The Importance of Being Earnest [Criterion Collection]

Director: Anthony Asquith Anthony Asquith

Overview

"Comedy comes in full swing with the 1952 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Criterion's work on the film's original 1.33:1 full-frame version is nothing less than great. Sporting vibrant colors and dark black levels, this is a superior looking image that includes only a few slight imperfections (edge enhancement and grain). Overall fans should be very pleased with the effort put forth on this picture. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 1.0 in English and often sounds confined and flat. However, considering the film's age, the soundtrack is top-notch shape without nary a hint of distortion or hiss in the mix. Also included on this disc are English subtitles. Unfortunately, the buck stops here when it comes to substantial extra features on this DVD. The only supplements included on The Importance of Being Earnest are some production notes and a theatrical trailer for the movie."

Product Details

Release Date:	03/21/2010
UPC:	0037429165621
Original Release:	1952
Source:	CRITERION COLLECTION
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00

Special Features

Digital transfer; Rare production stills with notes by film historian Bruce Eder; Original theatrical trailer; English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Michael Redgrave	Jack Worthing
Joan Greenwood	Gwendolyn Fairfax
Michael Denison	Algernon Moncrieff
Dorothy Tutin	Cecily Cardew
Edith Evans	Lady Bracknell
Margaret Rutherford	Miss Prism
Miles Malleson	Canon Chasuble
Richard Wattis	Seton
Aubrey Mather	Merriman
Walter Hudd	Lane
Ivor Barnard	Actor
Benjamin Frankel	Composer

Technical Credits

Anthony Asquith

Oscar Wilde

Anthony Asquith	Director,Screenwriter
Teddy Baird	Producer
Oscar Wilde	Screenwriter
Earl St. John	Executive Producer
Gordon K. McCallum	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Wordplay and situation comedy rule in this 1952 Anthony Asquith adaptation of the Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) play satirizing the marriage and social customs of the English upper crust of the 1890s. All the cast members perform wonderfully, but it is Dame Edith Evans who most engages the audience as snooty Lady Bracknell. Dressed in gaudy Victorian laces and a hat growing a garden of flowers, she turns the queen's English into windy tirades in which every syllable becomes two and parallel sentence structure becomes a lethal weapon. Of her nephew, she says, "He has nothing and looks everything." Of a family that boasts three residences but still comes a-cropper, she says, "Three addresses always inspire confidence, even in tradesmen." Lady Bracknell unwittingly epitomizes a central motif in the film -- and, of course, in the Wilde play -- when she disingenuously criticizes the aristocracy's preoccupation with appearances, "We live in an age of surfaces." Michael Redgrave and Michael Denisor sprinkle zesty wit into their performances as suitors vying to be called Earnest in order to win the hands of their ladies fair, two featherbrains portrayed with charming stupidity by Joan Greenwood and Dorothy Tutin. Meanwhile, roly-poly Canon Chasuble (Miles Malleson), who is given to napping at his desk under a kerchief, woos Miss Letitia Prism (Margaret Rutherford), tutor to one of the featherbrains. Once upon a time, Miss Prism mistook a baby for a book manuscript and placed the poor little chap in a handbag in a railway station and the book in a baby carriage. The fates of all the central characters depend on Miss Prism's recollection of that unfortunate incident. All in all, this is a delightful film that succeeds magnificently with nary a hint of violence or untoward behavior.