Blithe Spirit

My next film is the second one starring Rex Harrison and, as I said in my last post I’m not fond of him as an actor but Blithe Spirit is a joyous affair made all the better for the wonderful performance by Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati.

Directed by David Lean and adapted from the play of the same name by Noel Coward, Blithe Spirit was not a notable success. Coward objected to the changed ending – in the play Charles leaves the two bickering wives to it, taunting them with his freedom as he does.

The dialogue, in typical Coward style, is fast, witty and slightly risqué in parts (online being deemed too much for US ears).

Believing her to be a charlatan, and rather amused by her eccentricity, Charles, his wife Ruth and their guests George and Violet, can barely stop themselves laughing at Madame Arcati.

Finally, after falling into a trance, Charles becomes convinced that he can hear the voice of his dead first wife, Elvira. To bad for him then that the others can’t, and he passes it off. When Madame Arcati comes to she is convinced something occurred but the others all deny it.

After their guests have gone, Charles tries to convince Ruth that something did happen, but she doesn’t believe him and retires for the night. Elvira reveals herself to Charles but only to him.

As tension mounts between husband and wife, Charles finds himself talking to his dead wife much to the chagrin of his present one. In a last-ditch attempt to convince Ruth he’s not mad he persuades Elvira to pick up a vase and chair.

Of course, when this happens it doesn’t make Ruth feel any better!

Ruth seeks out Madame Arcati in an attempt to return Elvira back to where she came from but the medium claims she doesn’t know how.

Persuaded that Elvira is trying to be reunited with her former husband, Ruth tells Charles that the ghost is planning his demise. Of course, Charles is having none of it. Sadly, for Ruth, she was correct, but Elvira has miscalculated and instead of topping Charles, it is Ruth who dies in the car the ghost has tampered with.

Now a spirit herself, Ruth exacts revenge on Elvira by harassing her, so she wants to leave.

A now desperate Charles, being haunted by two wives, turns once more to Madame Arcati but all her conjuring fails when it is revealed that she didn’t summon the spirit at all; it was the maid!

Unable to assist, Madame Arcati suggests that Charles leaves on a long vacation however, it is not long before he too has a fateful accident and joins Elvira and Ruth as a spirit.

In my forthcoming novel HIGH SPIRITS, the ghosts of Partridge Hall are aghast to learn that their friend Billy, the night guard, is being replaced by modern sensors and CCTV. They set out to scare the men installing the equipment, in an attempt to stop it happening.

Excerpt:

Darren looked around the room as he waited for Steve to finish.

“Reckon it’s true about this place being haunted.”

“You what?”

“Straight up! Reckon it’s the old curator.”

“Blimey, must have been a saddo to want to be in here during his life let alone haunt it forever!”

“Well, the damn cheek of it!”

“Now, Alec, don’t lose your temper!”

“I’ll show him!”

“Pol! No!”

It was too late; Pol was off.

“Yeah, think they’d have better things to do in their….” Darren’s voice trailed off as something caught his eye.

As he watched, he saw a shape seem to materialise before him, but nothing defined. He stared wide-eyed as the shape moved. It was a bundle of clothing such as he’d noticed in the boxes dotted around the museum.

“Okay, mate, you stop that!”

Steve stopped what he was doing and peered down the ladder. “What’d you say?”

The shape continued to move, to grow as the clothes took on a form.

“I said, enough!” Darren could feel the hairs on the back of his head standing up, and he had the greatest desire to pee.

Steve looked over to see what Darren was seeing, and the screwdriver fell from his hand, nearly hitting the petrified Darren on the head.

“What is that?” he stuttered.

“Someone messing about!” Darren was trying to sound braver than he felt. “Oi! I said enough!”

“I don’t like this!” said Steve coming down the ladder.

The two men stood shoulder to shoulder as the clothing, seemingly devoid of a wearer danced around before them.

Alec stood beside them, unseen and unheard, laughing at Pol, who had slipped inside the clothing, and was dancing away, wildly throwing her arms and legs out.

“Alec, don’t encourage her!”

“Serves them right, I say!”

Darren and Steve began to back away as Pol stopped dancing and with deliberate steps that gave the ‘empty’ clothes an air of menace, started to walk towards them.

The two men fled into the hall outside, almost falling over themselves in their rush to get out of the room.

Alec and Jean roared with laughter as Pol stepped out of the clothing, leaving it where it fell on the floor.