{"id":701,"date":"2018-11-11T14:42:08","date_gmt":"2018-11-11T14:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=701"},"modified":"2018-11-20T15:06:30","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T15:06:30","slug":"review-of-blithe-spirit-by-noel-coward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hebulstrode.co.uk\/?p=701","title":{"rendered":"Review of Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ghost stories are conventionally supposed to elicit at least a frisson of fear, but just occasionally, one will come along that breaks this rule and does so with aplomb. One such story is Noel Coward\u2019s Blithe Spirit<\/em><\/a>, initially written for the stage in a single creative burst one week in 1941, and adapted for the big screen<\/a> in 1947. One of the bleakest moments of the war seems, in this case, to have brought forth a ghost story of a contrastingly light mood. The audience does not so much shudder with terror, as with barely suppressed laughter, if it bothers to suppress it at all. It is a creation imbued with an abundant acid wit, nowhere more manifest than in the lively repartee between the eponymous spirit, Elvira, and her remarried husband, the author, Charles Condomine. In the film version, Kay Hammond, all ghastly greenish white set off against a lurid red lipstick, and Rex Harrison, the very model of an impeccably turned out English gent, play their roles with a decided verve. And then there is Margaret Rutherford, as the inept medium Madam Arcati, who provides an energetically eccentric performance that steals more than a scene or two.<\/p>\n

The rivalry between Condomine\u2019s murderously devoted former spouse and his new wife, Ruth (Constance Cummings), is brought crashing into the present quite unwittingly by the efforts of Madam Arcati. The latter has been invited to the author\u2019s abode purely so that he might make notes on the tricks of the trade employed by mediums, for his forthcoming mystery \u2013 The Unseen<\/em>. However, what neither he, nor Ruth, expect, is that anything will come of it, for both of them view mediumship as the purest bunkum. Madam Arcati on the other hand, is not amused to learn of their attitude towards her inexpertly mastered craft. The sceptics soon learn to rue their disregard for her powers.<\/p>\n

You may find this rather strange, but the film for me brought to mind something that I have previously mused upon whilst regarding those late-mediaeval and early-modern tombs that feature effigies of a deceased husband flanked by his first and second wives: just how were they all supposed to get along in the afterlife? Blithe Spirit, perhaps, provides the answer: they squabble a great deal.<\/p>\n

Coward\u2019s film was one of those influences that fed into the penning of my first ghost story, and its recent follow-up, Old Crotchet\u2019s Return<\/em><\/a>, which has just been released on Amazon in Kindle<\/a>, and in paperback<\/a>. Its blurb follows below:<\/p>\n

Old Crotchet’s Return<\/em>: a high-spirited romp of a ghost story set in 1920s England.<\/strong>
\nGeorge Simpkins is in a state, and it\u2019s not just because of the gin. His wife remains missing, his son a curious and callous enigma, and, most worryingly of all, his spouse\u2019s erstwhile schoolmate, the witheringly waspish Cynthia, has plans afoot for his future. An invitation to a festive break in the country brings London society into collision with half-cracked Somerset locals steeped in cider and superstition, as well as a far from festively inclined spirit. Welcome to the world of Hinton St Cuthbert, the parish with a past, but seemingly no future.<\/p>\n

Amazon UK<\/strong>
\nOld Crotchet\u2019s Return Paperback: https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/dp\/1730996191<\/a>
\nOld Crotchet\u2019s Return Kindle: https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/dp\/B07K7X33MD<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon US<\/strong>
\nOld Crotchet\u2019s Return Paperback: https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1730996191<\/a>
\nOld Crotchet\u2019s Return Kindle: https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B07K7X33MD<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon Australia<\/strong>
\nOld Crotchet\u2019s Return Kindle: https:\/\/www.amazon.com.au\/dp\/B07K7X33MD<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon Canada<\/strong>
\nOld Crotchet\u2019s Return Paperback: https:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/dp\/1730996191<\/a>
\nOld Crotchet\u2019s Return Kindle: https:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/dp\/B07K7X33MD<\/a><\/p>\n

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