Harrison's Reports (1945)

150 HARRISON'S REPORTS September 22, 1945 "Blithe Spirit" with Rex Harrison and Constance Cummings (United Artists, release date not set; time, 94 min.) Very Good! Based on Noel Coward's highly successful Broadway and London stage play, of the same title, this British-made Technicolor production is an extremely brilliant sophisticated farce. It is strictly adult entertainment, however, and it will probably appeal more to class audiences than to the masses. It should find its best reception in big cities; small-town and neighborhood family audiences may find the caustic humor of its macabre comic tale a bit too deep for them. The story, which deals with death and life after death, is fantastic but not eerie. Pictures in which the spirits of dead characters walk through the story have seldom succeeded in providing enjoyment to most movie-goers, but the treatment given to this story is so competent and so witty that one is kept chuckling all the way through. It has been excellently produced, with direction, acting, settings and photography of the highest order: — To accumulate information about spiritualism and about fake mediums for a novel he was writing, Rex Harrison invites Margaret Rutherford, an eccentric psychic, to hold a seance in his home. Nothing spectacular happens during the seance, but, shortly after she leaves, the spirit of Harrison's first wife (Kay Hammond), who had died seven years previously, floats into the drawing room and tells him of her intention to stay for a protracted visit. Since only Harrison could see or hear Kay, Constance Cummings, his second wife, fails to understand his odd behaviour and his apparently irrelevant remarks addressed into space; she concludes that he was either drunk or mad. Desperate over his predicament, Harrison explains to Constance that he was talking to his first wife's spirit, and he has Kay prove her presence by carrying a vase about the room in hands that could not be seen by Constance. The presence of Kay's spirit in the house causes Constance to suffer many embarrassments, much to Kay's delight. Both Constance and Harrison prevail upon the psychic to send Kay back to her spirit world, but every device the medium tries fails to work. Kay eventually becomes bored with her former household, but, being loath to return to the spirit world alone, she devises a scheme whereby Harrison would be killed so that his ghost could return with her. Her plans, however, go awry, with the result that Constance is killed. Harrison soon finds himself harried by the ghosts of both his wives. He eventually gets rid of them with the aid of the medium, but the persistent ghosts succeed in bringing about his death, compelling him to join them. Noel Coward produced the picture, and David Lean directed it. The cast includes Jacqueline Clarke, Joyce Carey and Hugh Wakefield. (Ed. T^ote: The dialogue includes two obvious advertising plugs — one for Ovaltine and the other for Al\a' Seltzer.) "That Night with You" with Franchot Tone and Susanna Foster (Universal, Sept. 28; time, 84 min.) This light comedy with music will have to depend on the drawing power of Franchot Tone and Susanna Foster, for as entertainment it is just fair. The story, which is somewhat farcical, is weak, and it does not hold the interest of the intelligent spectator with any kind of grip. Moreover, the characters do not do anything that would arouse one's sympathetic interest in their acts. There are mild laughs all the way through, but for the most part the comedy is dull. In its favor are a few attractive production numbers, which have been staged imaginatively, and the always pleasant singing of Miss Foster: — Susanna, who worked as a waitress in her boy friend's (David Bruce) diner, dreams of becoming a famous singing star. She learns that Franchot Tone, a theatrical producer was in need of a singer for his new show. She learns also that, as a youth, Tone had been married to Jacqueline De Witt, a fading Hollywood actress, and that the marriage had been annulled. Accordingly, she visits Tone and presents herself as his daughter. Tone, attracted to her, pretends to believe her story, but he soon becomes convinced when his friends, playing a practical joke, tell him of her resemblance to him. Louise Allbritton, Tone's secretary, doubts Susanna's story; she communicates with Jacqueline. Arriving from Hollywood, Jacqueline amazes Susanna by confirming her claim, but she soon makes it clear that she intended to use Susanna as a means to get the lead in Tone's show herself. Tone, convinced of his parenthood, decides to remarry Jacqueline, but it soon develops that she had a husband in Hollywood. Jacqueline decides to return home to her husband, and she informs Tone that Susanna was an imposter. Despite this turn of events, Tone asks Susanna to marry him. Susanna finds herself torn between her love for Bruce and her desire to become a star. Tone, however, settles her problem by coming to the realization that he was really in love with his secretary; he gives Bruce and Susanna his blessing, and makes her the star of his new show. Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano wrote and produced the screenplay. William A. Seiter directed it. The cast includes Buster Keaton, Howard Freeman, Irene Ryan and others. Unobjectionable morally. "Behind City Lights" with Lynne Roberts and Peter Cookson (Republic, Sept. 10; time, 68 min.) Fair. It is just another program picture of smalltown and neighborhood calibre. The story about an unsophisticated, small-town girl who goes to the big city in search of glamour only to return home a sadder but wiser girl is an old one, and it is told here in a conventional way. It has some human interest, and one's attention is held to a fair degree, but there is nothing in it that will make one remember it afterwards. There is a touch of comedy here and there, but not much of it: — Lynne Roberts' marriage to William Terry, a young farmer, is interrupted suddenly by an auto crash outside her father's farmhouse, in which Peter Cookson and Jerome Cowan, New Yorkers, are injured slightly. The wedding is postponed while the two men spend a few days on the farm recuperating. Lynne falls in love with Cookson and with what he represents — the glamour and sophistication of New York. After the two men leave, Terry, aware that Lynne had fallen in love with Cookson, sympathetically releases her from their engagement and encourages her to follow him. In New York, Cookson, who made his livelihood with Cowan as a jewel thief, is disconcerted but pleased by Lynne's arrival. He falls deeply in love with her and decides to lead a respectable life. They set a date for their wedding, and he