Lady Chiltern initially agrees to support Chiltern's decision to renounce his career in politics, but Goring dissuades her from allowing her husband to resign. A visit from Chiltern, who seeks further counsel from Goring, follows. After finishing his conversation with Chiltern, Goring engages in flirtatious banter with Mabel. [n 1] In April, on the last day of the Haymarket run, Wilde was arrested for gross indecency; his name was removed from the playbills and programmes when the production transferred to the Criterion Theatre, where it ran for a further 13 performances, from 13 to 27 April. [28], BBC television adaptations were broadcast in 1958 (with Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Sarah Lawson, Faith Brook and Tony Britton); 1969 (with Keith Michell, Dinah Sheridan, Margaret Leighton and Jeremy Brett); and 2002 (with Jeremy Northam, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore and Rupert Everett. Sir Robert admits to his friend Arthur, however, that he is not the ideal husband his wife thinks: “I would to God that I had been able to tell the truth . Arnheim's payoff was the basis of Sir Robert's fortune, and Mrs Cheveley has Robert's letter to Arnheim as proof of his crime. Fred wants to start a new life with a new wife, but it isn't easy to give Paulette the gate for another mate. To avoid arrest, Cheveley must trade the incriminating letter for her release from the bejewelled handcuff. He plays with everything: with wit, with philosophy, with drama, with actors and audience, with the whole theatre. An Ideal Husband is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. The Natural and the Artificial Like nearly all aspects of Oscar Wilde’s work, this theme is rooted in aestheticism, a controversial late-19th-century student movement of which Wilde was a part. For Lady Chiltern, their marriage is predicated on her having an "ideal husband"—that is, a model spouse in both private and public life whom she can worship; thus, Sir Robert must remain unimpeachable in all his decisions. Goring then reveals how the item came into her possession: she stole it from his cousin, Mary Berkshire, years ago. For the various film adaptations, see, Wilde (1899), unnumbered introductory page, Wilde (1966), p. 149–150; and Wearing, p. 452, "An Ideal Husband: At the Theatre Royal, Haymarket", "Commemorative Plaque at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket", Background information and study quizzes on, Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=An_Ideal_Husband&oldid=1018708612, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Sir Robert Chiltern (under-secretary for foreign affairs) –, Vicomte de Nanjac (attaché at the French embassy in London) –, Phipps (Lord Goring's servant) – Charles Brookfield, Mason (butler to Sir Robert Chilton) – H. Deane, James (footman at Lord Goring's) – Charles Meyrick, Harold (footman at Sir Robert Chilton's) – Charles Goodhart, Miss Mabel Chiltern (Sir Robert's sister) –, This page was last edited on 19 April 2021, at 12:56. After two years as a Czarist British agent posing as a Russian Commissar, he rescues a Russian countess from her Bolshevik captors. An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 in Dublin, Ireland to two accomplished parents, his mother being a respected poet and translator and his father a knighted surgeon. Vengefully she plans to send it to Chiltern as, ostensibly, a love letter from Lady Chiltern to Goring. It is both a time-worn love story (romance; estrangement; reconciliation) and a thriller where a glossy surface masks a squalid interior that we slowly realise the characters are turning a blind eye to. [1], The play was put into rehearsal in December 1894 and opened on 3 January 1895, billed as "A new and original play of modern life". While she waits, she finds Lady Chiltern's letter. Mabel Chiltern says: Well, Tommy has proposed to me again. Old friends Kit Marlowe and Millie Drake adopt contrasting lifestyles: Kit is a single, critically acclaimed author while married Millie writes popular pulp novels. Lord Goring declines, accusing her of defiling love by reducing courtship to a vulgar transaction and ruining the Chilterns' marriage. Honor is the foundation of Sir Robert's marriage. The BBC has broadcast seven radio adaptations since its first, in 1926: a 1932 version starring Leslie Perrins and Kyrle Bellew; a radio version of the 1943 Westminster Theatre production; a Bristol Old Vic version in 1947 featuring William Devlin, Elizabeth Sellars, Catherine Lacey and Robert Eddison; a 1950 production with Griffith Jones, Fay Compton and Isabel Jeans; a 1954 version produced by Val Gielgud; a 1959 adaptation starring Tony Britton and Faith Brook; a 1970 version with Noel Johnson, Ronald Lewis, Jane Wenham and Rosemary Martin; and a 2007 adaption with Alex Jennings, Emma Fielding, Janet McTeer and Jasper Britton. (1947). At that moment, Chiltern enters while reading Lady Chiltern's letter, but as the letter does not have the name of the addressee, he assumes it is meant for him, and reads it as a letter of forgiveness. This FAQ is empty. Meanwhile, Mrs Cheveley arrives unexpectedly and, misrecognised by the butler as the woman Goring awaits, is ushered into Lord Goring's drawing room. View production, box office, & company info. A widowed farmer takes an indentured servant as his new wife, but the arrival of his old friend threatens their burgeoning relationship. An Ideal Husband is an 1895 play by Oscar Wilde, his third most popular work after The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. A prominent politician is preparing to expose a financial scandal. All of the Films Joining Filmstruck’s Criterion Channel This April, Crate-Digger Film Canon: