The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Albert Lewin

Writers:

Oscar Wilde (novel)
Albert E. Lewin (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 March 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Romance

Tagline:

His life was a muddy morass into which he dragged all who knew him! Such was Dorian Gray, the man who wanted eternal youth, and bartered his soul to get it!

Plot:

A corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

Plot Keywords:

Portrait | Suicide | Attic | Painting | Portrait Painting

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

George Sanders	...	Lord Henry Wotton
Hurd Hatfield	...	Dorian Gray
Donna Reed	...	Gladys Hallward
Angela Lansbury	...	Sibyl Vane
Peter Lawford	...	David Stone
Lowell Gilmore	...	Basil Hallward
Richard Fraser	...	James Vane
Douglas Walton	...	Allen Campbell
Morton Lowry	...	Adrian Singleton
Miles Mander	...	Sir Robert Bentley
Lydia Bilbrook	...	Mrs. Vane
Mary Forbes	...	Lady Agatha
Robert Greig	...	Sir Thomas
Moyna MacGill	...	Duchess
Billy Bevan	...	Malvolio Jones (chairman)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Germany:6 (2006, DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Basil Rathbone campaigned in vain for the part of Lord Henry and believed that his typecasting as Sherlock Holmes was the reason he failed to get it.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Sibyl Vane first catches sight of Dorian while she's performing "Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird," she momentarily stops singing, but her voice can still be heard on the soundtrack.

Quotes:

Lord Henry Wotton: I like persons better than principles and persons with no principles better than anything at all.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Daymaker (2007)

Soundtrack:

Good-Bye, Little Yellow Bird

Excellent dramatization with stunning cinematography and haunting direction

This is one of the ten best examples of black and white cinematography to come out of Hollywood - shot after shot superbly composed and with extraordinary use of deep focus, allowing objects and people at a distance to comment visually on the mid and foreground. It is a haunting tale of morality, license and responsibility. Dorian is an innocent until prompted to experience all avenues of life, good and bad. His wish to never grow old is a vain one and vanity coupled with self-absorption prompt his downfall. Hatfield gives a quiet, self-contained performance. Sanders talks far too fast, dropping Wildisms as if he were hurrying through a list of them to get to dinner, and although his Wildean character is important to the plot, one wishes he took more time in his dialogue delivery. There are mere hints at Gray's homosexuality being the core of why he is shunned as a corruption and a corrupting influence. Although Lansbury is quite fine as his first conquest, Sibyl Vane, she is on screen for only a few scenes and in my mind, does not warrant either the Oscar nom nor the Golden Globe win as Best Supporting Actress. The stunning Art Direction (all classic and empire lines contrasting with the Victorian frou frou elsewhere) deserved its Oscar nom and the brilliant cinematography well deserved its Academy Award. The superbly atmospheric musical score never insinuates itself, it merely comments quietly on what is taking place with motif references - it too deserved Oscar recognition of some sort. This is a must-see - one of the great films - psychologically deep and both dramatically and visually sumptuous.