17 thoughts on “SNARK WEEK: Woeful Wildes-day

  1. Apparently in 2021 a filmed “modern” version of Wilde’s book came out. Amazing cast – Fionn Whitehead, Russell Tovey, Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, but I just heard of it, so probably not so good. Here is the link on IMDB — Prime has it but charges for it — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14157114/. Wish it was period.

    1. When I first saw that Stephen Fry was in it, I got over it not being period, but I assumed he was Lord Harry, not just “The Interviewer”. Ugh…

  2. I enjoyed the nuttiness of Russell’s film. It’s so… Ken Russell.
    At no time, like in “The Devils” or “Listomania”, is it supposed to be taken as “real”.
    And, I knew this but looked it up anyway: “ Imogen Millais-Scott went blind three weeks before filming after contracting glandular fever but Russell insisted on still using her.”

  3. I can’t fault anything that you’ve said, as it’s all true. I still kind of love Salome’s Last Dance and it’s become a sewing movie for me. Not a thing about it could possibly claim any sort of historic authenticity; I guess I’ll just have to plead ‘Ken Russell’ and be done with it.

    1. I admit, I’m a sucker for a Ken Russel flick. They’re absolute ludicrous garbage. But I’m drawn like a moth to the flame. Of the historicals, I think Liztomania is the only one I haven’t inflicted on myself, & that’s only bec. I haven’t stumbled across it. But some Snark Week…

  4. For all the 2009 Dorian Gray was a dumpster fire, at least Ben Barnes was less of a paper-thin poncing pretty boy than Stuart Townsend in the League of Extraordinary Gentleman (who might as well have had “I’m a double agent” tattooed on his forehead).The sound effects of the painting’s wheezing legitimately terrified me when I first watched it.

      1. My objection is that he’s supposed to be the mole, up until the point he reveals himself to be assisting the villain (to the point the League suspects another member who conveniently goes missing at the same time), but Townsend is doing so much mustache twirling and smarming from scene 1 that it’s damn obvious that the character is teh evulz.

        1. I’m willing to allow it, on the understanding that it’s cartoon reverse psychology: he’s so blatant about being a villain that everyone assumes he’s too stupid to get away with ANYTHING (It’s much, much more amusing to imagine everyone is shocked by the fact Gray has been an effective mole than by the fact he was The Mole all along).

  5. Ben Barnes and Colin Firth appeared together in ‘Easy Virtue’ and ‘Dorian Gray’ pretty much back to back, and while neither movie was good, the press interviews they did together were enormously endearing. You could tell they really liked working together! Worth a watch on YouTube.

    I’ve had the hots for Binbons literally since ‘Prince Caspian,’ and WOW does he keep getting better with age. He mostly appears in fantasy stuff now, so there’s probably not enough for a MCM, but GOD. He sings, he’s gorgeous, and he’s hilarious in interviews. Don’t tell my husband, but Binbons is pretty much my perfect man.

      1. Hey, Colin Firth has to worry about making his OLD Wilde Bunch chum jealous – he’s clearly saving the best stuff for a Wilde adaptation that casts himself, Mr Barnes AND Mr Rupert Everett! (-;

        Having said that (and apropos of nothing) I remain at least a little surprised that no casting directors ever seem to have considered casting Mr Everett & Mr Firth as Holmes and Watson.

  6. I’m always in favor of a Dorian Gray adaptation. Even though there were problems with the Ben Barnes version, I liked it…and he was….beautiful!!!!!!! Someone mentioned Stuart Townsend in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and as one of ten people who saw it in the theaters, let me just say that he was….beautiful!!!! As was Reeve Carney in Penny Dreadful. In other words, I’m always up for a story with a beautiful man!!

  7. I am a total Wilde acolyte and absolutely loved Salome’s Last Dance when I was a young teenager. It had everything that appealed to me at the time; campy debauchery, the glorious Glenda Jackson and a large percentage of it’s text being Oscar’s own words – at his most theatrical in an aesthetic movement manner, flowery and poetic… then I re-watched it a couple of years ago… and, well, yes. It certainly is… something and the stage costumes are certainly striking. I was left though feeling quite bemused and began to wonder what drugs I was on at the time of my initial viewing. It certainly leaves you with the impression of having dropped a tab or two. Though I think this may well be a Ken Russell thing. I loved his film Gothic at around the same time as when I was introduced to his Salome feature and LOVED that too… and now that film just leaves me feeling slightly uncomfortable and suffering a slight headache. It is strange how your perception of art changes as you get older. I hated The recent film version of The Picture of Dorian Grey. It seemed to completely lack any of Wilde’s subtlety, nuance and poetry and I hated the design in general.

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