Blithe Spirit [1945] David Lean

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Blithe Spirit (1945)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038363/

Blithe Spirit (1945) is a British fantasy comedy film in Technicolor directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame, and Noël Coward is based on Coward's 1941 play of the same name. Its title is derived from the line Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert in the poem To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

A harmless séance at the home of novelist Charles Condomine and his wife Ruth summons up the ghost of Charles' glamorous first wife Elvira.

Rex Harrison ... Charles Condomine
Constance Cummings ... Ruth Condomine
Kay Hammond ... Elvira Condomine
Margaret Rutherford ... Madame Arcati
Hugh Wakefield ... Dr. George Bradman
Joyce Carey ... Violet Bradman
Jacqueline Clarke ... Edith


Blithe Spirit (d. David Lean, 1945) was the second of three Noël Coward adaptations produced by Lean's new company Cineguild. Ronald Neame, co-founder of the company alongside producer Anthony Havelock-Allan, was again the director of photography, and the film was another Technicolor production. Coward himself performed the witty introductory voice-over. With its cast of distinguished comedy actors, the film did well with post-war audiences, but Coward professed himself disappointed with the result, although Lean had warned him that 'high comedy' was not really his forte.

The film is stylish. The action is set at the Condomines' comfortable upper middle-class home in Kent, and great care was taken to ensure the right look for the set. An actor like Rex Harrison was quite at ease in the world of the play, but Lean himself reportedly found it not to his own taste. The special effects are convincing and Lean's lighting and framing give it visual interest. The action is stagey, so all depends on the cast and they play wonderfully, even though Harrison was considered by some to look too young for the role of the middle-aged Charles. Kay Hammond and Margaret Rutherford had created their roles on the stage; the play premiered at London's Piccadilly Theatre on 1941 and was still running when Coward invited Lean to make a film version.

Hammond, in her floaty green chiffon gown, green hair and pale make-up, is a sexy and mischievous Elvira, employing her throaty, theatrical drawl to good comic effect. The American actress Constance Cummings' Ruth, by contrast, is brisk and sensible. Margaret Rutherford's performance of Madame Arcati has passed into theatre legend and she recreates the role of the eccentric and rather incompetent medium effectively for film. Her joy at the realisation that she has actually managed to summon up a spirit is beautifully judged.

As with most of Coward