FAQ

Hoping to gather material for his new fiction book about the exposé of a criminal psychic, writer Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison) and his wife Ruth (Constance Cummings) invite their friends, Doctor George Bradman (Hugh Wakefield) and his wife Violet (Joyce Carey) to a séance given by eccentric medium Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford). No one is more surprised than Madame Arcati when she ends up invoking the spirit of Charles' first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond), who 'passed over' seven years ago. Unfortunately, Madame Arcati doesn't know how to return Elvira to the spirit world, and Elvira seems to be enjoying her ability to disrupt Charles' marriage and taunt his wife, who cannot see or hear the ghost. Things become even more complicated when Elvira makes plans to plot Charles' early demise so that he can spend eternity with her instead of with Ruth.

Blithe Spirit was based on a 1941 play written by English playwright Noël Coward. The play was adapted for the movie by English film-makers David Lean (who also directed the movie), Ronald Neame, and Anthony Havelock-Allan. There have, so far, been five remakes, four for TV, including Blithe Spirit (1946) (1946), Blithe Spirit (1948) (1948), Blithe Spirit (1956) (1956), and Blithe Spirit (1966) (1958). In 2021 the first movie remake will be released Blithe Spirit (2020).

Blithe refers to someone who is cheerful and easygoing. The source of the title is actually "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! / Bird thou never wert", a line from 'To a Skylark', an 1820 poem by English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley 1892-1922.

Traditionally, a black arm band means that you are in mourning for somebody. In this case, Charles wears two...one for Elvira and one for Ruth.

It's a 1938 Triumph Dolomite roadster.

With both Elvira and now Ruth in tow, Charles drives them and Madame Arcati back to his house where Madame Arcati performs four more rituals in hopes of getting rid of the spirits, but still they remain. As she prepares for another séance, she suddenly remembers the Sudbury case in which she was able to conjure up a spirit due to the presence of a natural psychic. Arcati quickly performs another ritual in which she summons the unknown psychic whose presence she has been feeling in the house. Minutes later, the very unblithe maid Edith (Jacqueline Clarke) comes into the parlor, wondering who rang for her. Madame Arcati tricks her into admitting that she can also see the spirits, so Arcati hypnotizes her and gets her to make them disappear by singing the song 'Always'. It quickly becomes apparent that, even though Ruth and Elvira can no longer be seen, they are still in the house. Consequently, Charles decides to go on a long trip...somewhere where the spirits can't follow. He loads his suitcases into his car and goes screeching down the road. Ruth and Elvira can be seen sitting on a bridge railing. As Charles zips over the bridge, a crash is heard. Ruth and Elvira move over to make way for Charles' spirit to sit between them.