Blithe Spirit (1945 film)

Blithe Spirit
US theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Lean
Screenplay by	David Lean Ronald Neame Anthony Havelock-Allan
Based on	Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward
Produced by	Noël Coward
Starring	Rex Harrison Constance Cummings Kay Hammond Margaret Rutherford
Cinematography	Ronald Neame
Edited by	Jack Harris[1]
Music by	Richard Addinsell
Production company	Two Cities Films
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release date	14 May 1945 (1945-05-14)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

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.

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^[2] 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.^[3]