The Importance of Being Earnest (1952 film)

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The Importance of Being Earnest
Directed by Anthony Asquith
Produced by Teddy Baird
Earl St. John
Written by Oscar Wilde
Anthony Asquith
Starring Michael Redgrave
Michael Denison
Edith Evans
Joan Greenwood
Dorothy Tutin
Margaret Rutherford
Miles Malleson

Music by Benjamin Frankel
Release date(s) Flag of United Kingdom 2 June 1952
Flag of United States 22 December 1952 (NYC)
Running time 95 min.
Language English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Importance of Being Earnest is a 1952 British film adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, who also adapted the screenplay, and was produced by Teddy Baird.

Contents

[edit] Adaptation

The film is largely faithful to Wilde's text, although it divides some of the acts into shorter scenes in different locations.

Edith Evans's outraged delivery of the line "A handbag?" has become legendary. As actor Ian McKellen has written, it is a performance "so acclaimed and strongly remembered that it inhibits audiences and actors years later" providing a challenge for any actress taking on the role of Lady Bracknell.[1]

[edit] Awards and nominations

The film received a BAFTA nomination for Dorothy Tutin as Most Promising Newcomer and a Golden Lion nomination for Anthony Asquith at the Venice Film Festival.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ian McKellen, "Ian McKellen on The Test of Time", The Observer, 13 April 1975.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links