The version of Blithe Spirit discussed in this article is actually a 1956 live performance made for television, preserved on kinescope, not a theatrical motion picture or a made-for-television film. The production was directed by Noel Coward, who had written the play and stars here as well, and Frederick De Cordova. Lauren Bacall, Mildred Natwick and Claudette Colbert co-starred. It aired as an episode of the CBS monthly anthology series Ford Sta...
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The version of Blithe Spirit discussed in this article is actually a 1956 live performance made for television, preserved on kinescope, not a theatrical motion picture or a made-for-television film. The production was directed by Noel Coward, who had written the play and stars here as well, and Frederick De Cordova. Lauren Bacall, Mildred Natwick and Claudette Colbert co-starred. It aired as an episode of the CBS monthly anthology series Ford Star Jubilee. Richard Lewine was the producer. The original broadcast was in color, and surviving kinescope prints are black-and-white.
Noel Coward plays Charles Condomine; Claudette Colbert portrays Ruth Condomine, Charles' second wife, and Lauren Bacall plays the ghost of Condomine's first wife, Elvira, who has been accidentally summoned by a tipsy medium during a séance. Ruth, who leaves the seance in a huff, is killed in a car crash after Elvira tampers with the car brakes in an attempt to kill (and reunite with) Charles. Ruth returns as a...
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