The Importance of Being Earnest
Dir: Anthony Asquith
1952
*****
Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest is so beautifully written that each character has got to be performed perfectly or there isn't much point. Each paragraph, sentence, word and each pause between demands the best delivery and in Anthony Asquith's 1952 version that is exactly what the world got. It may even be the definitive version. It's rarely that I would say the film is better than the book, I love the book very much, but the film really does bring the words to life. This is down to Michael Redgrave, Edith Evans, Michael Denison, Dorothy Tutin, Margaret Rutherford and Joan Greenwood although I would argue that it's the ladies that steal the show. Always read the book first and then sit back and enjoy this brilliant film.