 Apart from multiple " made @-@ for @-@ television " versions , The Importance of Being Earnest has been adapted for the English @-@ language cinema at least three times , first in 1952 by Anthony Asquith who adapted the screenplay and directed it . Michael <unk> ( Algernon ) , Michael Redgrave ( Jack ) , Edith Evans ( Lady Bracknell ) , Dorothy <unk> ( Cecily ) , Joan Greenwood ( Gwendolen ) , and Margaret Rutherford ( Miss Prism ) and Miles <unk> ( Canon Chasuble ) were among the cast . In 1992 Kurt Baker directed a version using an all @-@ black cast with <unk> Keith <unk> as Jack , Wren T. Brown as Algernon , Ann Weldon as Lady Bracknell , <unk> Chapman as Cecily , Chris Calloway as Gwendolen , <unk> <unk> as Miss Prism , and <unk> Peters as Doctor Chasuble , set in the United States . Oliver Parker , an English director who had previously adapted An Ideal Husband by Wilde , made the 2002 film ; it stars Colin Firth ( Jack ) , Rupert Everett ( Algy ) , Judi Dench ( Lady Bracknell ) , Reese Witherspoon ( Cecily ) , Frances O 'Connor ( Gwendolen ) , Anna Massey ( Miss Prism ) , and Tom Wilkinson ( Canon Chasuble ) . Parker 's adaptation includes the <unk> solicitor Mr. <unk> who pursues Jack to Hertfordshire ( present in Wilde 's original draft , but cut at the behest of the play 's first producer ) . Algernon too is pursued by a group of <unk> in the opening scene . 
