Oscar Wilde writes a classic and we pick his bleached bones. When transferring a great literary classic to film, it's the director's hardest task to stay the hell out of the way. Let the source be your master and your gut be your guide. That's pretty much what you'll find here - a fairly faithful adaptation with solid performances and direction, rich cinematography, elegant sets, costumes and lighting, and occasional moments of inspired eeriness. The narration, while done in a sonorous and measured tone, intrudes. It too often is just floridly stating the obvious. If you've seen "Bladerunner", you understand exactly what I mean. Hurd Hatfield plays the title character with an expression that is an odd combination of a young Henry Fonda and an even younger Christopher Walken - Innocent and Evil at once, almost bo-tox paralysis still.
It's a fun movie, if you're not too damaged by the more flashy modern film standards.
It's a fun movie, if you're not too damaged by the more flashy modern film standards.