Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
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- Synopsis:
In 1886, in the Victorian London, the corrupt Lord Henry Wotton meets the pure Dorian Gray posing for talented painter Basil Hallward. Basil paints Dorian's portrait and gives the beautiful painting and an Egyptian sculpture of a cat to him while Henry corrupts his mind and soul telling that Dorian should seek pleasure in life. Dorian wishes that his portrait could age instead of him. Dorian goes to a side show in the Two Turtles in the poor neighborhood of London and he falls in love with the singer Sibyl Vane. Dorian decides to get married with her and tells to Lord Henry that convinces him to test the honor of Sibyl. Dorian Gray leaves Sibyl and travels abroad and when he returns to London, Lord Henry tells him that Sibyl committed suicide for love. Along the years, Dorian's friends age while he is still the same, but his picture discloses his evilness and corruptive life. Can he still have salvation or is his soul trapped in the doomed painting? - Actors:
- George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Lowell Gilmore, Richard Fraser, Douglas Walton, Morton Lowry, Miles Mander, Lydia Bilbrook, Mary Forbes, Robert Greig, Moyna MacGill, Billy Bevan, Renee Carson, Lilian Bond, Devi Dja, Harry Adams, Fred Aldrich
- Directors:
- Albert Lewin
- Producers:
- Pandro S. Berman
- Narrated By:
- Cedric Hardwicke
- Writers:
- Albert Lewin, Oscar Wilde
- Others:
- Cedric Gibbons, Harry Stradling, Hugh Hunt, Hans Peters, Edwin B. Willis, John Bonar
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers
- Collections:
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- Awards:
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Reviews (1) of Picture of Dorian Gray
Period horror. - Picture of Dorian Gray review by Steve
Faithful adaptation of Oscar Wilde's famous novel with major studio production values. Hurd Hatfield- in the title role- is gifted his most solemn desire, that he may stay young and beautiful while he enjoys a hedonistic lifestyle, and the inevitable signs of debauchery are displayed on the enchanted painting hidden in his attic.
Hatfield is impassive- little more than mask- which is appropriate for a story about appearances. The epigrams are delivered by George Sanders who does pretty well with dialogue that is easier to read than speak. Angela Lansbury as a Cockney music hall entertainer, and Donna Reed, as an aristocratic beauty, are both archetypes, but ideal for gothic melodrama.
There is an evocative recreation of Victorian London, particularly the expressionistic dens of vice where Dorian goes slumming. There's a scene in an opium dive/brothel towards the end of the film which is so engorged with louche decadence that it steals the film.
It is in black and white, but there's a striking use of colour when we first see the portrait and later, when it has absorbed all of Dorian's wickedness. This is the best of Oscar Wilde on screen. While it is heavy with period atmosphere, Albert Lewin doesn't let it slow down his narrative. Despite the typically provocative Wildean irony, it is an enduring and compelling moral tale.