Many believe Van Druten, who was gay, intended Novak’s part as witch who loses her “powers” when she falls in love with Stewart’s book publisher as some sort of crypto-lesbian fantasy. Indeed, there is much to support this hypothesis in the screenplay by Daniel Taradash (“From Here to Eternity”) and the film’s casting. Jack Lemmon — who took the relatively small part of Novak’s brother apparently as a favor to his frequent collaborator, the criminally underrated former actor Quine — leaves little doubt about his character’s sexual orientation in his fey performance. Such flamboyant camp followers as Elsa Lanchester (Mrs. Charles Laughton), Hermoine Gingold and Howard (“Floyd the Barber”) McNear are much in evidence. And then there’s the intriguing sub-plot involving Kim’s barbed relationship with Stewart’s fiancee Janice Rule, who she scared after Rule snubbed her when they were coeds together at college. Hmm.