The Importance of Being Earnest (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

If you like witty, irrascible and sharp dialogue, get this FUNNY movie. Old school, but one of the best. True (ish) to the book.Being Earnest lolol, get it?

Forget the stilted dialog and the silly plot - not to mention the ridiculous deus ex machina - all of this can be overlooked just to see Edith Evans chew up the scenery as the delightfully scary dowager who rules all.

A few years back, Hollywood did what Ho0llywood does best. They took a GREAT movie and remade it into a HORRIBLE movie. This movie is a word-for-word translation of an Oscar Wilde play. In fact, you can buy the play from Amazon and see it for yourself. It concerns two cousins of the British landed gentry who go by one name in the city and another in the country, for the purpose of disguising their "dalliances" from their snooty aunt. Margaret Rutherford, who played Miss Marple in the Agatha Christie movie series, is delightful as Miss Prism. I won't give away anymore of the plot, but there is an interesting backstory to the movie. Oscar Wilde was a very prominent English playwright who was run out of England because of his very public affinity for young men, at a time when such things were frowned upon, even though Oscar was considered to be an English treasure. If you fast forward some 50 or so years, a famous English film-maker named Sir Anthony Asquith produced,directed and commited to film Oscar's play- The Importance of Being Earnest. It was a tremendous hit! The interesting part of the backstory is that the gentleman who was the cause of Oscar's banishment from England was a distant relative of Sir Anthony Asquith! Anyway, watch this movie and enjoy the wicked wit of Oscar Wilde being presented by a stellar cast.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I don't even want to compare it to the 2002 remake, because the original Anthony Asquith version absolutely cannot be improved upon and they shouldn't even have bothered to try.The word to describe this movie is "precious," like a sparkling gem of wit and class so thoroughly flawless and intensely brilliant that it gives off light of its own. Every line is a delight, every expression evocative, every scene a triumph. The actors could not possibly have been better cast, although Dame Edith Evans as the indomitable Lady Bracknall is better than the best. "A monster without being a myth, which is unfair if you ask me.""A HAAAAAHNDBAAAAAAHG?"In my entire life I never called in sick at work save once only, back in the mid-'70s when I saw on the TV listings that my local PBS station was showing this movie at noon. We didn't have VCRs or DVDs back then, so we could only see movies like this when some TV station director had the great good taste to show them, and that is a VERY rare thing, as much then as now.

Very classy time in our history. This was an enjoyable movie and characters you grow to love.

With the release of "An Ideal Husband" (starring Rupert Everett) last year, "The Importance of Being Earnest" is no longer the best Oscar Wilde movie. BUT -- it is still Wilde's funniest and sharpest satire AND the finest example of "Wilde Style" acting ever recorded on film.This movie reeks of "thea-tah" in the best sense. Wilde characters live perfectly and carefully structured lives (it's part of the joke). These are not natural people...so don't expect a naturalistic movie. It's candy colored pastels, raised pinkies, and noses tilted defiantly to the sky. And always, always knowing exactly what to say, and how to say it.The cast of "Earnest" is superb individually and as an ensemble. It includes stage and screen legends like Michael Redgrave, Dame Edith Evans, and the inimitalble Margaret Rutherford.Invite your wittiest friends to tea...and watch this movie.

With all apologies to the newer movie, this is THE version of Oscar Wilde's most famous play to have. Michael Redgrave is absolutely perfectly tongue in cheek as Jack. Margaret Rutherford is Miss Prism to the nth degree. True, she mugs a bit, but who cares. She is hysterically funny. Everyone plays to perfection. And the acting style is so perfectly attuned to the crisp nature of the drama, that one has the feeling of being transported back to a different era - and a good one at that. (The restoration of color is quite good.)But the reason to get this is Dame Edith Evans. Whether in her recording of the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet or as the Aunt in Tom Jones (the older movie), she is always a wonderful character. In this the lines are molded with each and every utterance. No one who has heard it will ever forget, "Prism, where is that baby!?" For her alone you should own this movie. At around 90 minutes, it is perfection itself -- much like Gwendolyn.

