There's a creepy nastiness to this movie's portrayal of the denizens of Greenwich Village. The snobbish non-hip Janice Rule is the Queen of Mean, but so were the warlocks and witches at the Zodiac. The Village atmosphere is done well by director Richard Quine, with the narrow streets in the snow. But the Stewart-Novac 'chemistry' is shrill, Lemmon comes off mean and the interesting Ernie Kovacs is wasted somehow as the buffoonish drunk. I did like the Flat Iron Building and the falling hat. And there should be a book written about Janice Rule and her genius at playing feminine evil.
Review of Bell Book and Candle
