Blithe Spirit Reviews

Fun filled and witty this is well acted by all and breezily directed but the whole thing is stolen by the wonderfully dotty Margaret Rutherford.

A comedic triumph for Lean. Once again he and Coward make a terrific pair. Cowards words sparkle on screen whilst Lean gives a wonderful visual appreciation, including some excellent (for the time) special effects. The film looks at death, mortality and romance in an incredibly unsentimental way. Always comedic and sometimes harsh and blunt in its delivery. The comedy is also very dark at times but is handled in an rather cheery manner. Like a British stiff upper lip version of Ghost or Death Becomes Her. All the characters have unlikable traits but they soon become endearing and we accept the characters for them. A pleasantly easy watch.

Considerable charm and notable performances, quick, light, and more than a little acid, the Noel Coward script, which zips along with cool one liners, is wonderfully well played by the terrific cast.

Light, clever comedy. Rex Harrison solid as the haunted man and Margaret Rutherford hilarious as the medium that he hires to get rid of his first wife's ghost.

Light comedy with clever, snappy dialogue. Lots of twists and turns keep things interesting. Margaret Rutherford stands out as the quirky medium.

Delightful British comedy, impressively produced and it has fine special effects. Margaret Rutherford is awesome, as she so often is. The rest of the cast is great. Good direction from David Lean. It does drag a bit and is a bit too talky but quite entertaining.

"I long ago came to the conclusion that nothing has ever been definately proved about anything." A comedy classic. Luv MR & RH always.

A true classic! A comedic window into the world of the paranormal through a séance, which soon leads to a materialization of a spirit. Madame Arcati, the medium, is wonderfully eccentric in this phantasikal gem. Not by any means serious... but still very good!

A Comedy treat that in many ways is quite fresh- coming at a time before the certain solid genre hybrids the film is a paranormal Comedy with an added dash of romance. Harrison and Cummings are hilariously at odds and Hammond is delightfully cheeky but the show stealer is Rutherford who is simply a jonas the barmy Madame Arcarti.

After watching "Brief Encounter" by Noel Coward and David Lean, I was compelled to purchase the Criterion Collection's "David Lean directs Noel Coward" boxed set. Instead of writing three separate reviews of the three films I hadn't looked at already (Having previously reviewed the excellent "Brief Encounter" already which you ALL SHOULD WATCH!), I thought I would take care of them all in one fell swoop.

In the 1940's, Britain was well into World War II, Noel Coward was easily one of Britain's top playwrights, and David Lean was still mainly known for his mad editing skills. With Britain in a less than happy state (to put it very mildly), Noel Coward decided to put on the screen a film about the British Navy and boost morale. Coward felt confident in directing the players for his film "In Which We Serve," but was unsure about how to handle the major action scenes. He tapped David Lean on the shoulder to give him a hand. "In Which We Serve" marks the first of four collaborations of Lean and Coward and it is obviously the beginning of a beautiful friendship made clear by Coward's trademark wit and questioning of Britishness evident in most of Lean's movies.

"In Which We Serve" is a film about a ship, the HMS Torrin, commanded by Captain Kinross, played by Coward himself. The movie does have a tendency to beat you over the head with its blunt patriotism; however, there is far more depth to it. What makes this film truly engaging, other than the well-done action sequences, is the focus on the individual members of the ship and their struggles before and after the war. We see family men, newlyweds, and bachelors all in their pre-war lives. Coward's direction and acting reveals these characters in appropriate detail in brief, effective vignettes. These are later punctuated by Lean's excellent action sequences as we see the ship get attacked by the Germans. While the film asserts the Brits as the typical "stiff-upper lipped," courageous face of the war effort, it also displays the sensitive side of these same people, putting a relatable face to those serving. (90%)

Coward and Lean's second collaboration, "This Happy Breed" marks Lean's first directorial effort. The movie follows the Gibbons family during the interwar period, from just after the first world war until the start of World War II. Coward guides us through the lives of this middle class as they deal with the problems of that affect Britain at the time. It does a decent job at conveying the rise of Socialism in England, the General Strike of 1926, the rise of fascism and Hitler, the death of a son, and the death of a king. Lean and Coward formulate a decent human drama that touches on the important issues and the progression from the prosperity of peace, leading up to the hardships of war. (80%)

After two great dramas, Lean and Coward lighten things up with the comedy "Blithe Spirit." A novelist and his new second wife move into his house.The subject of his next novel is the paranormal and calls in a medium to study. The medium, Madame Arcati, and Charles, his wife, and friends conduct a seance. They appeared to have failed, but Charles eventually finds out that he has brought forth the spirit of his first wife. However, only Charles can see her. What ensues is a hilarious deconstruction of his current marriage and great encounters between Charles and his ex-wife Elvira. This is one of Rex Harrison's first movies and he is excellent as Charles and the ending is quite appropriate and funny. A very underrated comedy. (90%)

I highly recommend checking out this set. Be sure to watch out for some of the earliest roles of great British actors such as Sir Richard Attenborough (In Which We Serve), Celia Howard (This Happy Breed), and Rex Harrison (Blithe Spirit). These films mark the height of Noel Cowards career and the start of a great career in David Lean's. Definitely try to check these out if you get the chance (and can afford it =|).

