Stay the night with: Blithe Spirt

Blithe Spirit (1945. Dir David Lean)

Ghosts. Can’t live ‘em, can’t live without them. At least that’s author Charles Condomine’s predicament in Noel Coward’s delightful tale of middle class spooks and the correct use of spectral etiquette. Originally written for the West End in 1941 the film version is practically a straight lift, with a few minor script adjustments and some non studio shots. Indeed two of the play’s stars, Margaret Rutherford and Kay Hammond, reprised their roles for the screen. With the exception of David Lean’s skilful lighting effects, the film retains a stagey, low-budget feel no doubt in part due to shoestring tight war-time finances. Nonetheless this is a delightful hour and a half packed with magic realism and sparky dialogue.Rex Harrison plays the huffy and self important novelist Charles Condomine whose otherwise idyllic second marriage is interrupted by the arrival of his first wife, Elvira. Inconvenient in any circumstances but more so in this case. Elvira has been dead for over seven years. Condomine brought it on himself, though. Researching a new novel he jovially hires the bumbling psychic Madame Arcati to perform a seance. Much to everyone’s surprise, especially Madame Arcati, Condomine’s bitchy first wife is summoned from beyond the grave and decides to stay. All to the considerable consternation of wife number 2, Ruth. Meanwhile, in a roundabout way, Elvira sets about various attempts to bump off Charles so that he might join her and Madame Arcati has next to no idea how to get rid of the spirit she’s (or at least she thinks) unleashed. It’s all jolly good fun, not least because the script retains Cowards biting edge and sharp social comment about the relationship minefield of second marriages. The role of the flustering medium Arcati made Margaret Rutherford an unlikely star and assured herself big screen tenure as bumbling maiden-aunts. Recognised as one of the greatest English comediennes she never forgot her big screen break, her gravestone is actually inscribed with the description, ‘blithe spirit’. The role lives on too. Bristolian actress Stephanie Cole was recently praised for her take on it during the West End revival of the show and it was clearly a big influence on the script writers of Ghost, a similarly spooked blockbuster of the 1990s, in which Whoopie Goldberg plays an accidental medium. Rex Harrison wasn’t originally a popular choice for the role of Condormine, Noel Coward felt he lacked the required comic aptitude for the part. In fact Harrison proved to be perfect and would later find himself typecast as blustering upper-middle class intellectuals who can’t see the woods for the trees - see My Fair Lady.

The drink: Condomine spends most of the movie drinking (spirits, naturally) which leads some to think that he may be imagining the spectral hectoring of Elvira. You could join him in a spot of ghost spotting with a few whisky and sodas at the Ouija board.

The food: What do spooks like to eat? Ghoul-lash, fondoooooooooooooou, ice-scream, Shrouded Wheat, Grave-y, Bacon and Egg-toplasm, cheese on ghost, boo-berry pie, spook-ghetti. Bone appetite!