"When we are young, we read and believe the most fantastic things.
When we are older, we learn with regret that these things cannot be."
We are quite, quite wrong!
Had a lovely time at the BFI last night, as we went to seen the sublime Noel Coward's classic film Blithe Spirit, as part of the David Lean centenary season.
A real old-school gem of a comedy, the plot revolves around the mayhem that ensues when a seance goes wrong, and a married couple (the very young Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings) are haunted by the mischievous and bitchy ghost of the first wife (Kay Hammond). But the real star turn is the wonderful Margaret Rutherford as the unconventional whimsical medium who can't send the ghosts back, Madame Arcati ("namesake" of my lovely other half).
The role of Madame Arcati was made for Margaret Rutherford - queen of the quintessentially English eccentrics. Her extreme theatrics when she goes into one of her trances, her joy at the realisation that her powers are not as "fake" as everyone thought, and her increasingly bizarre attempts to return the ghosts to the other side make this film such a masterpiece.
Screenonline - Blithe Spirit
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a message - I value your comments!
[NB Bear with me if there is a delay - thanks to spammers I might need to approve comments]