As a very young girl my brother brought home a library record of Wilde’s fairy tales. I cried every time I heard the one about the nightingale but loved it. In high school I discovered on my own his other writings and he was a hero to me. In my thirties I read The Happy Prince to the older kids and asked them to talk about Christian values. I was never invited again to take a Sunday School class. Oscar Wilde remains a hero to me in my old age for his genius, true Christian values expressed in his fairy tales , his eloquence ,and refusal to pretend being who he was not.
I have to echo the same words of the other commentator. What a beautiful story beautifully told. I'm sorry you weren't invited back to the Sunday School xx
@John Smith but it is for Catholics who are a huge make up of the Christian population you cannot dismiss this. They were/are the first few factions of Christian sects historically, pity they chose to ignore women 🙄
There is a lovely dignity to your own storytelling. I couldn’t agree with you more about Mr. Wilde. How very unfortunate that the children of the Sunday School were deprived of your grace and grasp of humanity. Blessings.
I’ve been a reader and fan of brilliant Oscar Wilde, since I started to read at age 5. I’m grateful for having parents that gave the privilege of accessing his unforgettable books.
“Some Bring Happiness Wherever they Go. Others Whenever they Go” O.Wilde My Love for the Irish & Irish authors began when discovering The Picture of Dorian Grey. Fools were those to turn their backs on this genius, kind & witty man.
*You may say he is genius. You may not say he was kind. You did not know him. He was obviously witty. A trait he seemed to have inherited from his mother.*
How terribly sad. He was appreciated and under-appreciated at the same time. I’ve always felt he got such a raw deal. Brilliant, funny, an incredible wit. RIP.
If you actually listen to Oscar Wilde you will discover he was a prating knave - he was exceptionally trite - He was a pederastic voyeur - and ''Boysie' - remembering that Wilde had a south eastern English accent, not an Irish one - was a suspected murderer, and a proven rapist - that's way he stayed out of England until the statue of limitations ran out - Due to the crimes of Wilde and Douglas, homosexuality was recriminalised in England to protect young working class men, from ''gentlemen'' of their class. I commend the proper history ''The Trials of Oscar Wilde'' to you - and forgo Urban Myths.
Absolutely spot on. I feel the same way. Brilliant man, notorious, but underrated as a writer. I think he went prison more for being an Irish smart-ass rather than being gay.😢
There is an amazing audiobook of The Picture of Dorian Gray, narrated by David Brown (in 1965) and it the most perfect production I have ever heard. Wilde’s brilliance comes to life in this most remarkable story, and all life is to be found within the poetry of every chapter.
I believe Oscar Wilde stood for the values of kindness, empathy, and love. These values are not unique to Christianity, but Wilde did include religious themes in some of his works. He had a very sharp wit, and a great facility for language. He is one of my author-heroes.
Kindness, empathy and love are uniquely claimed by Christians as being quintessentially their values. Somehow Christians have been able to make their very title an adjective indicative of pious rectitude when, in reality, the mission of Christianity has followed a path marked by very brutal behavior. To be fair, the brutalities largely reflected the norms of those times; they were typical of most religions in recorded history, but it is the hypocrisy of denial along with claims of such piety that set Christianity apart from other religions; the pretensions and the absence of self-awareness are problems; and yet, in its stories about Jesus, and other great people that followed him, Christianity paints a good way forward. There are great Christian sects, such as the Quakers, who set an example that mainstream Christianity would do well to follow. On the other hand, the Catholic legacy of mythology and hyperbole that is still so dominant in Christianity, is long overdue for replacement by a better set of values based on self-awareness, humanity, honesty, tolerance, respect and understanding for other belief systems and moral codes, the sort of behavior that makes Quakers and others like them examples to be followed. It is amazing how broad a spectrum of behavior from saintly to questionable exists among Christian sects. Deo volente, saintly behavior will eventually find favor within the mainstreams of Christianity, but there’s an awfully long and tough road ahead.
In what way? Whom besides himself and his lover did he feel all this empathy and love for? And he basicly wrote one book and a handful of plays. He is more famous for being gay, and starting ups lawsuit that ended him up in jail. Dont forget, all Bosies dad did was insult Wilde. Wilde basicly put himself in jail. And people were likely happier back then than they are now. Not difficult, as people are comply miserable now.
@@marissashantez6051Your ignorance of Oscar Wilde disturbs me. One book and a handful of plays? Seriously? He was persecuted unfairly by unfair laws in an unjust society that was aimed at the destruction of him and all people like him. There should have been no law in place for such a counter trial to occur. Fortunately, today, no such counter trial would have been possible. I call this progress. You are welcome to regress, but I, for one, am not going with you.
As a young drama student, I heard many more experienced actors and directors tell me that Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" was the funniest play in English. I saw several mediocre productions over the years and did not think much of the play. Then, about 25 years ago, I finally saw a production that did justice to the script. Truly. I have never laughed so much. so loudly, or so long. I had to agree with my old mentors that the play was superior.
@jimhen459 Oh, go suck oranges! You're buying in to the not-so-widespread any more, thankfully, notion that paedophilia is directly linked to male homosexuality. It is not. Paedophiles are a breed unto themselves and cannot help themselves but are in need of help to protect innocent children from being groomed and harmed.
What a wonderful documentary about Oscar Wilde. I read all his beautiful children's stories to my children. They are nearly 50 now. I think he is really one of our greatest poets and writers
While on my honeymoon in Paris, I forced my wife to walk 2 miles to visit Oscars tomb. It is surrounded by plexiglass because people kiss his tomb with red lipstick and apparently the oils damage the stone. Oscar was one of the most courageous and brilliant minds to ever exist, visiting his final resting place to pay my respects was on my bucket list.
