User Reviews

This play filmed for TV is without doubt the most charming version of any available attempts. It has the air of a play, which may bother movie purists, but the dialog is smooth, and the acting natural; with the witty pronouncements of Oscar Wilde sliding smoothly into what would appear to be ordinary conversation. I have a partial copy filmed from PBS, but it is missing the dagger sharp interchange between Cecily and Gwendolyn, plus another 20 minutes in the center of the play. I've been trying to get a copy of this film since 1988, which, at the end of 2004, seems like a long, long time. What amazes me is that it does not seem to be for sale!

Wendy Hiller celebrated the 50th anniversary of her movie debut (as Liza Doolittle in "Pygmalion") with this hysterical performance as Lady Bracknell. It's a filmed-for-TV stage production rather than a movie as such. It doesn't seem available anywhere -- a real loss for comedy fans.

Preparing to audition for the role of Lady Bracknell I recently viewed clips of various professional productions on Utube. The hands down best was this one. Both the over all production and the marvelously nuanced performance of Wendy Hiller as Lady Bracknell. So today I returned to my computer to watch some more scenes and every trace of it had been removed from Utube due to "multiple complaints of copyright infringement". I'm bereft. And now I discover the video is a real rarity - not available for purchase and much coveted by many others who loved it as much as I. Don't know how long those illicit clips were on view but I feel lucky to have seen the ones that I did. Wondering if anyone knows more about the posting and removal of the videos and, of course, where I can buy it or get to see it again'. Thanks

I was lucky enough to tape this when it aired on TV and have rewatched it many times since. Wendy Hiller is a magnificent Lady Bracknell, making all the more funny the scene where Gwendolyn turns into her mama. I'm especially fond of Jeremy Clyde as Algy. Cecily and Gwendolyn play off well against Algy and Jack. Watch for the back and forth dialogue in unison between the pairs! I wish they would make it commercially available, my VHS tape won't last forever. I saw several other programs at the same time that were also excellent and I think are not commercially available--and should be! I'm thinking of 'On the Razzle' starring Felicity Kendall in a male role, and a performance of a Shakespeare play by jugglers (I think the Flying Karamazovs?) that had me literally rolling on the floor and pounding my fists on the rug.

This is one of those 1985 PBS Great Performances shows which are unobtainium on commercially available medium ... a fate with many public television broadcasts. I picked this up over the airwaves from the local PBS station in Dallas, Texas, on my first $200 off-brand mono VCR via a pair of Radio Shack rabbit ears recorded at SLP ... so not the best capture. But I still enjoy watching this version over all others, especially the awful 2002 Miramax version. British TV fans may recognize the actress playing Gwendolyn as musician Nick Drake's brother and one of the purple-wigged Moonbase controllers from the 1970 series UFO. Quite a different period performance here. There is an awful transfer of this performance currently on YouTube broken into two parts. I'll continue to watch my own VHS copy till it finally self-destructs. I've read on the British Film Institute that this performance was recorded live in 1982.

Oscar Wilde's most famous play is best known via the excellent 1950s version with Michael Redgrave, Michael Denison, and Edith Evans, and that film is still the benchmark by which other productions must stand or fall.

Aside from the modern version with Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, and Judi Dench (which misfires badly), the only other version widely available is a truncated one with Paul McGann, Rupert Frazer, and Joan Plowright, which is OK, but not that memorable.

That leaves this version, actually made in 1981 (confirmed by the copyright date at the end) but released in 1985 to television.

Heading the cast is the great Wendy Hiller as Lady Bracknell, who manages to make the old witch even seem likable in places and who speaks the lines beautifully, with Gary Bond note-perfect as Jack Worthing (in turn pompous, ridiculous, charming, and hysterical), and Jeremy Clyde as Algy Moncrieff, a frightfully silly gentleman who loves nothing more than escaping to the country for a 'Bunbury' (i.e. a great adventure).

Highly recommended and great fun - it is a shame this production isn't more easily available.

Two young men have inadvertently deluded the women they love that they are named Ernest. The Victorian ladies, for their part, idealize the name. When they lrarn the truth they're liable to hit the roof and call off their weddings.

The 1952 movie of Oscar Wilde's 1890s masterpiece set a high bar for performances, especially Edith Evans' famous Lady Bracknell. How does this version, broadcast on "Great Performances," measure up?

Lady Bracknell is my yardstick for "Earnests" and I'm glad to say Wendy Hiller hits just the right note. Lady Bracknell is a difficult role. She mustn't be too silly or she's not menacing; nor so menacing she ceases to be funny. Hiller, the old pro, takes all the hurdles in her stride.

The rest of the cast, especially in the smaller roles, is quite good. Erstwhile pop singer Jeremy Clyde has just the right voice for Algernon. He starts off a bit too waspish, a deadly trap. Algernon should be played with utmost sincerity for the nonsense he talks to work properly. But he settles into the role after meeting Cicely and is delightful for the greater part of the play.

Gabrielle Drake is a solid Gwendolen. And still beautiful, if a tad long in the tooth for close-ups. It's the old Juliet problem: by the time an actress understands the part she's too old to play it. But she does quite well.

Gary Bond, as Mr. Worthing, is a nonentity. He's not bad, he's simply not memorable. It's not his performance but himself that fizzles. Considering the role's importance to the play, that seems like a serious drawback. But he gets through the play well enough. Nevertheless, it's Clyde, Hiller and Drake one remembers.

It's stagey, but it is a play. The worst problem it has is frenetic cutting. The show was broadcast about the time MTV was cranking up and it seems to be copying that fast-paced music-video cutting. Early on, this is annoying. Strangely enough, despite the quick cutting, the play itself takes its time. It even dawdles here and there.

Overall, this is a fun version of "Ernest" that should be more readily available.