Blithe Spirit (1945)

Blithe Spirit
Directed by David Lean
Adapted for the screen by David Lean, Ronald Neame, and Anthony Havelock-Allen from a play by Noel Coward
1945/UK
Two Cities Films/Noel Coward-Cineguild
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Madame Arcati: Time is the reef upon which all our frail mystic ships are wrecked.[/box]

I always feel like I should enjoy this more than I actually do. If Margaret Rutherford could be in every scene perhaps I would.

Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison) is a successful mystery writer.  He lost his first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond) several years ago and is now married to Ruth (Constance Cummings).  Charles is writing a new book with a fake medium and decides to host a seance for research purposes.  He does not count on the medium he gets, the eccentric, earnest, no-nonsense Madame Acarti (Rutherford).

Somehow, Madame Arcarti manages to summon Elvira from the other side.  Elvira and Ruth are natural antagonists, Charles is stuck in the middle, and Arcarti can’t seem to put the genii back in the bottle.

Lean’s forte was certainly not comedy and Coward was notoriously unhappy about the way his smash hit stage play turned out on screen.  Where the dialogue should sparkle it just kind of fizzles, despite the expert delivery of the actors.  Margaret Rutherford must have directed herself (it probably helped that she had played the part on stage) and breathes life into the movie each time she appears.  It is almost worth seeing just to catch her performance.

Blithe Spirit won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects.

Original Trailer