All Films of the 40s, The Essentials Movies I Could Not Live Without. An Ideal Husband “An Ideal Husband” is a comedic play by Oscar Wilde. AN IDEAL HUSBAND By Oscar Wilde ... forward to meeting your clever husband, Lady Chiltern. [10], Goring urges Chiltern to fight Mrs Cheveley and admit his guilt to his wife. It was produced and directed by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Lajos Bíró from Wilde's play. It has been revived in many theatre productions and adapted for the cinema, radio and television. An Ideal Husband Acts Analysis (0) £2.99. Use the HTML below. The film stars Jeremy Northam, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver and Cate Blanchett. A prominent politician is preparing to expose a financial scandal. An Ideal Husband, also known as Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, is a 1947 British comedy film adaptation of the 1895 play by Oscar Wilde.It was made by London Film Productions and distributed by British Lion Films (UK) and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (USA). At this party, Mrs. Cheveley blackmails Sir Robert and forces him to support her Argentine Canal scheme, in which she has invested heavily. The husband and wife team are somewhat famous in the small world of wildlife documentaries, and to those outside it, lead a romantic life filming wild animals against an enchanting African landscape, but the topic of their new film, 'The Last Lions,' which recently opened in the United States, is anything but ideal. Sense and Sensibility meets The Great Gatsby. [n 2], A production at the Vaudeville Theatre, London in 2010–11 featured Alexander Hanson as Sir Robert Chiltern, Rachael Stirling as Lady Chiltern, Samantha Bond as Mrs Cheveley and Elliot Cowan. [12], Lord Goring proposes to and is accepted by Mabel. [20] It was revived on Broadway in 1918 with a cast including Norman Trevor and Beatrice Beckley as the Chilterns, Julian L'Estrange as Lord Goring and Constance Collier as Mrs Cheveley. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Trailer to the 1999 film "An Ideal Husband", based on the Oscar Wilde play of the same name. A random accident brings struggling businessman Thomas Blake into contact with Mr Knight, a successful financier. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by Project Gutenberg. "Sooner or later," Wilde notes, "we shall all have to pay for what we do." In the play, a man must stop his wife from finding out that he’s built his entire career on selling out political secrets. [25], A French translation was given in Geneva in 1944. An Ideal Husband is an 1895 play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. The plot that follows does not really fulfill all of the potential of the situation, but that is probably a deliberate decision, as the story focuses more on the sights, atmosphere, and ways of upper-class society.It often moves slowly in order to call attention to the sometimes extravagant habits of the characters; sometimes this is effective, sometimes less so. There have been at least five adaptations of the play for the cinema, in 1935 – a German film directed by Herbert Selpin and starring Brigitte Helm and Sybille Schmitz; 1947 – a British adaptation produced by London Films and starring Paulette Goddard, Michael Wilding and Diana Wynyard; 1980 – a Soviet version starring Ludmila Gurchenko and Yury Yakovlev; 1999 – a British film starring Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver, Jeremy Northam, Cate Blanchett and Rupert Everett; and 2000 – a British film starring James Wilby and Sadie Frost. Hare rejected the play, finding the last act unsatisfactory;[2] Wilde then successfully offered the play to Lewis Waller, who was about to take temporary charge of the Haymarket in the absence in America of its usual manager, Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Prominent additions included written stage directions and character descriptions. A dull married couple, separated by their enlistment during World War II, reunite after three years to find that they have become very different people. Argue that An Ideal Husband does not have one interpretation. Written by “It takes great deal of courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it.” ― Oscar … [5], The play was published in 1899 in an edition of 1000 copies; Wilde's name was not printed: the work was published as "By the author of Lady Windermere's Fan". Two school teachers and the man they both love face ruin when a malicious student cooks up a lie. The action of Oscar Wilde’s play An Ideal Husband takes place in a single day during which there are serious love passions and political intrigues. He found the plot unbelievable, and thought that although the play, "by sheer cleverness, keeps one continually amused and interested", Wilde's work was "not only poor and sterile, but essentially vulgar". The author did not choose the genre of comedy accidentally. Check out some of our favorite superhero stars from movies and television, before they suited up. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. The various stagings of the production ran for an aggregate three years, the longest running production of a Wilde play. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? [28], This article is about the play. Paulette Goddard is pretty good in an underplayed role as the villainness.Overall, it scores higher on style than on substance, but perhaps that is exactly as intended, and it is entertaining enough to be worth seeing. Chiltern discovers Mrs Cheveley in the drawing room and, convinced of an affair between these two former lovers, he storms out of the house. [21] The next (and at 2021 the most recent) Broadway presentation was Peter Hall's production, seen at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1996–97, featuring its original West End lead players, except for the Lady Chiltern, now played by Penny Downie. [19], A London revival in 1965–66 ran at three West End theatres in succession; it starred Michael Denison as Sir Robert Chiltern, Dulcie Gray as Lady Chiltern, Margaret Lockwood as Mrs Cheveley and Richard Todd as Lord Goring. When Mrs Cheveley and Lord Goring confront each other, she makes a proposal. An Ideal Husband is the most mature work described as a social comedy. His problem is compounded by his wife's intolerance of the slightest character flaws. Adaptation of Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners. Mrs Cheveley exits the house in triumph. Snow Leopard. The action is set in London, in "the present", and takes place over the course of twenty-four hours. A prominent politician is preparing to expose a financial scandal. [4] The play could have run longer at the Criterion, but the theatre was required by its proprietor, Charles Wyndham, for a new production. Drama. Toward the end of Act I, Mabel and Lord Goring come upon a diamond brooch that Goring gave someone many years ago. An MP's idyllic marriage is threatened by a blackmail plot. In it Wilde explores hypocrisy, corruption, forgiveness and other themes with his trademark epigrammatic humor. His wife, An Ideal Husband fits the conventions of the Well-Made Play, which was a very conservative form of theatre that uses stock characters and which has four sections: Exposition; Complication; Crisis; Resolution; It is considered to be a conservative form because the end reinstates the social world that it begins with; Wilde uses this format to create a very tight play. Sir … The play was again seen at the Westminster in 1989 in a short-lived revival, and in 1992 a new production was presented at the Globe Theatre which was subsequently seen in four other London theatres and on Broadway between November 1992 and March 1999. He takes the brooch and asks Mabel to tell him if anyone comes to retrieve it. That romance and the scandal surrounding it landed Wilde in jail two years later – the same year his plays An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest opened in London. [16] Bernard Shaw praised the play: "In a certain sense Mr Wilde is to me our only thorough playwright. An Ideal Husband (1895) is the third of Oscar Wilde’s society comedies after Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and A Woman of No Importance (1893). [15] A. Learn The An Ideal Husband quotes below are all either spoken by Mabel Chiltern or refer to Mabel Chiltern. She has proof and it will damage his career and marriage severely. Until Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning proof of his previous financial chicanery, that is. It was directed by Oliver Parker. The play was next staged in London at the Westminster Theatre in 1943–44, with Manning Whiley as Sir Robert Chiltern, Rosemary Scott as Lady Chiltern, Martita Hunt as Mrs Cheveley, Roland Culver as Lord Goring and Irene Vanbrugh as Lady Markby. Sir Robert – a member of the House of Commons and junior government minister – and his wife, Lady Chiltern, are hosting a gathering that includes his friend Lord Goring, a dandified bachelor, Chiltern's sister Mabel and other guests. But then a woman who has invested heavily in the shady venture threatens to uncover a damaging secret in the politician's past if he exposes the speculation as a fraud. Claiming to still love Goring from their early days of courtship, she offers to exchange Chiltern's letter for her old beau's hand in marriage. See the fabulous presenters and gracious winners at this year's Oscars. [17], In 1996 the critic Bindon Russell wrote that An Ideal Husband is "the most autobiographical of Wilde's plays, mirroring, as it does, his own situation of a double life and an incipient scandal with the emergence of terrible secrets. It ran at the Haymarket for 111 performances, regarded as a good run at the time. Performed at the vaudeville Theatre between 20 Apr, 2018 and 14 Jul, 2018 ★★★★★ British Theatre ‘ Perfection… Could have been written yesterday’ Last chance to see Jonathan Church’s ‘incredibly funny’ (The Times) and ‘ Wildely charming’ (Mail on Sunday) revival of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband… Incensed at Chiltern's reneging on his promise, she exposes him to his wife. When Mrs Cheveley pointedly informs Lady Chiltern of Sir Robert's change of heart regarding the canal scheme, the morally inflexible Lady Chiltern, unaware of both her husband's past and the blackmail plot, insists that Sir Robert renege on his promise to Mrs Cheveley. Whilst Lord Goring is a character with much of Wilde's own wit, insight and compassion, Gertrude Chiltern can be seen as a portrait of Constance [Wilde]". But then a woman who has invested heavily in the shady venture threatens to uncover a damaging secret in the politician's past if he exposes the speculation as a fraud. A revival at the same theatre in 2018 featured Nathaniel Parker and Sally Bretton as the Chilterns, the father and son combination of Edward Fox as Lord Caversham and Freddie Fox as Lord Goring, and Frances Barber as Mrs Cheveley, and Susan Hampshire as Lady Markby. A good-natured saddle tramp traveling with his sidekick is mistaken for a ruthless outlaw with a price on his head. Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam) is a respected government official and a loving husband. Once it gets going, the pace picks up a little. 15 of 19 people found this review helpful. [1] Between September 1893 and January 1894 he wrote the remaining three acts. 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