And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, 'You let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.' How simple is this tale, that a 5 years child can understand, though how powerful it is, making me crying every time I read it. I think that giant is Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde and D.H. Lawrence were the two pillars of my youthful library of great authors. Wilde portrayed London high society in his plays and Lawrence chronicled Nottingham working-class life. Wilde's fairytales will live forever (The Selfish Giant still has me pondering the meaning of loneliness and the loveliness of spring!), and Bert Lawrence's stories of provincial English life are pure Nottingham lace and the odour of Chrysanthemums. Sons and Lovers and De Profundis, two landmarks of British literature. Thank you, gentlemen, and do keep writing on the other side of the lace curtains!
Thank you for sharing this well made documentary of Oscar Wilde. The character voices and soundtrack do elevate it so ....it makes for great listening....it will be nice to include details of these in the video description.
Morrissey inspired me, in 1981 to read everything that Oscar Wilde had ever written. I thank him for that. The Selfish Giant is one of my favorite short stories. I read it to my daughter when she was 8-9.
I loved his final words, turning towards wallpaper & saying “one of us must go”, many years later Spike Milligan would have on his gravestone “I told you I was ill “
@@jamesmiller4184 Wallpaper update: "Some 100 years later after he died, the hotel replaced that cursed wallpaper with by red, blue, green and gold frescos based on designs by his friend Aubrey Beardsley."
Milligan's requested epitaph presented a problem in a Catholic cemetery - for obvious reasons. Two years after his death, a wonderful compromise was reached by having the inscription in Gaelic. "Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite." 😸
Wilde, a homosexual, was put on trial for gross indecency in 1895 after the details of his affair with a British aristocrat were made public. Homosexuality was a criminal offense at this time in England. I think he left his family wife children for homosexual life. I dont respect that.
@Hereandthere andnowinyourface It is to be noted that Wilde accepted the Catholic Faith on his death bed. Something this documentary fails to mention. I wonder why? This is a rhetorical question, of course. God bless.
Wonderful documentary, many thanks. When I was at Oxford (Magdalen) I was lucky enough to be assigned his room - or one of them, students had 'rooms' in those days. I can't express just how strange and wonderful it felt to be sleeping in Oscar's student bedroom...even as a straight bloke! God bless that brilliant man, who can still make us laugh - and think - over a century later.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE did it have a nice view, was it comfy? I visited his school a few years ago and wished I could ask him how he felt about the lake view from the otherwise very grey and forbidding school.
What a poignant documentary. He was a man larger than life. When I was a child, my favorite book was the fairy tales written by Oscar Wilde. They were gently, sweet tales and so much better than the other fairy tale books at the time. Thank you for uploading this honest documentary of his life. Amazing person!
No mention of Wilde's meeting Andre Gide in Paris, whose life he turned around and launched his literary career. Andre Gide was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1947.
Yet his name was not in the credits. Not even under "Other voices," which is where I would have put it. I will call it one of Oscar's more minor slights but still sad.
@@tracymorgan5386 Very much like Dorian. I think Oscar felt his "dirty" secret was deforming and killing his talent. That was his inspiration (though even he might not have realized the extent of it).
This is one of the best, if not the BEST documentary on the life of Oscar Wilde. The music accompaning it is absoultely beautiful and sublime. Thank you for posting it, I'm so grateful ❣
If Oscar Wilde chose his friends entirely for their “good looks”; he most certainly had a lot of shallow and superficial companions .! Many good looking people are very unstable and very difficult to deal with , solely because they believe their looks compensate for their lack of character, honesty and integrity. And by the end of Oscar Wilde’s life that’s exactly what happened his closest confidant and friends betrayed him, abandoned him and he end up alone.
Thank you for this sensitive documentary. I enjoyed every moment and it moved me to tears several times. Such lovely voice overs too, which makes an absolute world of difference, to me at least. Thank you again.
One of the most under-appreciated and talented artists to have come from that era. He's always been a favorite of mine, his poems, plays, etc. An amazing genius, even when persecuted RE: The Ballad of Redding Jail. A man ahead of his time. Thank you for this video. May it introduce some who have never heard of him to that genius, that even he truly, knew he possessed. That we are still enjoying his works 120+ yrs after his death says a lot.
Outstand documentary. Thank you for posting this. Edit - just the mere fact that we discuss him 120yrs after his death is a great indication of what kind of man he was. I can only hope that as time goes on, more and more people learn about him, andh he doesn't slip into obscurity again.
@@Oakleaf700 , One of my favorite all time quotes is Oscar Wilde's description of the landed gentry participating in a fox hunt: "the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible". Which is pretty much how I feel about golf.
Oscar Wilde never actually "Kicked Ass" - That was Lord Alfred Douglas's job - Oscar sat in an armchair and watched - His trouser pockets had no linings.
@@thatismattjohnsonjohnson3146she did get treat badly, but if Oscar had been born at a later time, he may not have felt the need to get married in the first place, unfortunately it would have been expected of him, especially in hopes to cover any rumour of his sexuality.
Me too , I think he came across as a gentle soul , and loved everyone wether rich or poor , his amazing body of work is as relevant today as it was then , forever loved ❤
I'm watching a BBC collection of his plays. Among the heartbreaking aspects of his work as a playwright is that he was growing into a formidable talent with a handful of great works created in five years. Then, it was all over when he reached the age of forty.
I read "Oscar Wilde" the book written by Richard Ellmann who wrote the script for this documentary. I picked up the book knowing little of Wilde, but being in a period of reading biographies. Wilde's thinking and writing had an interesting effect on my thinking which was devoid of philosophy of art. Ellmann's book wore out my fingers turning pages in my dictionary searching words I had never seen. Each page was dense with language and new words to explore. The problem with reading biographies is making new acquaintances and watching them pass.
