The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960)

At the height of his fame (his plays being much celebrated in London in the 1890's), Oscar Wilde angers the Lord Queensbury by having what is whispered and gossiped as a romantic ... See full summary »

Director:

Ken Hughes

Writers:

John Furnell (play), Ken Hughes,

Stars:

Peter Finch, Yvonne Mitchell, James Mason

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Finch	...	Oscar Wilde
Yvonne Mitchell	...	Constance Wilde
James Mason	...	Sir Edward Carson
Nigel Patrick	...	Sir Edward Clarke
Lionel Jeffries	...	John Sholto Douglas, Marquis of Queensberry
John Fraser	...	Lord Alfred Douglas
Sonia Dresdel	...	Lady Wilde
Maxine Audley	...	Ada Leverson
James Booth	...	Alfred Wood
Emrys Jones	...	Robbie Ross
Lloyd Lamble	...	Charles Humphries
Paul Rogers	...	Frank Harris
Ian Fleming	...	Arthur, the Wilde Butler
Laurence Naismith	...	Prince of Wales
Naomi Chance	...	Lily Langtry

Storyline

At the height of his fame (his plays being much celebrated in London in the 1890's), Oscar Wilde angers the Lord Queensbury by having what is whispered and gossiped as a romantic relationship with Queensbury's son, twenty years Wilde's junior. When Queensbury slanders Wilde, the arrogant artist decides to take the matter to court, and brings about his own downfall.

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Plot Keywords:

playwright | homosexual history | gay parent | gay father | guilty verdict | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1960 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Green Carnation

Company Credits

Production Co:

Viceroy Films Ltd., Warwick Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min 130 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lionel Jeffries, still in his thirties, was only five years older than James Fraser who played his son.

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Quotes

[the Marquis of Queensbury hands an insulting bouquet of vegetables to Oscar Wilde]
Oscar Wilde: How charming. Every time I smell them I shall think of you, Lord Queensbury.

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Connections

Referenced in A Profile of 'A Town Like Alice' (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Die Fldermaus"
(uncredited)
Music by Johann Strauß

User Reviews

It's holding up very well after 40+ years

Ken Hughes film 'The Trials of Oscar Wilde' may at first appear to be one of those cheesy Technicolor costume dramas when in fact it is a gripping and finely acted account of the appalling treatment Oscar Wilde received at the hands of the English justice system at the end of the 19th century.

Peter Finch is superb as the eponymous hero and is totally committed to the role and turns in one of his best performances on screen. The supporting cast is also quite good if more generalized in their characterizations, more a fault of the screenplay than the performers. There is one especially fine supporting performance from Lionel Jeffries as the maniacal Lord Queensbury. Jeffries plays Queensbury as a crazed brute, a type of man we can no longer countenance in these days, though I suspect they are still out there waiting for their chance to pounce on those who they fear and do not understand.

Sonia Dresdel is Lady Wilde, Oscar's dotty mother at the end of her life. It's a small part but is quietly powerful. Other people in Wilde's life, Constance, his wife, and Ada Leverson, his stalwart friend and life-long supporter, are tantalizingly glimpsed but little is revealed of their inner workings. But this isn't a film about them but about the actual trials and much of the film is spent in courtrooms. This might sound boring but it isn't.

James Mason appears in the first trial as the defending witness, for Lord Queensbury, and a more vicious, narrow-minded lawyer could hardly be found, even these days.

The technical credits are competent if nothing special; the music, melodramatic in a soap-opera-ish way, the sets plush and too clean. But somehow the power and tragedy of Wilde's story comes through all the gilding of the script, peppered with some of Wilde's wiser quotes, well-placed, naturally, in the text. There is nothing preachy or moralistic which is a relief, compared to the highly politicized scripts being written since this film was made.

It is interesting to note Nicholas Roeg as the camera operator. He wasn't the cinematographer but I detected a few Roeg-ish touches in a couple of the more meditative scenes.

This is not a film to be sluffed off as old-fashioned simply because there are no sex scenes or vulgar language or violence. The psychic violence suffered by Oscar Wilde was quite sufficient enough and this is a memorable film, worth having in the collection.