An Ideal Husband (1947)

 "I don't know that women are always rewarded for being charming. I think they are usually punished for it."

I thought I knew An Ideal Husband, having read the play several times when I was younger. Let us say that it feels very different, and much less of a straightforward comedy, in my middle age. But perhaps that's also a result of seeing the film rather than reading it.

There are, of course, many witty lines, several of which I remembered. But this is, at its heart, a serious tale of blackmail and integrity. Indeed, we are reminded that, despite the milieu of balls, "society", the "season" and the London of the upper classes centred on Grosvenor Square that are the focus of this and other plays, Oscar Wilde was himself, despite his aestheticism, rather left wing in his views.

The focus of the film is Sir Robert's dark secret, an act of financial impropriety done in his youth. Yet, as he tells Lord Goring, who has never wanted for anything, poverty- even the genteel type- is crushing, overwhelming. Without wealth, there can be no freedom. The script notably takes a forgiving view of Sir Robert, who ultimately goes unpunished. Mrs Cheveley, whose sins do not have the excuse of poverty, does not get such understanding, although it is notable that the film ends with her free to prey on others.

The film is mostly a straightforward and well-acted version of the play, allowing the performances and Wilde's words to carry the film. Michael Wilding is particularly good. A very young Glynis Johns also impresses. Yet I was intrigued to see the opening narration, introducing the world of 1895 and "society", only fifty years before the film was made- as the 1970s are to us- but a world away from an existence of rationing, Indian independence and the setting up of the Welfare State.

This may be a straightforward telling of the play, for the most part. But, with Wilde, that's no bad thing.