Reviews & Ratings for
An Ideal Husband More at IMDbPro »

18 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Classy version of Wilde in glorious Technicolor, 6 March 2004
Author: didi-5 from United Kingdom

Directed by Alexander Korda, costumed by Cecil Beaton. This is a good start for any movie, but when it is based on one of Oscar Wilde's great comedies, this starts to look like a real goodie.

The cast puts Diana Wyngard as Lady Chiltern, Hugh Williams as Lord Robert, Michael Wilding as Lord Goring, Constance Collier as Lady Markby, Glynis Johns as Miss Chiltern, and C Aubrey Smith as Goring's father, Lord Caversham. With them is Paulette Goddard, mainly known for her work in the USA, as Mrs Cheveley, the woman who 'looks like she has a past'. Now, An Ideal Husband can be witty and clever, or it can be screamingly funny and farcical (I saw a wonderful stage production which was firmly the latter): the film chooses wit over low comedy, perhaps the right idea as it works very well. The ladies are sumptuously costumed as you would expect, while the script barely tampers with the original stage play.

In comparison to the slightly later movie of The Importance of Being Earnest, this film bears up well. The cast is almost ideal and work together extremely well, and the colour certainly helps (as it did in Earnest too). Well worth a look.

12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Classy Costumes With Fine Acting of Oscar Wilde, 24 October 1999

Author: guil fisher from New York City, NY

This is visually a beatiful costume film by Cecil Beaton. Add Oscar Wilde's brittle dialogue, put Paulette Goddard in the leading role as Mrs. Chesney with England's top drawer supporting cast (Michael Wilding, Diana Wynyard, Glynis Johns and Hugh Williams) and you have excellent drawing room comedy.

Goddard holds her own opposite such a luminous cast as this. Upon her entrance in Beaton's exquisite gown with feathers in her hat, she dominates the screen with her glamour. There is an elegance in Goddard that wasn't seen too much in previous roles. She has matured into a fine actress from her early days of romantic comedy and DeMille epics. Nice change.

9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
More Style Than Substance, But Works Pretty Well, 4 March 2002
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

This adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story "An Ideal Husband" works pretty well as light entertainment despite some shortcomings. It focuses on the dilemma of a prominent British politician, who wants to expose a financial fraud but who has been threatened with personal ruin if he does. 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. Once it gets going, the pace picks up a little. There are some moments of good subtle humor and commentary, with some of the funniest scenes perhaps being those with Michael Wilding as a wastrel son being confronted by father C. Aubrey Smith. 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.

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Enjoyable, not really great, 4 June 2009
Author: bensonj from New York, NY

This film doesn't have a very good reputation, e.g., "slow moving" (Maltin) and "a slight, stiff play is swamped by the cast" (Halliwell). IMDb comments are mixed. Well, it does have the limitations one would expect from Korda filming a period play in lavish Technicolor. It is pictorially static, with overly bright colors. For the most part, the actors' voices are animated but their bodies are strangely inert. But in general I thought this wasn't that bad an adaptation, somewhat better than the trendy 1999 version, if only because Korda understood the period he was filming. It seems to me that Wilde's plot complications have been smoothed out a bit here (his name is not even on the credits!) so that the solution follows the problem too quickly and the whole thing can be over in 96 minutes and still have a spectacular recreation of crowds in period costume at the Ascot races. (Perhaps this is an unfair comment since IMDb notes that an original version was a half-hour longer.) With the casting and the spirited performance of Goddard, Mrs. Cheveley becomes the most animated and virile character in the film. Lady Chiltern's conception of morality should stem from a vigorous, naive idealistic vision. She should be a dynamic, slightly-otherworldly treasure with a fairytale view of the world and be the core of the film, for the plot hinges on her vision of purity. The casting and somewhat stodgy performance of Wynyard in the role weakens the story. The character becomes merely an upright, slightly stuffy moralist. Hmmm. Perhaps the criticisms directed at the film are justified. In spite of this, I quite enjoyed this, my third go-around with the play. The Importance of Being Earnest is perhaps more witty and amusing, but this story has a much more provocative drama at its core, with interesting things to say about ethics, morality and idealism. I find it odd that it is universally described as a comedy. Certainly there's a lot of pithy, epigrammatic dialogue, and some light moments, but the basic story is a clear-cut moral drama. The anguish of Sir Chiltern and his wife is real, the stakes are high and virtually life-threatening, and the moral decisions are agonizing.

