Spirito allegro

Can't decide who plays their character best, Dame Margaret or Sir Rex, but every bit of dialog sparkles. I never tire of watching this. The remake pales in comparison.

Has David Lean made a bad film? Not to my knowledge, no! This one is quite fun, I revisited the picture recently and even though I don't like it as much as the masterpiece Oliver Twist, Blithe Spirit is excellent fun for the whole family.

The acting is tremendous, it's mindblowing. Although the dialogue is rather upper class, I quite enjoy it. Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati is the star of the film, perfect, perfect and perfect.

The direction is sublime as usual by Lean.

There's plenty to enjoy here, a nice film for everyone.

Blithe Spirit is directed by David Lean and adapted from by Noel Coward's play by Lean, Coward, Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan. The title Blithe Spirit was devised out of the poem by "To a Skylark" written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The film stars Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond and Margaret Rutherford. Music is by Richard Addinsell and Neame is the photographer. Plot finds Charles (Harrison) and his second wife Ruth (Cummings) haunted by the ghost of Charles' first wife, Elvira (Hammond). Medium Madame Arcati (Rutherford) is enlisted to try and help. Things get colourful to say the least...

Written by a maestro and directed by someone so gifted, Blithe Spirit is a fantastical comedy that gladdens and lifts the spirits (no pun intended) to the point that this viewer always wears a grin 12 hours after watching it. Noel Coward's witty approach is given perfect treatment from David Lean and a cast clearly having fun with the material to hand. Rex Harrison is all fresh faced and youthful, whilst some of his mannerisms of incredulity and cheek are a joy to behold, while Constance Cummings & Kay Hammond bounce off each other with electrical mirth. However, it is Margaret Rutherford's show all the way, her portrayal of the batty, almost maniacal, medium Madame Arcati is a lesson in visual and well delivered oral comedy, it is something that on its own is worth watching the film for.

Ghostly goings on with a cracking turn of events at the hour mark, mark this out as a truly delightful movie, thankfully we get an ending that is perfect and in tune as regards the fun that has gone before it. Essential viewing for the classic comedy fan. 9/10

Noel Coward wrote Blithe Spirit in 5 days during Britain's darkest days of the Second World War. The play completed 3 decades as Britain's longest run in West End for a comedic play. The film which was adapted from the play was directed by David Lean and incorporated some of the most sophisticated special effects yet seen in a movie. The film tackles some dark themes such as death and falling in and out of love. The characters themselves are on the face of it unsympathetic. Elvira is a siren, Ruth is shrewish and Charles a misogynist. Despite this the film works well as a comedy because of the quick and clever dialogue between the characters and the scene stealing performances of Margaret Rutherford's Madame Arcarti. You end laughing at and sometimes with the characters as one would do a Shakespeare comedy. Never has a film about death been so funny

A couple is haunted by the spirit of the man's deceased first wife. Coward adapted his own play for the screen with the help of Lean and Neame. This was Neame's last credit as cinematographer before becoming a director. This was the third of Lean's first four films as director where he worked with Coward. It is an enjoyable farce with witty dialog, but never quite rises above the silliness of the subject matter (ghosts). Harrison and Cummings are fine as the couple, with him becoming bemused and her becoming exasperated after the appearance of the ghost of his first wife, a green-faced Hammond. Rutherford seems to be having the most fun as an incompetent medium.