Blithe Spirit

UK (1945): Fantasy/Comedy

David Lean directs this adaptation of the Noël Coward play, in which Rex Harrison is Charles Condomine, a novelist happily married to his second wife, Ruth (Constance Cummings). Happy, that is, until a séance meant to find material for his next book causes the ghost of his first wife, Elvira (Kay Hammond), to materialize. Margaret Rutherford's turn as eccentric medium Madame Arcati is one of her most memorable. Coward himself collaborated on the screenplay. Harrison and Rutherford reprise the roles they began on the London stage. It was also the last film that Ronald Neame is credited as cinematographer -- he would later become a director, and is best known for The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Released in the UK in May, 1945, Blithe Spirit opened in the US early in 1946. (Cineguild/UA) (amctv.com)

 View the theatrical trailer for this film on YouTube.com.

1 nomination, 1 Award