The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)

Jack Worthing (Michael Redgrave), known as Earnest in the city, loves Gwendolen Fairfax (Joan Greenwood), and she in turn loves him, to a great extent because she thinks his name his Earnest. Her mother, Lady Bracknell (Edith Evans) is not so pleased with the match. Gwendolen’s cousin, Algernon Moncrieff (Michael Denison) sneaks to Jack’s country home in the guise of being Jack’s non-existent brother Earnest, where he meets Jack’s excessively pretty ward, Cecily Cardew (Dorothy Tutin), who is cared for by her governess Miss Prism (Margaret Rutherford). Algernon falls for Cecily, and she returns his affections, primarily because she thinks his name his Earnest.

This film ruined me for the stage play. It has never happened before that a film production (or even a stage production) of a play was so perfect, so on point in every way, that any other version becomes a disappointment. Even the one very slight variation—moving a few lines at the beginning to a different location—is perfect. I have seen The Importance of Being Earnest performed many times on stage and screen, and no version comes close to this one.

The Importance of Being Earnest is one of the great English language plays. For modern works (say the last 200 years), it is in competition for the top slot. It is Oscar Wilde at his wittiest. It is both a of comedy of manners and a cynical satire of the times—times that have changed only superficially. And perhaps best of all, it is an examination of language itself.

Director Anthony Asquith takes as his mission the creation of a sublime version of Wilde’s work. He is often criticized for not trying to make this film something else. He does not try to “open it up” into something else, the way the disastrous 2002 film did. The attempt to “open it up” has damaged an array of stage productions when brought to film, in some cases slightly, as in A Fiddler on the Roof, while in others mutilating the work, as in Brigadoon. Earnest doesn’t need froth added.

The mistake of these poor critics is they don’t understand the difference between being stagey and not bringing in irrelevant junk. You only add sweeping shots of London if your story requires sweeping shots of London. Instead Asquith makes proper and truly impressive use of the form, most noticeably in the vibrant Technicolor cinematography. The picture looks wonderful, and those more-colorful-than-life colors put us in the right universe as these characters are all more than real life. Like the dialog, the colors are artificial and beautiful. Nor is the camera static. Asquith simply does not draw attention to his shots, but rather uses his framing to tell the story. It is reminiscent of the cinematography in All About Eve (minus the color) in that it was used for a purpose instead of becoming the purpose itself.

Asquith is an actor’s director, bringing the best out of them as well as shooting to let them tell the story. He is lucky to have such a strong team, but none of them are as good in any other work. All are at their peak. To reuse a term, Redgrave, Denison, Rutherford, Greenwood, and Tutin are perfect in their roles, bringing out all the humor while making their characters make sense within this dippy world. Evans goes further. She is Lady Bracknell. It is not that she is the best of what could be in the part, but she is better than that. Lady Bracknell has become Edith Evans (that identification did not seem to harm her career, but it did follow her). No production of The Importance of Being Earnest can match what was done by Redgrave and company, but the play no longer works at all without Evans.

Wit has never been so funny and stupidity has never been so joyous. The Importance of Being Earnest is a masterful play and this movie is a masterpiece.

Of note: I include it in the Post-War British Comedy movement even though it stands out from other members. Yes, it falls within the time frame, but it is in color (a rarity in the movement), it is set in a different time period (even rarer), and it is based on a classic work (rarest of all). But it is so vary British and filled with quirky characters (a foundation of the movement), and while it focuses on the rich, its lampooning of them puts it firmly on the side of the average worker. The cast also includes multiple of the movement’s regular actors: Rutherford, Greenwood, Miles Malleson (as Canon Chasuble) and Richard Wattis (as the unspeaking valet Seton).