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Uneven effort marred by intrusive score, 8 August 2011
Author: Douglas from Los Angeles

Not everything Wilde wrote was a comedy through and through. This is more accurately a satire, and though the Wildean wit is definitely present, there are moments of drama and tension. Unfortunately, these moments are marred in this film by an underscoring which is inexplicably bright and merry, almost frenetic, and which undercuts the mood that the text and actors are trying to create. I'm not sure what Korda was attempting to do with such an intrusive score--perhaps he wanted to convey the frivolity of the "gay 90s" referred to in the opening voice-over?--but I'd love to see it without the annoying soundtrack. I imagine it would be quite a different movie.

2 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
stylish and witty, 1 August 2011
Author: blanche-2 from United States

"An Ideal Husband" from 1947 is not Oscar Wilde's most famous comedy, but it is funny nevertheless. This production is directed by Sir Alexander Korda with an English cast with the exception of Paulette Goddard. Goddard plays a "woman with a past," the overly-made up Lady Chevely, who attempts to blackmail Sir Robert Chiltern (Hugh Williams) so that he will encourage support for what is, in essence, a scam in which she has invested. Williams turns to a friend, Viscount Arthur Goring (Michael Wilding) for advice.

This is the type of material that can be hilarious or just charmingly witty, and Korda opted for the latter. As good as it is, the film is nearly upstaged by some of the most gorgeous costumes ever seen, designed by Cecil Beaton. They are truly eye-popping, as is the beautiful color process used in the film.

Everyone is good, including a young, pretty Glynis Johns as Chiltern's as yet unmarried sister, and Lady Diana Wynward as the very moral Lady Chiltern.

This film compares well with the 1999 version starring Rupert Everett, Cate Blanchett, and Julianne Moore. Moore perhaps exhibited a little more class than Goddard, but Goddard still does a good job. Well, you could certainly believe she was a "woman with a past" at any rate.

Very enjoyable.

1 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
un-expected fun period piece, 10 September 2007

Author: ksf-2 from southwest US

Written by Oscar Wilde, the credits roll, and it starts out as a droll period piece. Within a few minutes, we are at the fancy gathering with Mrs. Chevely (Paulette Goddard), as she cleverly spars with her old schoolmate who happens to be the hostess, and other guests. We quickly find out what games she is up to, and things pick up a bit. One annoying thing was Miss Mabel's (Glynis Johns) screeching, high pitched voice, but fortunately she doesn't spend much time on screen. Strong performances by Goddard and C. Aubrey Smith as Earl of Caversham, who always played the grand old uncle, the grandfather, the captain, etc. Personally, I liked Goddard's earlier stuff (The Women, Dictator, and a bunch she made with Bob Hope.) "Husband" would be Alexander Korda's last film as director, although he DID write and produce several more films. Michael Wilding, (one of Liz Taylor's many husbands...) plays Viscount Goring. This was remade in 1998 with Sadie Frost and Jonathan Firth. Starts slowly, gets better as it goes along. Technicolor.

3 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Uneven performance by Paulette Goddard in a central role..., 8 September 2007

Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

AN IDEAL HUSBAND starts off with cinematic flourish as it introduces its main characters, but soon settles down to become the drawing room Victorian comedy intended. PAULETTE GODDARD as Lady Cheveley, has a central role as a scheming aristocrat who blackmails HUGH WILLIAMS over a past indiscretion involving a stock exchange swindle that started his career.

Lavishly costumed, photographed in gorgeous Technicolor, it's directed at a stately pace by Anthony Asquith, who never manages to raise it above the level of an average drawing room comedy/romance. Miss Goddard is the American addition to a very British cast and gives a very uneven performance as the woman who sets out to destroy Williams' career unless she gets her way. At thirty-six, she's beautifully gowned and photographed, but seems to lack the refined quality one expects in such a role.

The delightful cast includes DIANA WYNYARD (as Williams' wife), GLYNIS JOHNS and SIR C. AUBREY SMITH, but the Oscar Wilde-based script is not one of his wittiest.

The strongest performance in the film is given by HUGH WILLIAMS as the troubled husband who considers resigning from public life and the one with the most comic flair is SIR C. AUBREY SMITH.

Not one of Wilde's most diverting comedies.

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