When you find out who your true and honest friends are is when you are at your lowest. 😪 Wilde has fascinated me for his wonderful works. He is and always will be one of my favorite of authors who ever lived. ❤️
Music used in this documentary: Titles, in between and Endtitles: Pietro Mascagni, Intermezzo from "Cavalleria rusticana " At 43:10 : Richard Wagner, Vorspiel from Tristan & Isolde" At 46:47: Jules Massenet, "Méditation" from "Thais" At 52:12: Erik Satie, "Gymnopédies Nr.1" Version for Orchestra ( Gabriel Fauré ? )
Oscar Wilde never fails to touch one's heart in his writing I still cry hot tears when I re read the 'Happy Prince" and love all his books and poems. Thank YOU Oscar wherever you are in Heaven!
I've always been fascinated by this man and his work. He was able to say and write the most profound thoughts in a scintillating manner. At the end of the his life He was almost a Religious Martyr. Wilde great and human.. Forever➕
He became cruelly indifferent to his wife and children, rarely going home to them - he preferred to spend his time with the depraved Bosie at the Savoy hotel. Not an ideal husband, or father - far from it.
What a brilliantly done documentary. Shame that Oscar suffered through a self destructive love for narcissistic Bosie. I hope Oscar has found deserved peace and acceptance in the afterllife. I'm5 sure he has everybody in stitches.
Which afterlife is this, exactly? Since the 18th Century, references to supreme beings, bearded deities who watch our every deed, and based on our obeisance to their whims consign us upon death to paradise or everlasting torment, have been the laughing stock of educated people of all classes. Take your afterlife to some swindler's evangelical channel, where it belongs.
Oscar's gift was writing Literature, great Literature as well plays, novels and such, he's a well versed commentator, "a spin thrift of my own genius". We need artistic writers such as Oscar Wilde, that took the theater along with his plays that were amazingly formidable to a far greater height, as well, so that Wilde's amazing influence will be passed down from generation to other generations, he lived his life as he saw fit with passion and extremeness.
This was enjoyable; so richly informative. Wilde has always fascinated me and his writings including short stories, poems, plays and maxims were required reading according to my Pa. The picture of Dorian Gray is a timeless novel. Thank you producers 👌🏼 The biopic film starring Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Martin Sheen etc was a fabulous tribute to the man, his variegated life, and tragic end.
An incomparable genius. Such tragedy that he refused to resist the forces that corrupted him. Like beautiful Dorian, his true face was the image in the mirror.
This is a masterful documentary with fabulous accompanying music. Thank you for this upload. What is the opening musical tune? It is hauntingly beautiful.
Titles, in between and Endtitles: Pietro Mascagni, Intermezzo from "Cavalleria rusticana " At 43:10 : Richard Wagner, Vorspiel from Tristan & Isolde" At 46:47: Jules Massenet, "Méditation" from "Thais" At 52:12: Erik Satie, "Gymnopédies Nr.1" Version for Orchestra ( Gabriel Fauré ? )
The Happy Prince movie starring and produced Rupert Everett is fantastic! I have watched it several times! There weresome critics, but the best movies are not liked by snobbery! The Robbie Ross character was superb, and Reggie, played by Colin Firth, wonderful as well!
A great documentary. Yes, he was a genius, his plays, stories, his wit. Of course, it was a tragedy. However.......doesn't anyone have any compassion for his wife, Constance? He was conducting affairs with Ross, Bosie, et al, whilst married to her. Hope it was 'safe sex' then, she could have been affected. And then....she has to change her name and that of the two boys, forced to start a new life. She was cruelly betrayed.
This is brilliant: it filled many gaps in my knowledge about him. Also gave me an insight into several of his plays which I have so enjoyed. Thank you 😃
I have just now come across your channel. What a wonderful doco about Oscar Wilde, I have subscribed now, looking forward to seeing more of your videos. Kind regards from South Australia
So many of the commentators are so sorry for Oscar Wilde, as if any of them in their wildest fantasies have experienced an hour of the richness of his life. Portraying this self-made literary giant of his time with pity would be the most ignominious of the many slurs the ignorant hurtled at him. Instead he should be celebrated, honored for his contribution not just to literature but to a more humane attitude toward the less fortunate than was being displayed by the newly rich patrons of his plays. He should be remembered as a loving father and despite his apparent cynicism, a humanist to the core whose deep caring for those shut out from his closed society's privileges will be his true legacy.
He's an old school queer icon who did not deserve to see hard labour for being gay. Does turning his biography into a story of grief as opposed to a celebration detract from his memory? Probably. There was still tragedy.
My dear, Oscar Wilde, I have slept with you with your hum and vigor within hours of night, alas walked in steps of stones into a youth unknown, passions of delight with a laughter so luscious and darkness so deep by villains of an aristocracy of idiots who could never see between the lines.(The estacsy of being alive.)❤ You were incredibly a genius of complex dualities that bloomed with lipsticks of such bliss and although your thorns were pricked by jackasses of asinine hypocrisy, you will arise again and again on stages with spontaneous impulsives of creativity. You will always have the last laugh by your words of scandalous joy !!
We are all children of paradox. I grew up on a steady litany of quotations from Oscar Wilde. My Mother has been gone over fifty years, yet I hear voice offering up varying takes on Oscar's words. I never fear being talked about as much as I fear not being talked about. I have to be myself because everyone else is taken. I have only been stabbed in the front by my true friend. And yes, I can resist absolutely everything but temptation. And so many more...thank you Momma, I think?? Oscar and Momma are laughing together now.
I requested, and was bought for Christmas, Ellman's superb and weighty Wilde bio., when it was first published in the Eighties. Reading it as a teen. was a formative experience. This can only be good if he scripted it.
"I find it harder and harder to live up to my blue china"; if that is not gay, I don't know what is. Oscar was a genius and he gave little thought to what others thought of him.
