"Let's watch something light and frothy," I said, with this in mind. Well... Once again Rex Harrison plays the charming dispenser of
bon mots, and the movie begins with him swapping them with his current wife (Ruth, played by
Constance Cummings) as they lay out their history of both being on their second marriage, their former ones ending in death in each case, as they prepare for a dinner party where the redoubtable Margaret Rutherford ("Madame Arcati") will be conducting a seance. Ruth claims not to care whether or not Charles thought his former wife, Elvira, more physically attractive than her, as theirs is a mature love. The guests arrive (the town doctor and his gossipy wife) and then Madame Arcati, who has bicycled to Charles and Ruth's palatial home (paid for, one assumes, by the royalties from Charles' novels, as he is a writer whose purpose in having the seance is to gather material for his latest). Well, all is going well, and Madame Arcadi is being amusingly eccentric (as only Margaret Rutherford can be) when she picks out some music to play for the seance and Charles is notably disturbed by the choice. It's a song called "Always," and although the film never says why he dislikes the choice (showing restraint that no current screenwriter would be allowed), it's pretty obvious that it must have been a favorite of Elvira's. Madame Arcati has to work through the intermediary of a child, who is out of sorts because she's been under the weather (the metaphysics of this film is interesting - apparently "the other side" is much the same as this one, complete with waiting in drafty corridors, filling out forms and getting colds) and eventually she even enters a trance and channels the recalcitrant child. The seance scene is surprisingly creepy (a tribute to Margaret Rutherford's acting - she can switch from buffoonish to steely in an instant) but the person seriously disturbed is Charles, because he swears he hears Elvira's voice talking to him. Madame Arcati passes out, and on being revived (brandy, to wash down the martinis she has already guzzled) is convinced that she has succeeded in manifesting a psychic entity, and is amazed by the party-goers' denials. But of course she has, as as soon as she leaves, Elvira (played by a green-painted
Kay Hammond) sashays in through the curtains. Charles is the only one who can see her, and at first Ruth is convinced that he's going batty, but is eventually convinced because Elvira can move things around. Ruth then goes to Madame Arcati to get help in getting rid of Elvira but manages to offend her so much (partly by letting slip the reason for the seance) that she won't help. Ruth soon realizes though that Elvira's ultimate goal is to bump off Charles so that they can be together in the great beyond. And indeed it is, but unfortunately Elvira's plan misfires, as Ruth drives off in the car that she has sabotaged for Charles and (in a twist that I did not see coming) Ruth dies first! Then Charles tries to work with Madame Arcati to get rid of both of his ex-wives (well, they're both ex in one sense and Elvira is ex in two) as they're driving him batty. Interspersed through this are some very sharp exchanges, especially between Elvira and Charles, as apparently neither was faithful and he hit her with a billiard cue at one point (hence Jami's one-sentence review: "Rex Harrison, yet again, plays the wife-beating scallywag for laughs." This is a trifle unfair, as I must say Rex Harrison is a lot more likeable in this one than he is in
My Fair Lady, and genuinely seems to have loved both wives, but it is enough (along with some dubious "mild" racism) to take some of the froth off this banter). It's a bit darker than
The Importance of Being Earnest, that's for sure. Oh, and don't worry, all three are reunited at the end, although by that point I'm not sure if there are any bridges left unburnt. Still, I do recommend it, because the
mots are certainly
bon (thank you Noel Coward), the performances pitch-perfect, and it's directed by David Lean!
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