Rating: 
Summary: Positive Recommendation
Review: This collection offers four performances and a bonus biography of Wilde. That is a good thing. Unfortunately quantity does not always equal quality."The Picture of Dorian Gray", in my opinion (aside from Gielgud's stunning Harry Wotton) did not do a great justice to the book. The "Importance of Being Earnest" is better when Dame Edith Packer plays the monster who is, unfairly, not a myth. Joan Plowright is an incredibly stunning actress, but she is not a Lady Bracknell. Oh my, no! (To be fair, neither is Judi Dench). "An Ideal Husband" will never again be the same after Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, and Rupert Everett. They have all the playfulness, youth, and fun, of Oscar Wilde. This rendition is too dated. That leaves "Lady Windermere's Fan". Astounding!! Helena Little is superb in this character. She has that shy, gentile, sweetness that is essential for the role. Sara Kestelman will have you on the floor laughing. She is over the top!! She actually changes a line in the play. The Duchess of Berwick is supposed to say "Agatha darling, will you go out on the terrace and look at the sunset?". Instead she asks poor, sweet, dear, darling Agatha to look "for" a sunset...the effect is hilarious and it is all Kestelman's own brilliant work. Her performance alone rates her right up there! Right beside Dame Edith Packer in my opinion. Aside from Maggie Smith, I have never seen an actress who can play the part of an "English" Lady quite like Kestelman. It is worth the price of the DVD alone. That leaves the biography. A tour de force!! Alan Sinfield, Isobel Murray, Merlin Holland, and Bosie's great-grandniece (Lady Alice Douglas) all appear in this wonderful docu-drama. The music begins with a mellow cello that is very touching. There is the recording of Wilde (pseudo?) quoting from the Ballad of Reading Gaol. The documentary ends with the late Sir John Gielgud reading the last lines of "De Profundis" at the dedication ceremony of the Oscar Wilde memorial window in Westminster Abbey. That will make you shiver. If you're a Wilde fan, the biography will make you laugh, cry, feel proud, shamed, in short, the whole range of human emotions. Too bad it's so short. Postmodernists might think it too mushy to say, but if you put your heart where your intellect is and unite them, then you will see that this biography captures a life with love. The love that Oscar gave, and the love we have for him! I recommend this collection on the whole.
Rating: 
Summary: pretty good
Review: This is a pretty good collection. The films are very faithful to Oscar Wilde's work. I give it only four stars though because the quality isn't very good in some places. During the first part of The Importance of Being Ernest the picture looks a little fuzzy. And the color seems to run in one spot in Picture of Dorian Gray. But overall the quality is pretty good and this set is worth buying.
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