When the mood strikes me - a few times every year - I have to have The Importance ... handy to raise my spirits. It has to be the original version with Margaret Rutherford and Edith Evans, etc. (my other go-to movie for comic sustenance is The Russians are Coming the Russians are Coming. There's simply nothing like them.) Years ago my son's high school chose The Importance ... for its annual production. They did a great job, but at one point an actor used an incorrect word and there was an audible intake of breath from the audience. I was surprised, and watched them as the play progressed. I was amused to see many audience members' lips moving throughout. Like me, they knew the beloved play by heart.

There can be little doubt that this film production of the famously witty Oscar Wilde play is a complete masterpiece in terms of acting, setting and costuming. The cast of actors is sufficiently superb as to have become iconic. Those who disagree with this moderate assessment are welcome to inhabit their own separate universe! For those who don't the only question is whether this re-mastered Blu-ray has made any significant improvement to a technically disappointing previous DVD presentation.In terms of image resolution the improvement is little short of startling. The sound, though, is still set at a very low level and is also far from the clarity one might expect from a film of this vintage. Bearing in mind the very obvious visual improvement it seems likely that the soundtrack is now being offered at the best level and resolution possible given the software being used. Nevertheless it should be noted that in this case it was found that an increase of 10dB playback level was required to make the dialogue loud enough to follow with any ease - a vital requirement in a work of such verbal richness. Was the original film's soundtrack really as bad as this?Fortunately the Blu-ray medium allows for this playback level increase to be achieved without an equivalent background distraction as the background is largely clear of noise. Why did Network not raise the playback level on the disc might be a reasonable question. The downside of raising the level of the dialogue is that the music then becomes sufficiently loud to make inherent distortion only too apparent. Fortunately this is really only a major problem at the beginning and ending credits sections which can easily be silenced with the mute button or otherwise lowered.To coin a quote though 'The play's the thing' and in that respect this fully delivers. The Blu-ray presentation is visually much improved and the sound can be accepted (just). Otherwise, both as a presentation and concept of the original play, this really is in a class of its own and admirers of the film will find that this Blu-ray offers by far the best option so far until a more successful attempt is made to improve the sound. It is unlikely to be further improved in the near future though and this Blu-ray must now be considered to be the best current option for the film's and the play's many admirers.In summary therefore, the image quality of this Blu-ray release is very clear with firm colours. The soundtrack can only be described as an obstacle to be endured.

I've got a copy of the earlier DVD version of this film, with the TERRIBLE sound quality referred to by so many reviewers.Therefore I was full of anticipation when I bought this September 2016 re-release.The film itself is of course wonderful - untouchable direction and performances.The picture quality is superb too. So is the new booklet - beautifully written and fascinating.Up to now, a TEN star rating never mind five !!However, the muffled sound quality is just as horrendous as before. The addition of subtitles (not on the earlier release) provides some comfort, but of course is no excuse at all !WHY WHY WHY ???? I've seen this film on TV several times, with no sound problems at all. So what's happened here, TWICE ??? I've bought many Network DVDs, and the professional care put into their material is, in every other example I've seen, outstanding.Today, therefore, has been a great disappointment.

This review and the 1-star rating are for the 2016 blu-ray disc from the Network studio. The film itself is excellent (5 stars) but, as others have noted, the muffled sound on the blu-ray is of very poor quality. In addition, the first 10 minutes of the film (set in a theatre) have been cut. The 2002 Criterion DVD is a much better buy (ASIN: B00006673M).

I bought this when ripping my DVD collection (to replace and legitimise a copy I recorded off-air some years ago), naturally expecting it to be higher quality. Like others, I was hugely disappointed by the poor, muffled quality of the video - especially when my "poor" off-air copy had no such problem. It's a DVD of a wonderful performance of the play, which makes it especially sad that it's so spoiled by the sound. I really con't recommend this particular version of the DVD.

This is an absolutely delightful film, vastly superior to the 2002 version; the script is (mostly) adapted well from Wilde's original, filming is low-budget but effective, and all the performances are splendid, particularly Edith Evans' truly definitive portrayal of Lady Bracknell.But the sound? Alas, the sound! :-( It's been simply butchered - all the high frequencies simply removed, so that everything sounds muffled almost to the point of being unintelligible without subtitles. Don't buy it until they fix this!