England,
1945, 96 min
Shown in 1970 / 1971
CREDITS
- dir
-
David Lean
- scr
-
Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame, David Lean
- cast
-
Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond, Margaret Rutherford, Joyce Carey
- prod co
-
Two Cities Films
- source
-
Two Cities Films
-
COMMENTS
Shown at the David Lean tribute in 1970; David Lean in person. Shown as part of a Retrospective Tribute to British Popular Cinema, 1932–1952 in 1971; Rex Harrison in person.
OTHER
One of the cinema's best remembered conversation pieces, Noel Coward's play, Blithe Spirit, was quite successfully adapted to the screen during the postwar period, when audiences only wanted to laugh. For some complicated reasons, no doubt, the film is rarely shown, and today's presentation serves a double-purpose: to begin the Festival's survey of the popular British cinema and to pay homage to the acting skills of Rex Harrison. The story of an upper-class domestic triangle involving man, wife and ghost of a former wife is now familiar to most theatergoers. On screen, one might find that the dialogue, though still sharp and witty, is toned down just a bit, but there is enough lingering innuendo left to preserve the brittle sophistication of the play. From time to time, one might recall some of the humor involved in talking to wraiths visible only to one person in a crowded room, (as in Thorne Smith's Topper), but the principal actors are veritable wizards at keeping the spectators amused and, in many instances, in a high state of mirth. Harrison's use of English language inflections is as intricate and formidable as performing a Bellini aria, and his portrayal of Charles Codomine, the gentleman who cannot exorcise the blithe and rather green ghost of Elvira, his sultry-voiced first wife, is full of storm and joy. It is interesting to see the contrasting images of bewitched bitchery exemplified by Constance Cummings and Kay Hammond as the two wives, and to hear them crisscrossing quips and insults in haughty tones. Margaret Rutherford is here, too, as the kooky medium, Madame Arcati, and she is memorable at all times: a jaunty scoutmistress in apprehensive touch with fairies in the bottom of her garden.
—Albert Johnson
FACTOID #147
The Coppola clan (Francis, Eleanor, Sofia and Roman) is the family with the most filmmakers represented at the Festival. Films screened include Apocalypse Now (1990); One from the Heart (1990); Lick the Star (1998); The Virgin Suicides (2000); CQ (2002); and On the Set of CQ (2002). (And that’s not even counting onscreen appearances by cousins Nic Cage and Jason Schwartzman.)
