Robert Tanitch reviews the latest DVDs
THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (Arrow). Released in 1943 during World War 2, audiences stayed away; but this low-budget, studio-bound, 75-minute, stark, didactic movie has always been critically recognised as one of the great, authentic, adult Westerns. Based on Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s novel and directed by William A Wellman, the story, a cautionary psychological tale about mob violence and conscience, is set in Nevada in 1885. Three innocent men suspected of rustling and murder, are hanged without trial by a lawless lynching mob. There is no justice. The cast is excellent cast. Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn and Francis Ford are the victims. Frank Conroy heads the posse. Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan are the passive bystanders who join Harry Davenport and Leigh Whipper, the only ones to make a stand for what is right.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Network) is the wittiest comedy in the English language. As Oscar Wilde said just prior to its premiere in 1895: “The play is a success. The only question is whether the first night’s audience will be one.” The play is the quintessence of Wilde: a trivial comedy for serious people, a brilliant mixture of elegant sophistication and preposterous nonsense. There is a brilliant cast in Anthony Asquith’s stylish and very stagy 1952 film. Edith Evans is Lady Bracknell and the much quoted upward inflection on “A handbaaag!” which has passed into theatrical legend is preserved for all time. Michael Redgrave bland and Michel Denison conceited are John and Algy. Joan Greenwood exquisite and Dorothy Tutin pert are Gwendolen and Cecily and perfect together in the tea scene. Margaret Rutherford and Miles Malleson, two lovable eccentrics, are the definitive Miss Prism and Canon Chasuble. If you have never seen The Importance, you must see it asp. If you have seen it, you will want to see it again.
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