Oscar and Alfred's relationship is a good example of a toxic relationship. Oscar was so foolish to have gone back to him after jail, and he admitted as such
It is sad that Oscar Wilde lived at the wrong time. I wished he was alive today so he could live his life being true to himself without fear of shame or jail, and we could enjoy his writings and incredible personality and wit.
Very well done docu. Bravo.You hit the spot of who Wilde really was. Perhaps a little at the price of what Constance and the sons felt and thought though?
I can take credit for the upload, but not the doc. The creators could have rounded out Wilde more with the wife and son's perceptions, etc., but I still think it encapsulates him nicely. If a biography failed to dive in, then we'd have a problem.
@xyzllii see Drawn from Life, an autobiography of a woman artist from slightly later than Oscar Wilde's era. Her husband ( a well known writer of the Edwardian and interwar years) was a serial marrier of young women with money. When he had spent it all on promoting the arts, he would simply leave his little family to marry yet another young woman with an inheritance. Several times. Its a very interesting insight into artistic and literary circles of Paris at that time, and the way many men simply tossed their families away rather than try to support them financially *themselves*!
As a very young girl my brother brought home a library record of Wilde’s fairy tales. I cried every time I heard the one about the nightingale but loved it. In high school I discovered on my own his other writings and he was a hero to me. In my thirties I read The Happy Prince to the older kids and asked them to talk about Christian values. I was never invited again to take a Sunday School class. Oscar Wilde remains a hero to me in my old age for his genius, true Christian values expressed in his fairy tales , his eloquence ,and refusal to pretend being who he was not.
That's a beautiful story. Thank you, Francie.
I have to echo the same words of the other commentator. What a beautiful story beautifully told. I'm sorry you weren't invited back to the Sunday School xx
I admire you and respect you .
@John Smith but it is for Catholics who are a huge make up of the Christian population you cannot dismiss this. They were/are the first few factions of Christian sects historically, pity they chose to ignore women 🙄
There is a lovely dignity to your own storytelling. I couldn’t agree with you more about Mr. Wilde. How very unfortunate that the children of the Sunday School were deprived of your grace and grasp of humanity. Blessings.
I’ve been a reader and fan of brilliant Oscar Wilde, since I started to read at age 5. I’m grateful for having parents that gave the privilege of accessing his unforgettable books.
“Some Bring Happiness Wherever they Go.
Others Whenever they Go” O.Wilde
My Love for the Irish & Irish authors began when discovering The Picture of Dorian Grey.
Fools were those to turn their backs on this genius, kind & witty man.
Other, even better writers ended up badly. HP Lovecraft. He was genius. Everyone uses him for inspiration, yet he died broke and hungry and I hate it.
Loved the picture of Dorian grey .
*You may say he is genius. You may not say he was kind. You did not know him. He was obviously witty. A trait he seemed to have inherited from his mother.*
" Be yourself, everyone else is taken." --- Oscar Wilde.
My father used to say that to me...and then he said: 'Be yourself because no one else is qualified'...
@@MegaSickcat Your Dad was a wise man!
@@JohnTLyon Thank you he really was!
My father used to say to me, "Kid, no one likes a wiseguy." My father is gone, and I am wiser.
I have that quote, with Wilde's picture, on my refrigerator. One sustains my heart and the other sustains my belly. 😉
How terribly sad. He was appreciated and under-appreciated at the same time. I’ve always felt he got such a raw deal. Brilliant, funny, an incredible wit. RIP.
If you actually listen to Oscar Wilde you will discover he was a prating knave - he was exceptionally trite - He was a pederastic voyeur - and ''Boysie' - remembering that Wilde had a south eastern English accent, not an Irish one - was a suspected murderer, and a proven rapist - that's way he stayed out of England until the statue of limitations ran out - Due to the crimes of Wilde and Douglas, homosexuality was recriminalised in England to protect young working class men, from ''gentlemen'' of their class. I commend the proper history ''The Trials of Oscar Wilde'' to you - and forgo Urban Myths.
Absolutely spot on. I feel the same way. Brilliant man, notorious, but underrated as a writer.
I think he went prison more for being an Irish smart-ass rather than being gay.😢
Aa q
Both Oscar and Monty Clift, it is supposed.
Only Mike Stipe knows...and half a world away at that...
There is an amazing audiobook of The Picture of Dorian Gray, narrated by David Brown (in 1965) and it the most perfect production I have ever heard. Wilde’s brilliance comes to life in this most remarkable story, and all life is to be found within the poetry of every chapter.
The cruelest treatment to a man whose genius is still quoted 120 years after his death. A great documentary with the most beautiful music
Music which sets the tone and reflects his era and is far from intrusive.
although it seems they only had access to two compositions! played over and over.... oh dear. Disappointing lack of effort made there.
@@pipfox7834 there's incidental music. There's also Gilbert and Sullivan and the Monte Carlo track. More would've been good it's true.
I love your music!!!
yes well said .
I believe Oscar Wilde stood for the values of kindness, empathy, and love. These values are not unique to Christianity, but Wilde did include religious themes in some of his works. He had a very sharp wit, and a great facility for language. He is one of my author-heroes.
Kindness, empathy and love are uniquely claimed by Christians as being quintessentially their values. Somehow Christians have been able to make their very title an adjective indicative of pious rectitude when, in reality, the mission of Christianity has followed a path marked by very brutal behavior. To be fair, the brutalities largely reflected the norms of those times; they were typical of most religions in recorded history, but it is the hypocrisy of denial along with claims of such piety that set Christianity apart from other religions; the pretensions and the absence of self-awareness are problems; and yet, in its stories about Jesus, and other great people that followed him, Christianity paints a good way forward. There are great Christian sects, such as the Quakers, who set an example that mainstream Christianity would do well to follow. On the other hand, the Catholic legacy of mythology and hyperbole that is still so dominant in Christianity, is long overdue for replacement by a better set of values based on self-awareness, humanity, honesty, tolerance, respect and understanding for other belief systems and moral codes, the sort of behavior that makes Quakers and others like them examples to be followed. It is amazing how broad a spectrum of behavior from saintly to questionable exists among Christian sects. Deo volente, saintly behavior will eventually find favor within the mainstreams of Christianity, but there’s an awfully long and tough road ahead.
