An Ideal Husband

Producer/director Korda had fellow Hungarian Lajos Biro adapt Wilde's play for this rather turgid screen version, which has imported American star Goddard as a reasonable Mrs Cheveley, the Victorian adventuress whose blackmail attempt on politico Williams is stymied by nobleman Wilding's decisive counter-attack. Lots of technical gloss on display, including costumes by Cecil Beaton and Georges Périnal's elegant camerawork, but the film is so reverent towards its source material it's almost embalmed.