After plans to film 'Salome' as a vehicle for Paulette Goddard fell through, Alexander Korda instead turned to 'An Ideal Husband', with Hugh Williams in the title role. Wildean wit is generally idiot-proof, and Korda's extravagent final film as a director - despite decidedly dodgy special effects in the crowd scenes - survives his attempts to smother it.
Narrated by an uncredited Ralph Richardson, who played Diana Wynyard's hapless husband in 'On the Night of the Fire' (1939). As Gertrude Chiltern (the role played by Brigitte Helm in the German version of 1935), Ms Wynyard is photographed in Technicolor and dressed by Cecil Beaton in the first of only four post-war feature films she made before she died aged just 58 shortly after playing the most famous Gertrude in fiction to Peter O'Toole's Hamlet at the National in 1963.
Narrated by an uncredited Ralph Richardson, who played Diana Wynyard's hapless husband in 'On the Night of the Fire' (1939). As Gertrude Chiltern (the role played by Brigitte Helm in the German version of 1935), Ms Wynyard is photographed in Technicolor and dressed by Cecil Beaton in the first of only four post-war feature films she made before she died aged just 58 shortly after playing the most famous Gertrude in fiction to Peter O'Toole's Hamlet at the National in 1963.