Classic Noel Coward, and a good adaptation of this play. Great cast, many of whom repeat the roles they played in the stage play. Recommend. Margaret Rutherford alone is worth the price of admission.

I really love this classic film. It's got the typical comic style, not slapstick but gentle and clever.

Não à (C) uma obra de arte, mas foi ótimo rever. Afinal, por que os ingleses gostam tanto de uma história de fantasmas?

Too Dry For Its Own Good

There are some films which really cry for remastering. This film was in Technicolor, but it's so faded that it looks colorized. On the other hand, I shudder to think how dreadful the ghost makeup would look in the original Technicolor scheme. Graham walked into the room midway through and demanded to know why there was a corpse in the room. The filmmakers decided that the way to have a ghost in the room was to paint the actress green with red lipstick and nail polish. It was decided that this was a better way to do it than double-exposing the film. I believe they felt it gave the ghost more range to interact with the other characters, which I suppose is true. But I have to say that I wouldn't have gone green for it. Grey, I think, would have been a far better choice.

Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison) is one of those drawing-room comedy types, a man who is quite well off despite having no discernible means of support. He is married to Ruth (Constance Cummings), but seven years previous, he was married to Elvira (Kay Hammond). (This is pronounced El-VEE-rah, and not like the Mistress of the Dark.) One night, he and some friends--Doctor (Hugh Wakefield) and Mrs. (Joyce Carey) Bradman--have in Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford), a local medium of the Dotty Old Bat variety. During their séance, she summons the spirit of Elvira, who proceeds to harass Charles. At first, of course, he must convince Ruth that Elvira is even there, because of course he's the only one who can see her, and in fine old Ghost Comedy fashion, everyone thinks he's nuts when he talks to her.

I don't know if this is how Noël Coward saw love, but I find it appalling. It's perfectly right and healthy that Charles remarries, if he feels he's no longer mourning for Elvira. It's also understandable for Ruth to worry about how his past with Elvira might influence his relationship with her. There is nothing wrong with that. It's even reasonable, I think, for a returned Elvira to be upset that Charles has moved on and married someone else. All of this I can get behind with no complaints. But the way these people handle all of their feelings is extremely distasteful. Elvira seems to think that it's Ruth's fault that Charles didn't spend his whole life grieving, that he remarried two years after becoming a widower. She's also a little eager to reclaim Charles, especially given what getting him back would entail. Neither woman much worries about his feelings one way or the other.

Another problem with the movie is that it simply has too many endings. It's only a little over an hour and a half long, but the last twenty minutes or so really seem to drag. It's almost as though Coward wasn't sure how he wanted it to end. And then when we do get through the various possibilities, it's perfectly predictable and yet contradictory of what we believe just happened. We might as well have cut the bit where maid Edith (Jacqueline Clark) is brought in to resolve the situation for some reason that I did not at all understand. It didn't make sense, and it really gets in the way of how the movie does end. And that ending frankly brings about a few more unpleasant connotations which I think we're supposed to brush off as lighthearted and wacky. Not, you know, sordid and bitter.

All in all, I am torn by this movie. It is amusing in places, and of course Rex Harrison excels at this sort of character. It's one of the reasons he was such an excellent Henry Higgins, even though he was starring in a musical without in so many words being able to sing. The medium becomes pretty entertaining as well, and I was glad she was a more major character than the completely innocuous doctor and his wife. However, taken as a whole, the movie didn't really do anything for me. I remember having seen this a long time ago, and I remember having quite liked it. Alas, these things do not always stay. After watching a few minutes of it, Graham suggested that it was something like a gender-reversed [i]Ghost and Mrs. Muir[/i]. This isn't quite true. For one, there isn't the complication of the daughter, and the second wife knows about the first wife going in. There are some other issues as well. On the other hand, I think I ought to have just watched [i]The Ghost and Mrs. Muir[/i] again.

Delightful British comedy, impressively produced and it has fine special effects. Margaret Rutherford is awesome, as she so often is. The rest of the cast is great. Good direction from David Lean. It does drag a bit and is a bit too talky but quite entertaining.