In what way? Whom besides himself and his lover did he feel all this empathy and love for? And he basicly wrote one book and a handful of plays. He is more famous for being gay, and starting ups lawsuit that ended him up in jail. Dont forget, all Bosies dad did was insult Wilde. Wilde basicly put himself in jail. And people were likely happier back then than they are now. Not difficult, as people are comply miserable now.
@@marissashantez6051Your ignorance of Oscar Wilde disturbs me. One book and a handful of plays? Seriously? He was persecuted unfairly by unfair laws in an unjust society that was aimed at the destruction of him and all people like him. There should have been no law in place for such a counter trial to occur. Fortunately, today, no such counter trial would have been possible. I call this progress. You are welcome to regress, but I, for one, am not going with you.
Despite his personal problems & moral struggles he is indeed one of my most admired contemporary writers.
@@thetruthchannel349 I don’t think he struggled with his morals at all.
As a young drama student, I heard many more experienced actors and directors tell me that Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" was the funniest play in English. I saw several mediocre productions over the years and did not think much of the play. Then, about 25 years ago, I finally saw a production that did justice to the script. Truly. I have never laughed so much. so loudly, or so long. I had to agree with my old mentors that the play was superior.
He's my favorite author, play write and his quips and quotes are timeless. He would be so much more appreciated in our time!😊
Playwright.
i don't agree, to them and us he was a pedo.
@jimhen459 Oh, go suck oranges! You're buying in to the not-so-widespread any more, thankfully, notion that paedophilia is directly linked to male homosexuality. It is not. Paedophiles are a breed unto themselves and cannot help themselves but are in need of help to protect innocent children from being groomed and harmed.
@@jimhen459Nobody accused him of pedophilia, only homosexuality, which was illegal in England at the time.
What a wonderful documentary about Oscar Wilde. I read all his beautiful children's stories to my children. They are nearly 50 now. I think he is really one of our greatest poets and writers
"Only the shallow know
themselves."
--Oscar Wilde
While on my honeymoon in Paris, I forced my wife to walk 2 miles to visit Oscars tomb. It is surrounded by plexiglass because people kiss his tomb with red lipstick and apparently the oils damage the stone.
Oscar was one of the most courageous and brilliant minds to ever exist, visiting his final resting place to pay my respects was on my bucket list.
I'm just a bit jealous. Would have been amazing to see! Cheers ✌
>> FORCED yr wife ? Really??
Doubt your still married of mansplaining that one
It was not very wise for you rwife to marry you.
@@grandcrowdadforde6127 he is proud of it! what an a* ** *le!
And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, 'You let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.' How simple is this tale, that a 5 years child can understand, though how powerful it is, making me crying every time I read it. I think that giant is Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde and D.H. Lawrence were the two pillars of my youthful library of great authors. Wilde portrayed London high society in his plays and Lawrence chronicled Nottingham working-class life. Wilde's fairytales will live forever (The Selfish Giant still has me pondering the meaning of loneliness and the loveliness of spring!), and Bert Lawrence's stories of provincial English life are pure Nottingham lace and the odour of Chrysanthemums. Sons and Lovers and De Profundis, two landmarks of British literature. Thank you, gentlemen, and do keep writing on the other side of the lace curtains!
Thank you for sharing this well made documentary of Oscar Wilde. The character voices and soundtrack do elevate it so ....it makes for great listening....it will be nice to include details of these in the video description.
Morrissey inspired me, in 1981 to read everything that Oscar Wilde had ever written. I thank him for that. The Selfish Giant is one of my favorite short stories. I read it to my daughter when she was 8-9.
I loved his final words, turning towards wallpaper & saying “one of us must go”, many years later Spike Milligan would have on his gravestone “I told you I was ill “
And, to this very day, that wallpaper has not forgotten.
Yes 2 very great Irish men, loved by the world
Flock wallpaper
@@jamesmiller4184 Wallpaper update: "Some 100 years later after he died, the hotel replaced that cursed wallpaper with by red, blue, green and gold frescos based on designs by his friend Aubrey Beardsley."
Milligan's requested epitaph presented a problem in a Catholic cemetery - for obvious reasons. Two years after his death, a wonderful compromise was reached by having the inscription in Gaelic.
"Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite." 😸
I like to think Oscar's spirit is smiling knowing his legacy has been restored for the brilliant mind & man he was.
Wilde, a homosexual, was put on trial for gross indecency in 1895 after the details of his affair with a British aristocrat were made public. Homosexuality was a criminal offense at this time in England.
I think he left his family wife children for homosexual life.
I dont respect that.
HE WAS A SINFUL PERV
Stupid morality ruin the life of a brave man!
@Hereandthere andnowinyourface It is to be noted that Wilde accepted the Catholic Faith on his death bed. Something this documentary fails to mention. I wonder why? This is a rhetorical question, of course.
God bless.
I completely agree.
Wonderful documentary, many thanks. When I was at Oxford (Magdalen) I was lucky enough to be assigned his room - or one of them, students had 'rooms' in those days. I can't express just how strange and wonderful it felt to be sleeping in Oscar's student bedroom...even as a straight bloke! God bless that brilliant man, who can still make us laugh - and think - over a century later.
You do realise that by today's standards he was a pedophile right. Those renters were all under 18.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE did it have a nice view, was it comfy? I visited his school a few years ago and wished I could ask him how he felt about the lake view from the otherwise very grey and forbidding school.
