Blithe Spirit

[thirdlady]

this is a classic movie with margaret rutherford, anyone seen it?



Blithe Spirit (1945)

[wagner1966]

Margaret Rutherford - WHAT A WOMAN!!!

Great film, the sight of M.R. cycling along to the music of Richard addinsell - :) .

A combination of Noel Coward, David Lean, Margaret Rutherford, Rex Harrison etc, yes must go down in my top ten.



Ben

[thirdlady]

my boyfriend would agree with you there ben he's a big fan of margaret rutherford and that's one of his favourite movies.



I bought him it for his 40th birthday

[John Llewellyn Moxey]

my boyfriend would agree with you there ben he's a big fan of margaret rutherford and that's one of his favourite movies.



I bought him it for his 40th birthday

LUCKY CHAP!! Great film, acting, and direction. a true classic..John Llewellyn

[thirdlady]

LUCKY CHAP!! Great film, acting, and direction. a true classic..John Llewellyn

Sure is a classic! I even bought myself a copy when I bought my man a copy.

[Cuffy]

Excellent!!



Having seen it three of four times in the last 10 years, it remains one of those classics that I don't think I could never tire of - an absolutely magical production.



Until recently it was selling for £2.99 in Newcastle - how could anyone resist at that price??

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

It was £2.99 in HMV a few weeks back.



There's a great quote about Margaret Rutherford in Ken Annakin's autobiography. He was making 'Miranda' and says of Margaret Rutherford: "Sometimes I would explain a scene to her, and would say with a smile 'at this point you should do one of those funny things you do with your mouth'. And I would try, weakly, to imitate her. With wide-open, serious eyes she would stare back and say 'I don't know what you mean young man. I never do anything at all like that with my mouth'."

[Steve Crook]

It was £2.99 in HMV a few weeks back.



There's a great quote about Margaret Rutherford in Ken Annakin's autobiography. He was making 'Miranda' and says of Margaret Rutherford: "Sometimes I would explain a scene to her, and would say with a smile 'at this point you should do one of those funny things you do with your mouth'. And I would try, weakly, to imitate her. With wide-open, serious eyes she would stare back and say 'I don't know what you mean young man. I never do anything at all like that with my mouth'."

Talking of Miranda, I love the scene where Margaret first sees Glynis in the bath, with her tail flapping. Margaret claps her hands together, smiles and says "Oh good, I'd always believed in mermaids" and then just gets on with sorting things out.



I like to think that Margaret really was like that



Steve

[nellybly]

Oh, my goodness. I agree. There was nobody like Margaret Rutherford. She was a pleasure to watch no matter what she appeared in.



I haven't seen Blithe Spirit in 10-12 years but would love to see it again. And again. And again.



Thanks for the reminder of a great movie. I'll check it out (speaking of, I may see if my library has a copy until I get to buying one). What's a good source for a Region 1 NTSC copy? Since it's not wide-screen, I'll even take VHS.

[Phil Turner]

Talking of Miranda, I love the scene where Margaret first sees Glynis in the bath, with her tail flapping. Margaret claps her hands together, smiles and says "Oh good, I'd always believed in mermaids" and then just gets on with sorting things out.



I like to think that Margaret really was like that



Steve

Having just read Kevin Brownlow's biography on David Lean, it seems as though the wonderful Margaret Rutherford was, indeed, just as eccentric in real life. Discussing Blithe Spirit, David Lean says:



"I always thought she must have been aware of how eccentric she was, but not at all. For one scene she had to eat a sandwich. She'd say something, take a bite and munch away in a very funny, exaggerated way. I went up to her at rehearsal and said, 'Margaret, a little less with the sandwich, I think.' And she'd do it again and I'd say, 'Even less still.' We broke for lunch and went to the restaurant at Denham and I remember looking across and there was Margaret eating a sandwich in exactly the same way as she did in Take One!"



He goes on the say:



"She was a dear, sweet woman. She was good in everything she did, and she would take on a kind of majesty, walking across a stage like a duchess!"



She was certainly unique and totally irreplaceable.



Regards

Phil Turner

[Cuffy]

It was £2.99 in HMV a few weeks back.

Yep, quite right matey. I was in HMV Newcastle this morning and it's still selling at £2.99. They seem to have a stockpile of that particular film. Why?? If any film deserves a place in everyones collection it has to be this one!



There should not be any unsold copies of this in circulation!!

[penfold]

Having just read Kevin Brownlow's biography on David Lean, it seems as though the wonderful Margaret Rutherford was, indeed, just as eccentric in real life.

Wasn't there an anecdote - David Niven is probably responsible, it almost always is him - that Margaret began to think she was being stalked by Errol Flynn??

[robbie71]

I love this film.. Margaret is great in this...



Adapted from a play by Noel Coward, Charles and his second wife Constance, are haunted by the ghost of his first wife, Elvira. Medium Madame Arcati tries to help things out by contacting the ghost.



To get background for a new book, author Charles and his second wife Ruth light-heartedly arrange for local mystic Madame Arcati to give a séance. The unfortunate result is that Charles' first wife Elvira returns from beyond the grave to make his life something of a misery. Ruth too gets increasingly irritated with her supernatural rival, but M.Arcati is at her wit's end as to how to sort things out.

[George Fry]

I don't know how it would wear today but it was great in it's time. Margaret Rutherford was absolutely wonderful as Madam Arcarti ( maybe even difinitive) and there are so many quotable lines like Kay Hammond's pouted "little launch".

[ChristineCB]

I've been watching this twice in the last two days (thanks TQ) and am always amazed at Margaret Rutherford's ability to command scenes and compel me to watch her.



Any idea what year Rutherford stopped riding her bike? She probably still is-!

[Marky B]

If you mean the year she left us,1972. A great comedy actress. I loved her with Alistair Sim in The Happiest Days Of Your Life.

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Carmel]

Hi bought this film for £2 in HMV last year a bargin i loved it.

[Ljelja]

Oh, but she surely is riding her bicycle in heaven, patrolling meadows and chasing butterflies! I think this film hasn't aged well, but Margaret is timeless and a true gem! I'd watch her just sitting and knitting for 90 minutes, no problem! Her bicycle-riding psychic persona is surreal, but character which she eternally cemented in my head is Mistress Quickly from Welles'es Campanadas a Medianoche...just too much!

[ChristineCB]

She was about 52 when she did this role, and invests such a great and wild energy to it.



Margaret's placed up against two lovely women, against handsome Rex, and yet she and that face, those movements (clasping hands behind her back, yo ho ho and a bottle o' rum) - everything she does is Top Of The Charts.



Was she the female equivalent of Charles Laughton? Never the pretty face, but always the scene stealing one?

[Santonix]

Noel Coward wrote Blithe Spirit whilst enjoying an extended stay at Portmeirion in North Wales. If you visit ask to stay in the "Upper Fountain Suite", the very suite Coward occupied and were Madame Arcati et al came to life.