummers.bsky.social•384 days ago

I fiercely love this movie.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

Though I will always wish that Kim's costar had been Cary at his suavest rather than Jimmy being a major pill.

chelseagsummers.bsky.social•384 days ago

Fair.

theowlwagon.bsky.social•384 days ago

Yes! Yes yes yes! I was just about to post that very thing. It's the only thing I'd change about Bell Book and Candle. Cary, even being a major pill, is delightful, and FUNNY. Jimmy, not so much. Not at all, actually.

spacedlaw.bsky.social•384 days ago

I adore this movie! (I loved the play too)

eggsbened.bsky.social•384 days ago

Had lunch with her first husband, Richard Johnson. He shook his head when I mentioned her. “Ruined by her studio and the publicity machine. She was The Lavender Girl. Everything she had had to be lavender. Even her car.”
I saw her introduce Vertigo. Rarely seen someone so calmly self-possessed. 1/2

eggsbened.bsky.social•384 days ago

And my then colleague interviewed her at the time of the screening.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/interview-venus-surprising-1267900.html

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

And yes I'm talking to you, Hitch and Billy.

fritinancy.bsky.social•384 days ago

I recently discovered her debut film, Pushover (1954), and wow is it good. Quine directed.

rlheppner.bsky.social•384 days ago

I agree with you on so much. But your views on Vertigo are baffling to me.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

And that's what makes horse races.

ilynwelch.bsky.social•384 days ago

Love her. Love Bell, Book and Candle & James Wong Howe.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

I *worship* James Wong Howe.

bruceweinberger.bsky.social•384 days ago

Hombre and Hud are deliciously filmed flicks

rebeccaschmitz.bsky.social•384 days ago

The Notorious Landlady pairing her and Jack Lemmon again is a delight

theowlwagon.bsky.social•384 days ago

Agree. Saw it again a couple months ago and was really, really charmed by it.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

I've read just enough of the premise to know that I already love it.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

Y'know, I think I haven't seen that, and that Richard Quine is the director is of course giving me hope.

I'll put it on the list!

jondmaas.bsky.social•384 days ago

He was one of the directors who came in on Hot Spot!

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

I didn't know that! Well, I'm sure he tried.

jondmaas.bsky.social•384 days ago

As soon as I saw it was Kim Novak's birthday, I said to the dogs, "Uncle Benjamin is already busy!"

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

I think that she's so meaningful to me at least in part because she's an important lesson in You're Not Always Right About Everything, Shloime.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

I tried to watch Phfft not very long ago, speaking of Jack and Kim, and I found the whole thing so irritating and distasteful I'm not even sure I stayed long enough for Kim to show up.

conradbarrington.bsky.social•384 days ago

Kim’s really weird in that one anyway. She’s imitating Marilyn Monroe or something and it doesn’t work at all.

jbax.bsky.social•384 days ago

As you may remember, The Notorious Landlady is the film Larry Gelbart rewrote only to find out that, as he was still handing in new pages, S.N. Behrman was rewriting his old ones.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

Did Larry choose to quip "Sam, you made the script too long"?

Because I'd've liked that.

silverboots.bsky.social•384 days ago

The only reason I get this reference is the pilot episode of Hogan’s Heroes, and for some reason I find that hilarious.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

My goodness!

(I wonder if that's in LG's Laughing Matters, which I worked on but no longer have a copy of. I got to talk to him a couple of times on the phone, and boy was he nice!)

jondmaas.bsky.social•384 days ago

Mr. ෴ had Gelbart, Blake Edwards and Anthony Shaffer all rewriting each other on Rough Cut, and between director Don Siegel and Burt Reynolds, you'd think Joe Eszterhas was at the keyboard. Gelbart used "Francis Burns" (see MASH) as his pseudonym in the credits.

jbax.bsky.social•384 days ago

It is indeed in Laughing Matters, which is why I know the story.

I corresponded with Gelbart for years, having first encountered him on the newsgroup alt.tv.mash in 1996. When I wanted to write a college paper on Barbarians and Weapons, he sent me the screenplays.

bcdreyer.social•384 days ago

The very exemplar of haimishness, as I recall.

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