That's amazing! Not everyone can say that.
Is that what they told you at Oxford? 😂
@@Johnconno
When language fails, the sure and rapier wit of the emoji always raises the failure ~ Touche', sir!
What a poignant documentary. He was a man larger than life. When I was a child, my favorite book was the fairy tales written by Oscar Wilde. They were gently, sweet tales and so much better than the other fairy tale books at the time. Thank you for uploading this honest documentary of his life. Amazing person!
Absolutely brilliant and broken. Thank you for this lovely walk back in time to Scotland, England, Paris, and America with Oscar Wilde ‼️
No mention of Wilde's meeting Andre Gide in Paris, whose life he turned around and launched his literary career.
Andre Gide was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1947.
Is it silly to say that I love him? Not just his work, but him as a person? This documentary brought me to tears.
It is pretty silly, yes.
Not at all silly 💙 I love him too 💜💙✌️
There is no law (yet anyway) to prosecute silly. So enjoy your silliness Sophia while it's still legal and shameless.
No not silly at all
I feel the same
@@sophia9467 So do I
This is a wonderful documentary. The jewel I was not expecting was to hear Oscar Wilde’s voice. He’s immortal ♥️
Yes! I had no idea that any recordings of Oscar Wilde's voice exist today.
Yet his name was not in the credits. Not even under "Other voices," which is where I would have put it. I will call it one of Oscar's more minor slights but still sad.
Kinda like Dorian Gray.😉
@@tracymorgan5386 Very much like Dorian. I think Oscar felt his "dirty" secret was deforming and killing his talent. That was his inspiration (though even he might not have realized the extent of it).
Why I wonder didn't they give him credit for his voice? I don't understand that
This is one of the best, if not the BEST documentary on the life of Oscar Wilde. The music accompaning it is absoultely beautiful and sublime. Thank you for posting it, I'm so grateful ❣
I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. Oscar Wilde
If Oscar Wilde chose his friends entirely for their “good looks”; he most certainly had a lot of shallow and superficial companions .! Many good looking people are very unstable and very difficult to deal with , solely because they believe their looks compensate for their lack of character, honesty and integrity. And by the end of Oscar Wilde’s life that’s exactly what happened his closest confidant and friends betrayed him, abandoned him and he end up alone.
Thank you for this sensitive documentary. I enjoyed every moment and it moved me to tears several times. Such lovely voice overs too, which makes an absolute world of difference, to me at least. Thank you again.
A fitting tribute to a very special artist. Thank you.
Excellent Documentary! I really enjoyed this
One of the most under-appreciated and talented artists to have come from that era. He's always been a favorite of mine, his poems, plays, etc. An amazing genius, even when persecuted RE: The Ballad of Redding Jail. A man ahead of his time. Thank you for this video. May it introduce some who have never heard of him to that genius, that even he truly, knew he possessed. That we are still enjoying his works 120+ yrs after his death says a lot.
Outstand documentary. Thank you for posting this.
Edit - just the mere fact that we discuss him 120yrs after his death is a great indication of what kind of man he was. I can only hope that as time goes on, more and more people learn about him, andh he doesn't slip into obscurity again.
You're welcome. I feel the same
@@AuthorDocumentaries I love Oscar's Wit.. It's almost as if he was sending himself up. Great mind.
@@Oakleaf700 , One of my favorite all time quotes is Oscar Wilde's description of the landed gentry participating in a fox hunt: "the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible". Which is pretty much how I feel about golf.
@@goodun2974 Very good!
Most people have no interest in i.q. In life, meaningless in spades
Oscar Wilde kicks ass. This internet age will die & everyone believing in it. But Oscar Wilde is forever.
YES YES YES
Oscar Wilde never actually "Kicked Ass" - That was Lord Alfred Douglas's job - Oscar sat in an armchair and watched - His trouser pockets had no linings.
Licked it not kicked it
I have always been heartbroken for this man. A terrible shame. But he is loved still to this day. It is amazing
I feel heartbroken for his Wife. She got the short end of the stick.
@@thatismattjohnsonjohnson3146she did get treat badly, but if Oscar had been born at a later time, he may not have felt the need to get married in the first place, unfortunately it would have been expected of him, especially in hopes to cover any rumour of his sexuality.
Me too , I think he came across as a gentle soul , and loved everyone wether rich or poor , his amazing body of work is as relevant today as it was then , forever loved ❤
The Oscar Wilde voice is brilliantly done by Irish theatre actor Alan Stanford, who also happens to be the director of The Gate Theatre, Dublin.
Clover hat
So it was not a real recording of Oscar. It was a performance of A Stanford. Ok.
@@AndyJonson-m1q That old scratchy recording at the end was Oscar, mot long before his death.
@@AndyJonson-m1q 😀😁😆😅
I'm watching a BBC collection of his plays. Among the heartbreaking aspects of his work as a playwright is that he was growing into a formidable talent with a handful of great works created in five years. Then, it was all over when he reached the age of forty.
I read "Oscar Wilde" the book written by Richard Ellmann who wrote the script for this documentary. I picked up the book knowing little of Wilde, but being in a period of reading biographies. Wilde's thinking and writing had an interesting effect on my thinking which was devoid of philosophy of art. Ellmann's book wore out my fingers turning pages in my dictionary searching words I had never seen. Each page was dense with language and new words to explore. The problem with reading biographies is making new acquaintances and watching them pass.
When you find out who your true and honest friends are is when you are at your lowest. 😪
Wilde has fascinated me for his wonderful works.
He is and always will be one of my favorite of authors who ever lived. ❤️
Like an old blues song, " Nobody knows you when you're down-and-out...
