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Noël Coward’s 1941 play “Blithe Spirit” is classic material: a screwball comedy about a mystery novelist with writer’s block who is haunted by his late first wife after she is inadvertently summoned by a medium. The play has been staged numerous times on the West End and on Broadway since its debut, filmed as a movie starring Rex Harrison in 1945 and adapted into a musical, “High Spirits,” in 1964. The ongoing revival continues with Edward Hall’s film version, starring Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher and Leslie Mann.
In this particular adaptation, the play has been given a Hollywood twist, with the novelist, Charles Condomine (Stevens) struggling to write the screenplay of one of his works for the producer father of his wife, Ruth (Fisher). When the couple attends the mystical show of Madame Arcati (Judi Dench), they find her to be a fraud, but Charles thinks observing the tricks of her trade might offer some inspiration for his writing. During the séance, Madame Arcati summons the spirit of Charles’ first wife, Elvira (Mann), who perished in a riding accident.