BLITHE SPIRIT
UK, 1945, 96 minutes, Colour.
Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford, Joyce Carey.
Directed by David Lean.
Blithe Spirit is based on Noel Coward’s celebrated comedy play. Charles Condomine and his second wife, Ruth, are haunted by the ghost of his first wife, Elvira. They seek the help of a medium to try to solve the difficulties – Madame Arcati. The film is full of farcical and comic situations with the polished Noel Coward ironic dialogue. Rex Harrison is very good at this kind of thing – as witnessed by My Fair Lady. Margaret Rutherford enjoys herself immensely, bumbling through as always, as Madame Arcati (she was to win an Oscar as best supporting actress for a variation on this theme in 1963 in The VIPs).
The film was an early film by David Lean who had made a version of Noel Coward’s This Happy Breed in 1944 as well as collaborating with Coward for his war film In Which We Serve (1942). Lean was a perfectionist who did not make a great number of films. After this he made his classics Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. He made such films as Breaking the Sound Barrier, Hobson’s Choice and Summertime with Katharine Hepburn. After this he made long and large spectaculars, winning Oscars for The Bridge Over the River Kwai as well as Lawrence of Arabia (1957 and 1962). He also made Dr Zhivago, Ryan’s Daughter and A Passage to India.
In 1956 Noel Coward collaborated with Frederick de Cordova for a television version of Blithe Spirit and he himself played Charles Condomine. Claudette Colbert was Ruth and Lauren Bacall was Elvira. Mildred Natwick was Madame Arcati. There was a 1966 version with Dirk Bogarde as Charles, Rachel Roberts as Ruth, Rosemary Harris as Elvira and this time Ruth Gordon as Madame Arcati. Coward himself also appeared as the presenter of a 1964 television version with Griffith Jones as Charles, Helen Cherry as Ruth, Joanna Dunham as Elvira and this time Hattie Jacques as Madame Arcati.
1. How did the title give the meaning and tone to this comedy? The wit and the lightweight humour?
2. How good was this film as comedy? The comic possibilities of the plot, the characterization and their caricature, the wit in the dialogue and the situations? The pointing up of foibles? The wit and the froth? The particularly English tone of the comedy?
3. How was this film a typical product of the 40s? The style of photography, editing, acting? The contrived theatrical tone of the film? The quality of the colour? The English atmosphere?
4. How effective was the satire on marriage? The fantasy overtones for Condomine and his relationship with his wives? The two wives themselves, Elvira and her flippancy and its effect? Ruth and her practical nature? The reactions of two wives and why they married Condomine? The fact that he was hag-ridden?
5. How important was the performance of Rex Harrison, so British, witty, shallow, the quality of his small talk, his role as a writer, his curiosity about séances, his response to situations, people, his wives?
6. Comment on his reactions to each of the wives and how they differed. irony of his wanting to escape? The humour of his death?
7. How important for the film’s success was Madame Arcarti? The quality of Margaret Rutherford's performance? Its characteristic style? How funny? Why?
8. How successful was the parody of seances? The methods and superstitions of people? Would this be offensive to people who really believed in seances? Or was it genuine parody seeing the humorous element in the rugged British style?
9. The comedy in Edith and her being drawn into the plot? The fact that the situation depended on her? The comedy of the typical British maid?
10. How enjoyable was the central séance sequence? The laughter, the overtones of reality, the reactions of the Bradmans etc?
11. How did the film depend on the encounters between the various characters? The staginess of this? The reliance on the dialogue? Ruth and Condomine both seeking Madame Arcati? The importance of the final trying to get rid of the two ghosts? How well was this filmed?
12 How much did the film reflect Noel Coward's outlook on entertainment and wit? The value of a comedy of manners in entertaining and yet highlighting aspects of society and behaviour, and of morals?