"
Now this documentary is a masterpiece. Well done. Music, narrator/reader are fantastic! Many Thanks. I admire Oscar Wilde. A legend!!
Not my idea of a masterpiece, so many things missed out.
The music is from The Godfather soundtrack.
Music used in this documentary:
Titles, in between and Endtitles:
Pietro Mascagni,
Intermezzo from
"Cavalleria rusticana "
At 43:10 :
Richard Wagner,
Vorspiel from Tristan & Isolde"
At 46:47:
Jules Massenet,
"Méditation" from "Thais"
At 52:12:
Erik Satie, "Gymnopédies Nr.1"
Version for Orchestra
( Gabriel Fauré ? )
Excellent documentary, I must take some time to let it all sink in again, such a sad ending, so undeserved. Thank you for uploading it.
Oscar Wilde never fails to touch one's heart in his writing I still cry hot tears when I re read the 'Happy Prince" and love all his books and poems. Thank YOU Oscar wherever you are in Heaven!
I hate Wilde pretentious writing.
I was in tears at the end, I so loved his writings
Omg I'm so excited that I found this channel. Can't wait to binge, binge, and binge!!!👏👏👏👏
You're welcome! Enjoy 📖📖📖
I loved reading Oscar Wilde as a child and then to my children. A literary genius.
I've always been fascinated by this man and his work. He was able to say and write the most profound thoughts in a scintillating manner. At the end of the his life He was almost a Religious Martyr. Wilde great and human.. Forever➕
Such a moving documentary. Beautifully narrated.
Amazing documentary about the most admiral Irishman.
What a great documentary! Thank you!
Can you imagine being one of his children, moving on with live, and your dependents never knowing they came from such greatness.
He became cruelly indifferent to his wife and children, rarely going home to them - he preferred to spend his time with the depraved Bosie at the Savoy hotel. Not an ideal husband, or father - far from it.
What a brilliantly done documentary. Shame that Oscar suffered through a self destructive love for narcissistic Bosie. I hope Oscar has found deserved peace and acceptance in the afterllife. I'm5 sure he has everybody in stitches.
@Elliot Rosewater what are your sources for these allegations?
Dear oscar was most surely the narc
Why is it that many of these authors that have documenteries about their affiliations, always turn out to be gay?
Which afterlife is this, exactly? Since the 18th Century, references to supreme beings, bearded deities who watch our every deed, and based on our obeisance to their whims consign us upon death to paradise or everlasting torment, have been the laughing stock of educated people of all classes. Take your afterlife to some swindler's evangelical channel, where it belongs.
Why do you brand someone you've never met with a diagnosis? I swear, "narcissistic" is quickly becoming as overused as "toxic"
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."
Oscar Wilde
Oh, how wrong is this comment. The purity of truth is in Jesus our Beloved Lord.
Oscar's gift was writing Literature, great Literature as well plays, novels and such, he's a well versed commentator, "a spin thrift of my own genius". We need artistic writers such as Oscar Wilde, that took the theater along with his plays that were amazingly formidable to a far greater height, as well, so that Wilde's amazing influence will be passed down from generation to other generations, he lived his life as he saw fit with passion and extremeness.
the music in this video is wonderful.
This was enjoyable; so richly informative. Wilde has always fascinated me and his writings including short stories, poems, plays and maxims were required reading according to my Pa. The picture of Dorian Gray is a timeless novel. Thank you producers 👌🏼
The biopic film starring Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Martin Sheen etc was a fabulous tribute to the man, his variegated life, and tragic end.
An incomparable genius. Such tragedy that he refused to resist the forces that corrupted him. Like beautiful Dorian, his true face was the image in the mirror.
He never was any genius.
Very nicely produced, what a terrible demise ! an Absolute tragedy
Brilliantly done Oscar Wilde documentary. Thank you!!!
I played Algernon in The Importance of being Earnest and was able to channel Wilde through the performance...so fun to inhabit such a witty persona.
I played Cecily Cardew and I enjoyed being looked at.
Just discovered this Chanel and I’m sure I will be spending many nights binge watching the many documentaries! 😍
This wonderful writer has been giving me so much joy.
This was an outstanding documentary.
Hello from Italy.
This is a masterful documentary with fabulous accompanying music. Thank you for this upload. What is the opening musical tune? It is hauntingly beautiful.
It is the Entre' Act from the opera Cavaleria Rusticana
Thank you for this master piece!
I adore O.W,
He understood that literature deals with the finer feelings of man.
🙏🙏
What a beautiful documentary that was and very sad. All that music and sound affects made me feel like I was there.
Loved it.
Especially th hoofbeats of carriages, clip clopping in the background...
Titles, in between and Endtitles:
Pietro Mascagni,
Intermezzo from
"Cavalleria rusticana "
At 43:10 :
Richard Wagner,
Vorspiel from Tristan & Isolde"
At 46:47:
Jules Massenet,
"Méditation" from "Thais"
At 52:12:
Erik Satie, "Gymnopédies Nr.1"
Version for Orchestra
( Gabriel Fauré ? )
Thanks for providing informative documentary
So well produced and presented. Most grateful. England, November, 2024.
What a Legend.. To Hear his Voice was amazing... Love Oscar Wilde RIP.
The Happy Prince movie starring and produced Rupert Everett is fantastic! I have watched it several times! There weresome critics, but the best movies are not liked by snobbery! The Robbie Ross character was superb, and Reggie, played by Colin Firth, wonderful as well!
A great documentary. Yes, he was a genius, his plays, stories, his wit. Of course, it was a tragedy. However.......doesn't anyone have any compassion for his wife, Constance? He was conducting affairs with Ross, Bosie, et al, whilst married to her. Hope it was 'safe sex' then, she could have been affected. And then....she has to change her name and that of the two boys, forced to start a new life. She was cruelly betrayed.
