Oscar Wilde, Spendthrift of Genius (Ireland)
(58 min; 1986; English)
Director: Sean O’Mordha

This portrait of the multi-talented and self-destructive fin de siècle genius follows Oscar Wilde’s meteoric rise and fall. Portraying the many circles—academic, social, theatrical, literary—in Dublin, Oxford, London, and Paris—in which Wilde circulated, and generously sprinkled with Wilde’s infamous bons mots, the programme also includes the only known recording by Wilde (of "The Ballad of Reading Gaol").