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THE CONTENT OF FILMS appreciation. So far, film analysis has been left to the professional film reviewer who mainly reports only about his personal preferences. (Naturally there are exceptions: there are some film critics who do their best to analyse 'the meaning of film' in relation to its audience. But they are rather the exception than the rule.)
Perhaps we should illustrate the point we make by a concrete example. Take the recent film Blithe Spirit, which is reviewed in the Monthly Film Bulletin of the British Film Institute in Vol. 12, No. 136, in the following terms:
Great Britain. Blithe Spirit — Comedy.
Novelist Condomine invited medium, Madame Arcati, to his Kent home for an evening seance. His first wife, Elvira, materialised, to the scorn, annoyance and confusion of his second wife, Ruth. Ruth enlisted the aid of Madame Arcati to send Elvira back to the 'other side'. Elvira arranged a car accident to kill Condomine so that he could be with her. But Ruth was in the car and it was Ruth who was killed. Condomine, exasperated by the presence of two ghost wives, decided to leave his home and them; but they had manipulated the car again — and he joined them as a shade almost as soon as he drove off. Here is another brilliant demonstration that Coward's sense of cinema is as shrewd as his sense of theatre. With a strong team in all departments he has created a swiftmoving, beautifully produced farce which gets a laugh with its first provocative line and does not flag right on to its last irreverent shot. Colour and production men are worthy allies of the lively, swinging, travelling camera of Ronald Neame. Harrison could not have been better cast as Condomine. Constance Cummings and Kay Hammond are in the roles they created with such success and polish on the stage. Margaret Rutherford gives Madame Arcati tremendous gusto, and, with generous help from the property department in massing occultist paraphernalia, gives us some of the most bizarre pictures the screen has presented.
Suitability: A, B, C. K.F.B.
It is interesting to note that this film is even being given a C-Certificate which means 'films to which parents can take or send their children in the knowledge that they contain no scenes or characters likely to frighten or disturb children'. But will children — let us say up to an age of 9J years — understand the farcical character of this film: will they not be profoundly disturbed by the appearance of ghosts? Moreover, will not other age groups —
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