Blithe Spirit (1945)
7/10
Blithe Spirit
30 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
The third directed film from Sir David Lean (The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia) is pretty good one. Basically author Charles Condomine (My Fair Lady's Sir Rex Harrison) needs some background for his new book about the supernatural, so he and his second wife Ruth (Constance Cummings) invite the dotty old medium Madame Arcati (an unforgettable Margaret Rutherford) and friends Dr. George Bradman (Hugh Wakefield) and his wife Violet (Joyce Carey) for a séance. During this séance, Charles was sure he heard the voice of his dead first wife, Elvira (Kay Hammond), and soon enough, when everyone has left, he is seeing and talking to her too, while Ruth's in the room. Most people would be shocked about seeing and talking to their dead wives, but Charles is pretty calm, only Ruth is worried about him talking to what she can't see, and being offended and confused when she think's he's talking to her. The next day though, she gets proof of Elvira's presence when objects are being lifted and thrown everywhere. Ruth after a little while wants Elvira out of her house, so she tries Madame Arcati, but she says she can't. Soo Charles also wants to get rid of her, especially when he finds out she tried to kill him to join her, and instead killed Ruth, and doing this turned her into a ghost too. Eventually Madame Arcati agrees to try everything she can to get rid of them, and with the help of maid Edith (Jacqueline Clarke), she manages it. In the end, after a few seconds of them disappearing (sight and sound wise) Charles still has them helping him leave the house (e.g. putting his coat and hat on), before he eventually crashes on the bridge where Elvira and Ruth are waiting, and he falls from the sky as a spirit. A happy ending? I'm not sure. Harrison is charming and witty, Hammond is glamorous and humorous as the dead first wife ghost, Cummings is appealing as the second wife, and I suppose Rutherford does steal the show at times as the almost bonkers old medium. Some of the best jokes were when Harrison talks to Hammond, and Cummings mistakes him talking to her. A good comedy, a good leading actor, some good supporting female stars, a good director, a good story, in full, a good film. It won the Oscar for Best Special Effects. Very good!
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