The Importance Of Being Earnest (Criterion Collection) (1952) On DVD

Actor:           Michael Redgrave, Richard Wattis, Michael Denison, Walter Hudd, Edith Evans                                                                                                                
Director:      Anthony Asquith
Genre:          Comedy
Year:             1952
Studio:          Criterion
Length:         95
Released:    June 25, 2002
Rating:          Unrated (Video)
Format:         DVD
Misc:              NTSC, Color
Language:    English
Subtitles  :    English

DESCRIPTION:

If you're looking for the definitive example of dry British wit, look no further than The Importance of Being Earnest. Of course, it helps to have Oscar Wilde's beloved play as source material, but this exquisite adaptation has a charmed life of its own, with a perfectly matched director (Anthony Asquith was raised in the rarified, upper-class atmosphere of Wilde's play) and a once-in-a-lifetime cast. Mix these ingredients with Wilde's inimitable repartee, and you've got a comedic soufflé that's been cooked to perfection. Opening with a proscenium nod to its theatrical origins, the film turns Wilde's comedy of clever deception and mixed identities into a cinematic treat, and while the 10-member cast is uniformly superb, special credit must be given to Dame Edith Evans, reprising her stage role as the imperiously stuffy Lady Bracknell. To hear her Wilde-ly hilarious inflections and elongated syllables is to witness British comedy in its purest form, fully deserving of the royal Criterion treatment.

Special Features:

• Rare production stills with notes by film historian Bruce Eder