| The Trials of Oscar Wilde | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Ken Hughes |
| Screenplay by | Montgomery Hyde Ken Hughes |
| Based on | The Stringed Lute by John Furnell |
| Produced by | Irving Allen Albert R. Broccoli Harold Huth |
| Starring | Peter Finch Yvonne Mitchell James Mason Nigel Patrick Lionel Jeffries John Fraser |
| Cinematography | Ted Moore |
| Edited by | Geoffrey Foot |
| Music by | Ron Goodwin |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Eros Films[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 123 minutes[2] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £270,000[3][4] or £296,500[5] |
The Trials of Oscar Wilde, also known asThe Man with the Green Carnation andThe Green Carnation, is a 1960 Britishdrama film based on thelibel and subsequent criminal cases involvingOscar Wilde and theMarquess of Queensberry. It was written by Allen andKen Hughes, directed by Hughes, and co-produced byIrving Allen,Albert R. Broccoli andHarold Huth. The screenplay was by Ken Hughes andMontgomery Hyde, based on an unperformed playThe Stringed Lute by John Furnell (the pseudonym of Phyllis Macqueen).[6] The film was made byWarwick Films and released byEros Films.
It starsPeter Finch as Wilde,Lionel Jeffries as Queensberry, andJohn Fraser as Bosie (Lord Alfred Douglas) withJames Mason,Nigel Patrick,Yvonne Mitchell,Maxine Audley,Paul Rogers andJames Booth.
In November 1959, Ken Hughes said he hoped forLaurence Olivier orAlec Guinness to play the title role. "I know American actors who would run a mile rather than play a part like this, but the film will be a flop unless Wilde is played by someone of stature," said Hughes. "We are going to have some stiff legal problems. We shall approach the Queensberry family. The Marquis will be shown as the villain and I don't know how his family will like that. As for Wilde, the film will show him deserving pity, a genius living in a superficial fantasy world."[7]
Vyvyan Holland (Wilde's son) said "the film company has not approached me. I should be very glad to act as advisor although I cannot say I would approve until I have seen the script".[7]
In February 1960, it was announced Peter Finch would play the role for a fee of £25,000. "I'm scared stiff," said Finch. "Mind you the fact it's such a challenge is one reason I'm so keen. It's exciting to do something everybody says you can't."[8]
The production was filmed inTechnirama.[1]
It was one of two films about Wilde released in 1960, the other being20th Century Fox'Oscar Wilde starring Robert Morley. According to production designerKen Adam, producerIrving Allen set up four editing rooms for the production, working in parallel during principal photography; this meant that the film could be screened in theWest End seven weeks after the start of filming.[9][1]
Warwick took out an injunction against the makers ofOscar Wilde claiming copyright infringement in two books. The claim was unsuccessful.[10]
The film was released at midnight on Saturday, 28 May 1960 at Studio One in London before its general release on 30 May 1960.[1] It was released a week afterOscar Wilde.[1] Producers of both films originally refused to change their movie titles. Eventually, after confusion at various cinemas, Warwick announced they would releaseThe Trials of Oscar Wilde asThe Green Carnation.[11]
In June 1960 Warwick announced it would not make films through major studios but would produce and distribute films itself with a slate of pictures worth $8 million a year: "three big films a year" plus eight others which it would finance through Eros (that would cost an estimated $3 million all up). Eros would distributeThe Trials of Oscar Wilde in the UK.[12]
In May 1961 Eros ran into financial difficulties, while distributingThe Trials of Oscar Wilde and several staff were fired. Four films were awaiting distribution -Johnny Nobody,Middle of Nowhere,Carolina andLies My Father Told Me.[13]
In his review of the film,Bosley Crowther wrote: "Mr. Wilde himself could not have expected his rare personality or his unfortunate encounters with British justice on a morals charge to have been more sympathetically or affectingly dramatized. In comparison to thatother British picture about the same subject that opened [in New York City] last week, this one is more impressive in every respect, save one."[14] Crowther concludes the review saying "The only thing is you wonder if this is a fairly true account, if Mr. Wilde was as noble and heroic as he is made to appear. And if he was, what was he doing with those cheap and shady young men? It looks to us as if they are trying to whitewash a most unpleasant case, which is one of the more notorious and less ennobling in literary history."[14]
John Simon describedThe Trials of Oscar Wilde as "an unjustly neglected movie".[15]
Variety magazine, commenting on the performances, said "Peter Finch gives a moving and subtle performance as the ill-starred playwright. Before his downfall he gives the man the charm that he undoubtedly had....John Fraser as handsome young Lord Alfred Douglas is suitably vain, selfish, vindictive and petulant and the relationship between the two is more understandable. WhereTrials suffers in comparison withthe B&W film is in the remarkable impact of the libel case court sequence. James Mason never provides the strength and bitter logic necessary for the dramatic cut-and-thrust when Wilde is in the witness box."[16]
The film has been called "Hughes' one undeniable classic."[17]
Kine Weekly called it a "money maker" at the British box office in 1960.[18] The magazine elaborated that the film "did marvelously in good and high class halls but faltered a bit in industrial areas. All the same it's one of the outstanding productions of 1960."[19] Broccoli later said the film "died in about 512 countries."[20]
| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Film from any Source | Ken Hughes | Nominated | [21] |
| Best British Film | Nominated | |||
| Best British Actor | Peter Finch | Won | ||
| John Fraser | Nominated | |||
| Best British Screenplay | Ken Hughes | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best English-Language Foreign Film | Won | [22] | |
| Moscow International Film Festival | Grand Prix | Ken Hughes | Nominated | [23] |
| Best Actor | Peter Finch | Won | ||
| Best Decorator | Bill Constable | Won | ||
| Best Costume Designer | Terence Morgan | Won | ||
The film was the inspiration for a promotional film made forthe Rolling Stones song "We Love You"; the 1967 film, directed byPeter Whitehead, featuredMick Jagger as Wilde,Keith Richards as the judge in the Wilde trial, andMarianne Faithfull asBosie.[24]
