Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

framptonhollis Last night, I read Oscar Wilde's classic comedy 'The Importance of Being Earnest' for the first time after having wished to read it for quite some time, and it really was a delightful experience. I was excited to soon after see the widely praised 1952 film adaptation of the same name, which I did today, and my excitement was met with a wonderful little movie that stayed greatly true to the source material. Perhaps one could say it is so close to the source material there is little point in it really being a film, but the thing is the performances here are quite splendid, as are the technical aspects of the film, though they are quite subtle and minimalistic. The technicolor cinematography is astonishing for the eyes, and the acting on all fronts captures Wilde's wondrous wit well. Some performances I could dare claim are absolutely perfect, the two coming first to mine being the performances from Michael Denison and Edith Evans who embody almost exactly what it seems Oscar Wilde would have had in mind. Obviously, it is wonderfully written and very funny, and makes up a very entertaining and enjoyable 95 minutes.

tc_nafsasp I've given this 10 out of 10, because it doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I can't think of any way you could improve it. The original play is a classic, and this is a fairly good interpretation of the second, slightly shorter, version of Wilde's masterpiece. The cast is to die for, every role seems to have been written for the cast members, not the other way round! I've seen many stage versions, and although many have been excellent, I always find myself comparing them to this gem, and this always comes out on top. Probably only Hobson's Choice, with Charles Laughton, comes close to this level of perfection. Redgrave is brilliant, and shows an acting style not seen in any of his other films, contrasting wildly with the dull grey Crocker-Harris or studiously obsessive Barnes Wallace. Denison is a revelation as Algernon, a stage expert at his best, Tutin, in her film debut, is as close to an English Rose as ever portrayed on film, Greenwood, with her distinctive voice the perfect foil. Malleson and Rutherford are a match for any famous screen couple, and even Richard Wattis, Aubrey Mather and Walter Hudd as the 3 butlers are just right for their cameos. And then there's Edith Evans, in her most famous role, rightly so, delivering one of the most famous quotes ever on screen. Am I biased towards this film ? Yes, stuck on a desert island this would be my number one pick.

T Y I saw this a billion years ago on TV with a friend. We both enjoyed it. I was happy to see it released on Criterion, but it really doesn't hold up.It takes a very slight idea and converts it into polite fare. But one would have to value the dull, superficial, unexamined, boozhie lives these characters aspire to, to enjoy the movie. With characters willing to make lifelong commitments to someone they've known for less than a day, or reverse firmly-held convictions a few times in half an hour, Wilde is mocking every one of these conventional figures. I feel his contempt, and I find it legitimate. So it's hard to get worked up about plot resolution when I never valued A marrying B, or the like, even as a flimsy pretext to tease out a few jokes. The supposedly intricate plot barely reaches a mild muddle, before it's remedy is being engineered. You'll be taking mental note that we don't construct jokes like this anymore, as the characters spin their wheels to escape paper-thin conflicts.The Dorian Gray movie is a mixed bag but the George Sanders role is the single best embodiment of Wilde's mischievous wit. And 'An Ideal Husband' is a different genre but is more enjoyable.

ShootingShark Jack is in love with Gwendolen. His friend Algy is in love with Cecily. Both women want to marry a man named Ernest, so the men have both pretended to their fiancées that they are called Ernest. Such deception in matters of the heart is surely ill-advised …There have been many adaptations of Oscar Wilde's classic comic play of high society manners, but this is the timeless definitive one. It probably works best because it doesn't really try to be a movie, it's just a staging of the play with crisp early colour photography and very little fuss. All of the principal cast are pretty much perfect in these roles; Redgrave's mannered, elegant, raised-eyebrow pomposity is irresistible. Dennison has a whale of a time as the caddish Algy. Tutin and Greenwood are as fine a pair of English stuffed prunes as ever took high tea, and the always reliable Rutherford is a scream as the guilt-strewn Miss Prism. Undoubtedly top of the heap though is Evans as the formidable Lady Augusta Bracknell. Evans had a whole career worth of stage experience behind her, and makes Wilde's much-celebrated battleaxe hilarious, terrifying, slightly sozzled and unforgettable. She has so many great lines it's folly to pick one, but I think my favourite is, "Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it, and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.". The terrific cast and simple approach combine to deliver Wilde's sublime writing to the hilt. What I love so much about this play is that not a line or word is wasted; everything is funny, nuanced, part of the story, part of the comic absurdity. I generally enjoy plays, but many could do with a lot of pruning (try getting through Act IV of King Lear if you don't believe me). This on the other hand is as close to perfection as comic writing gets, as if Wilde had somehow worked out mathematically what constituted the most perfectly-formed funny stageplay. Okay it's maybe not for all tastes, but as a brilliantly observed little dig at love and aristocratic foibles it's an absolute gem. My favourite observation on Wilde is by Dorothy Parker, who said, "If with the literate I am / Impelled to try an epigram / I never seek to take the credit / We all assume that Oscar said it.". Draw the shades, make yourself a nice cuppa, and enjoy this comic delight.