Penny Burns
I agree, I didn’t think she was portrayed fairly at all.
I totally agree… and dare it be said.. how young were some of the boys!
TRUE! SHES THE REAL VICTIM
This is brilliant: it filled many gaps in my knowledge about him. Also gave me an insight into several of his plays which I have so enjoyed. Thank you 😃
I have just now come across your channel. What a wonderful doco about Oscar Wilde, I have subscribed now, looking forward to seeing more of your videos. Kind regards from South Australia
Great documentary! Thank you.
So many of the commentators are so sorry for Oscar Wilde, as if any of them in their wildest fantasies have experienced an hour of the richness of his life. Portraying this self-made literary giant of his time with pity would be the most ignominious of the many slurs the ignorant hurtled at him. Instead he should be celebrated, honored for his contribution not just to literature but to a more humane attitude toward the less fortunate than was being displayed by the newly rich patrons of his plays. He should be remembered as a loving father and despite his apparent cynicism, a humanist to the core whose deep caring for those shut out from his closed society's privileges will be his true legacy.
He was a victim of antique morality. Think what more he might have produced. Thankful for what he gave us.
He's an old school queer icon who did not deserve to see hard labour for being gay. Does turning his biography into a story of grief as opposed to a celebration detract from his memory? Probably. There was still tragedy.
What a glorious legacy ❤ love Oscar Wilde, fantastic tribute 👏🏽
v excellent documentary thanks for uploading !
Really great narration of his story...thank you.
Oscar Wilde, your flame will never burn out. ❤️ One of my favorite writers. Again I am watching this on February 2, 2023.
Oh! How it is so, cher Cheri! 💙
@@jamesmiller4184
My name is Anna Magnanni lol
@@cheri238 Sorry! I've now lost track of what I was then intending!!
No matter as Oscar lives-on in dozens of ways, cher Anna. 🙂
@@jamesmiller4184
Thanks, LOL Oscar Wilde forevermore!!!!!❤️
My dear, Oscar Wilde, I have slept with you with your hum and vigor within hours of night, alas walked in steps of stones into a youth unknown, passions of delight with a laughter so luscious and darkness so deep by villains of an aristocracy of idiots who could never see between the lines.(The estacsy of being alive.)❤ You were incredibly a genius of complex dualities that bloomed with lipsticks of such bliss and although your thorns were pricked by jackasses of asinine hypocrisy, you will arise again and again on stages with spontaneous impulsives of creativity. You will always have the last laugh by your words of scandalous joy !!
He didn't deserve such bitter pill of a society. Oscar was brilliant, but born in the wrong century. God bless his soul. ❤️🙏
We are all children of paradox.
I grew up on a steady litany of quotations from Oscar Wilde. My Mother has been gone over fifty years, yet I hear voice offering up varying takes on Oscar's words. I never fear being talked about as much as I fear not being talked about. I have to be myself because everyone else is taken. I have only been stabbed in the front by my true friend. And yes, I can resist absolutely everything but temptation. And so many more...thank you Momma, I think?? Oscar and Momma are laughing together now.
I would have loved your mother!
The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable has always been my favorite.
No better condemnation of killing for "fun" has ever been made!
Mesmerising, thank you what a well thought and performed documentary.
How beautifully conceived and crafted, this.
I requested, and was bought for Christmas, Ellman's superb and weighty Wilde bio., when it was first published in the Eighties. Reading it as a teen. was a formative experience. This can only be good if he scripted it.
"I find it harder and harder to live up to my blue china"; if that is not gay, I don't know what is. Oscar was a genius and he gave little thought to what others thought of him.
@@kitlewis6748 He didn't let it bring him down though. He lived life as he wished.
Wonderfully produced and achingly sad. Thank you.
Fascinating how closely Truman Capote's life mirrored Wilde's in so many way !
Except that Oscar had a heart.
Beautifully delivered ❣️ Thank you
What a (most) wonderful documentary! Thank you for opening my eyes to Oscar Wilde, the person, as well as the genius.
A superbly researched documentary of a tragic genius.
That was a fascinating documentary. Many thanks!
Thank you for the wonderful documentary .
Oscar and Alfred's relationship is a good example of a toxic relationship. Oscar was so foolish to have gone back to him after jail, and he admitted as such
He wasn't clever man that Wilde!
His books are exquisite they’re so memorable and so brilliant. He was a beautiful man.
Oscar Wilde has been my favorite author since college.
he died of a broken heart! thats the saddest part of all from someone who shined so brightly
Stunning choice of music. Wonderful production.
I would love to have known him. He was brilliant 👏
It is sad that Oscar Wilde lived at the wrong time. I wished he was alive today so he could live his life being true to himself without fear of shame or jail, and we could enjoy his writings and incredible personality and wit.
Thank you! So much!
Welcome, enjoy!
Thank you for posting ❤
Very well done docu. Bravo.You hit the spot of who Wilde really was. Perhaps a little at the price of what Constance and the sons felt and thought though?
I can take credit for the upload, but not the doc. The creators could have rounded out Wilde more with the wife and son's perceptions, etc., but I still think it encapsulates him nicely. If a biography failed to dive in, then we'd have a problem.
I'm sure it affected them deeply
@xyzllii see Drawn from Life, an autobiography of a woman artist from slightly later than Oscar Wilde's era. Her husband ( a well known writer of the Edwardian and interwar years) was a serial marrier of young women with money. When he had spent it all on promoting the arts, he would simply leave his little family to marry yet another young woman with an inheritance. Several times. Its a very interesting insight into artistic and literary circles of Paris at that time, and the way many men simply tossed their families away rather than try to support them financially *themselves*!
It wasn't about them. She deserted him so it was about Oscar. I thought it handled her just fine. She dictated what the kids thought.
Thank you so very much for this beautiful video…