Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband starring Jeremy Brett. Brett was best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes from the mid-eighties to mid-nineties.
And here is next week’s movie:
Reviews of An Ideal Husband:
Letterboxd says:
Jeremy Brett was so charming, an absolute delight.
The ending was changed from the play, but I didn’t mind that at all.It’s a wonderful little production, given the budget and techniques of the time. So I thought, why not give it 5 stars.
and
It was curious watching a more serious adaptation of this play. I personally prefer the ones that embrace the fact that it’s a comedy, but this one is perfectly witty and well acted.
and
With a stunning cast (Margaret Leighton, Keith Michell, Dinah Sheridan, Susan Hampshire, Jeremy Brett) this adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s play is witty, clever, and extremely engaging.
Without playing too strongly for comedy (which can work with this play), it manages to bring out the sharpness of the lines and the strength of the characters, particularly those of Lord Goring and Mrs Cheveley.
This play is Wilde at his best and TV at its most excellent. You forget you are watching something made up and root for the characters, caring what happens to them. Perhaps the best of the TV and film versions of this story.
My take:
A wonderful and charming little show. I’m not as familiar with Oscar Wilde’s work as I should be and this was a great introduction. Brett steals the show with his obvious enthusiasm and whip-sharp delivery. This is what television should be. I’m awarding it **, I’ll definitely watch this again at some point.
Director: Rudolph Cartier
Writer: Oscar Wilde
Notable Actors: Jeremy Brett
Plot (Spoilers!):
Sir Robert has a problem. A woman from his wife’s past has returned with a dangerous secret in her possession, one that could ruin his career and marriage. This is exactly what she threatens to do if he doesn’t push through a government policy that could make her even richer.
Viscount Goring (Brett) is Sir Robert’s best friend. He knows this interloper from his romantic past. He vows to help his friend no matter what.
After some misadventures, the scheming woman finds that the tables are turned on her plans. Viscount Goring has seen to that. After a last-ditch effort to ruin Sir Robert is offset by lucky chance, she flees London, allowing her would-be victim to resume his happy life.
Bonus w00 👻:
There is data that we continue after death: A talk with Dr. J. Kim Penberthy of the University of Virginia Department of Perceptual Studies:
About J. Kim Penberthy, Ph.D., ABPP
Dr. J. Kim Penberthy is the Chester F. Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Penberthy is a licensed board-certified clinical psychologist and distinguished clinician, educator, and researcher. Her work resides at the intersection of clinical psychology, contemplative science, and spiritually transformative experiences.
A longstanding faculty member at UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS), her research explores the therapeutic implications of extraordinary human experiences, including near-death and after-death communications, as well as the clinical application of altered states of consciousness. Dr. Penberthy is currently leading a groundbreaking clinical trial investigating the use of psilocybin therapy for individuals suffering from prolonged grief disorder. Her work integrates rigorous scientific inquiry with a deep commitment to human flourishing, and she is widely recognized for advancing the understanding of consciousness, healing, and meaning making in clinical settings.
Just watched an excellent transfer of Sholay – there are some awesome songs (look out for the campfire song) and love the Spaghetti Western plot! You’ll never guess what happens :) Will check in next week!
It’s the first Bollywood movie I’ve ever watched. To be honest it’s not for me but I know a lot of people love them.
Try something more recent, like Highway or Mardaani. There’s a lot of quality cinema from India.
Will do!
Wilde–will watch.
Meanwhile this is interesting.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/nixon-at-30-oliver-stone-movie-1236455302/
The author has written a good recent biography of John Williams which my library got and, seemingly, I’m the only one interested in checking out. He talks about it here,
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/film-tv-music-news/does-john-williams-really-dislike-film-music-1236355127/
Williams is over 90 and still giving concerts. Some are on Youtube and while the tunes may be achingly familiar the brio that great orchestras like those in Vienna and Berlin bring to the Imperial March is something to see. Apparently Europeans love them some movie music.
Thanks for the links!
Williams tibit: the pianist on Mancini’s Peter Gunn theme is …John Williams! He started out as a jazz pianist.
Oscar Wilde’s dialogue is so laden with irony and lampooning of the upper class that it is difficult to know on what plot points he intends to be taken seriously, and which moral lessons, if any, he intends to impart.
Spoiler Alert
As was and is still the case today, an esteemed and prominent politician gets away with insider trading. His wife is initially portrayed as a steadfast proponent of moral rectitude, and upon learning of her husband’s crime is aghast at this moral lapse to the point that she intends to leave him. But then, when a blackmailer’s threat to publicly reveal the wrongdoing is foiled, thus avoiding public humiliation, she forgives him and the couple will then retire to the country and live happily ever after on their ill gotten gains.
Does Wilde intend to portray this woman, and those who come to the politician’s aid in avoiding the consequences of his wrongdoing as a hypocrites or sympathetic figures? I’m not completely certain. Personally, I’m a bit partial to the blackmailer.
P.S. Jeremy Brett, best ever Sherlock Holmes.
Agreed on Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes…
And he could sing and dance. Plus, married to Anna Massey! It calls for a mocumentary; “The Curious Case of the Peculiar Detective, or, The Method of Adventure.”
Miss Prism: The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.
Tom Stoppard’s ‘Travesties’ wove ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ into the mix of Joyce, Lenin, and Dada Tzara. Godspeed, good Tom.
Some of us are more inclined to remember Susan Hampshire from such early PBS fare as The First Churchills. That perky Bob Hope lookalike nose is indelible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Hampshire
She’s good in the above which was apparently a BBC Play of the Month. It does speed along though through all those epigrams–perhaps too many.
Some very good movie Wilde would be MGM’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and of course Earnest with Michael Redgrave. The latter has been described as the “perfect play” with the witticisms perhaps more appropriate to farce.
It’s better as a moral tale than a morality tale.
I like that I sympathized with someone so tainted, I appreciated him standing firm against the canal fraud, and yet, what his youthful villainous act did was propel him into a class of charmingly bantering villains, all.
I’m glad you introduced me to this play, and this adaptation.
👍