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Blithe Spirit Movie Review

Blithe Spirit is a 1945 supernatural comedy film directed by David Lean and starring Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings and Kay Hammond. It’s a wonderful comedy.

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“It’s discouraging to think how many people

are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit“

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Charles, a novelist, seeks help from medium Madame Arcati for his work, but things take an amusing turn as the ghost of his first wife starts haunting him and Ruth, his second wife. Based on a renowned play by Noel Coward, this adaptation definitely felt somewhat stagey in its approach, but it was still elevated by fantastic VFX and some terrific outdoors sequences.

David Lean isn’t particularly known for comedies as he is respected for his historical epics and book adaptations, but here he was mostly up to the task. Not only did he execute the story very well, but he also brought out terrific performances from the entire cast. It is in the amazing acting and deliciously playful dialogue where the movie shined the most.

Rex Harrison was superbly cast as Charles, this very stuck up, pompous novelist. The film through him made a lot of poignant observations about the British upper class and their inescapable ennui. Constance Cummings was also phenomenal as the icy and hysterical Ruth whereas Kay Hammond made the most out of the best role in the story. She was so much fun and her comedic delivery was spot-on.

But when talking about the performances one should not forget to congratulate Margaret Rutherford, a theater actress who repeated her role from the play for this movie adaptation. This was a great choice as she embodied the character perfectly, particularly delivering at physical comedy. Madame Arcati should be regarded as an iconic comedy creation.

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Blithe Spirit won an Oscar for best visual effects and it’s easy to see why. There is so much visual ingenuity present here that the film ended up aging most gracefully. The green tint and make-up used for Elvira to accentuate her spirit body was phenomenal. The scenes where objects moved on their own were particularly inventive and timeless.

Noel Coward’s screenplay is an absolute treat. The dialogue is so juicy as it’s full of this married couple bickering and insulting each other through very sophisticated, witty banter. There is also an emphasis on rather edgy sex humor that surprisingly remained untouched in the end product. The best jokes stemmed from the couple bickering and the critique of the protagonist’s insufferably ornate, pretentious speech pattern.

I have mixed opinions in regards to the film’s rather flimsy, casual treatment of death as the main theme of the story. On the one hand, the ending did seem rushed and somewhat dissatisfactory while also being in poor taste, but on the other hand, we should all try to joke about everything, even death itself, so the movie at least was consistent in that sense.

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Blithe Spirit is around one and a half hours in length and it simply flew by for me. It’s by far one of the most purely entertaining movies released in the forties. The sound and score are fittingly joyous, the cinematography is gorgeous and the film fired on all cylinders in terms of characterization and situational comedy. It’s a fantasy comedy that’s aged like fine wine while somehow still continuing to be ridiculously underrated.