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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0503711504176
Format: PAL
Label: Carlton
Manufacturer: Carlton
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Carlton
Region Code: 2
Running Time: 91 minutes
Sales Rank: 56013
Studio: Carlton
Theatrical Release Date: 1945
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Great Britain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Mono), English (Subtitles), SYNOPSIS: The Noel Coward/David Lean combination which turned out such dramas as Brief Encounter and This Happy Breed sets its sights on the viewer's funny bone with Blithe Spirit. Rex Harrison plays a novelist, newly married to straight-laced Constance Cummings. While researching a book on spiritualism, Harrison is teased and tormented by the mischievous ghost of his first wife, Kay Hammond. Believing that Hammond wants to ruin his marriage, Harrison enlists the services of local medium Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford in her funniest performance). When Arcati fails to exorcise Hammond's spirit, Harrison decides to kill himself so that he can be reunited with her and spare wife number two the aggravation of being haunted. But Harrison's plans go awry: His second wife is killed, and now he has two playful spirits on his hands! Technicolor is used throughout Blithe Spirit, with the ghosts' shimmering paleness providing contrast to the plain, everyday colors of Harrison's conservative country home. Blithe Spirit was later transformed into the Broadway musical High Spirits, with the original script bent out of shape to turn the character of Madame Arcati (played by Beatrice Lillie) into the leading role. SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu,
Amazon.com essential video:
Noel Coward's favorite play was certainly a departure for David Lean, best known for adapting Dickens in the '40s. While it's the director's only comedy, the result is a delightful gem. Rex Harrison is an acerbic author haunted by the ghost of first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond), who tries to seduce him all over again. This throws his second wife (Constance Cummings) into a panic, second-guessing her lack of passion. It's a celestial sex romp that hasn't lost its bite. Margaret Rutherford, as always, steals the show as the sardonic medium. --Bill Desowitz
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - "Over the top like a flash and skimming down the other side like a dragonfly!"
Better to get the British version and import it while using a non-regional DVD then sit through the affront to the eyes that the American company is trying to sell us. David Lean's Technicolor is always exquisite, and never more so than in the complicated color designs of BLITHE SPIRIT, in which Charles and Ruth Condomine (Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings) sail through a variety of tweedy outfits that are so brilliantly detailed you can "read" every tooth in the houndstooth. (And Cummings has ... Read More
Rating:  - One wife too many
The story if not the film has held up well over the years. Rex Harrison and Kay Hammond have a fun time rekindling their old love. The only probably is that Charles' dear wife, Elvyra, is dead, and he has to try to convince his new wife, Ruth, that this is a spirit, with a delightfully malevolent quality as it turns out, haunting his life. Unfortunately, the film quality has deteriorated and the technicolor no longer seems so bright. Elvyra is a miserable green, one assumes from envy, to see her ... Read More
Rating:  - Where's the "blithe"?
I saw this play done well at the Williamstown Theatre Festival recently. So, I was interested to see how it had been treated on the silver screen. I think 3 of the 4 main characters were done well.
This adaptation fell flat around Kate Hammond's performance as Elvira. She really failed to portray someone you could believe died laughing. The ghastly green makeup didn't help her, either. The director could have convinced us she was a ghost without going the sledgehammer route.
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Rating: - Barely passable
This is a fine production of an extremely lightweight play. No wonder that so many high schools used to perform it. This is definitely not a "sex romp," as the puff piece states, and it isn't even slightly suggestive in that regard. It's about quarreling, endless bickering about the existence of an ex-wife, a spirit, in the room. The "one-liners" aren't at all amusing, and the ending is as absurd as its beginning. Three cheers for four of England's finest actors. But there isn't much one can do ... Read More
Rating: - Wy is this movie so expensive
I love Margaret Rutherford. I think she is one of the funniest ladies I have ever seen. Everything I have seen her in is wonderful. I just wish I could get other DVDs besides the "Miss Marple" series at a reasonable price.
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![: Blithe Spirit [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51GK5jI0FXL._SL160_.jpg)