Director Albert Lewin also adapted Oscar Wilde's famous book for the screen, in which a London society gentleman of around 22 years has his portrait painted in 1886; wishing at the time he could trade his soul for eternal youth, and have his painted likeness absorb his years of living and sinning, the man remains youthful in appearance for the next two decades. More than efficient, Lewin's screenplay poetically combines Wilde's poison pen prose with both eloquent and witty characters, though the lack of light frivolity causes the midsection of the film to drag. Nevertheless, a highly dramatic and absorbing entertainment, with Hurd Hatfield effectively placid and hypnotically foreboding in the lead (he looks like an effeminate vampire in his many tuxedos). Angela Lansbury is also a stand-out, and received an Academy Award nomination, playing a lower-class nightclub performer desperate for romance. Harry Stradling won an Oscar for his superb cinematography. *** from ****