Blithe Spirit (1945 film)
Blithe Spirit is a 1945 British supernatural black comedy film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, cinematographer Ronald Neame and associate producer Anthony Havelock-Allan, is based on Noël Coward's 1941 play of the same name, the title of which is derived from the line "Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert" in the poem "To a Skylark" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The song "Always", written by Irving Berlin, is an important plot element in "Blithe Spirit".
| Blithe Spirit | |
|---|---|
UK film quad poster | |
| Directed by | David Lean |
| Screenplay by | David Lean Ronald Neame Anthony Havelock-Allan |
| Based on | Blithe Spirit 1941 play by Noël Coward |
| Produced by | Noël Coward |
| Starring | Rex Harrison Constance Cummings Kay Hammond Margaret Rutherford |
| Cinematography | Ronald Neame |
| Edited by | Jack Harris |
| Music by | Richard Addinsell |
Production company | Two Cities Films |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date | 14 May 1945 |
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The film features Kay Hammond and Margaret Rutherford, in the roles they created in the original production, along with Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings in the lead parts of Charles and Ruth Condomine. While unsuccessful at the box office and a disappointing adaptation for the screen, according to Coward, it has since come to be considered notable for its Technicolor photography and Oscar-winning visual effects in particular and has been re-released several times, notably as one of the ten early David Lean features restored by the British Film Institute for release in 2008.