The Importance of Being Earnest (1992 film)

The Importance of Being Earnest is a 1992 American film adaptation of the 1895 play of the same name by Oscar Wilde, featuring an all-black cast.[1][2]

The Importance of Being Earnest
Directed byKurt Baker
Produced byNancy Carter Crow
Written by
  • Peter Anthony Andrews
  • Kurt Baker
Based onThe Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
Starring
Music byRoger Hamilton Spotts
CinematographyJoseph W. Calloway
Production
companies
  • Electric Concepts
  • Paco Global
Distributed byFlair Films
Release date
  • May 14, 1992 (1992-05-14)
Running time
126 Minutes
CountryUnited States of America
LanguageEnglish

Director Kurt Baker co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Anthony Andrews, retaining most of Wilde’s dialogue and the setting around London, but moving it to the (then) present day rather than the original’s late Victorian period.[3] The film was produced by Nancy Carter Crow, who is also the director’s wife, and shot completely within the couple’s home in Brentwood, Los Angeles.[4] It premiered in October 1991 at a Harvard University film symposium, Blacks in Black & White and Color,[5] and opened theatrically on May 14, 1992, at the Anthology Film Archives.[3]

Cast
  • Obba Babatundé as Lane
  • Wren T. Brown as Algernon Moncrieff
  • Chris Calloway as Gwendolen Fairfax
  • Lanei Chapman as Cecily Cardew
  • Sylvester Hayes as butler
  • Barbara Isaacs as Merriman
  • Brock Peters as Doctor Chasuble
  • CCH Pounder as Miss Prism
  • Daryl Roach as Jack Worthing
  • Ann Weldon as Lady Bracknell

Reception

Stephen Holden, writing for The New York Times, found that the film deserves credit for breaking new ground, but lamented its technical quality, describing it as just one step more sophisticated than a crude home movie.[3]

References
  1. The Importance of Being Earnest, retrieved 2020-03-20
  2. Holden, Stephen (16 May 1992). "All-black `Earnest' breaks ground, but lacking technically". Star Tribune. Minneapolis, Minn.
  3. Holden, Stephen (1992-05-14). "A Black Cast in a Present-Day 'Earnest'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  4. "Director Kurt Baker says his latest work, 'The Importance..." UPI. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  5. "The Importance Of Being Earnest | TV Guide". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
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