The Picture of Dorian Gray

Plot synopsis:
Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) is a young man living in late-19th century London. While wealthy, charming, generally intelligent and very handsome, he is naive and easily manipulated. These faults lead to his spiral into sin and, ultimately, misery.While posing for a painting by his artist friend Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore), Dorian meets Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotton (George Sanders). Wotton is enchantingly cynical and witty, and tells Dorian that the only life worth living is one dedicated entirely to pleasure. After Wotton convinces Dorian that youth and beauty will bring him everything he desires, Dorian openly wishes that his portrait could age in his place, and that he could keep his youthful good looks forever. He makes this statement in the presence of a certain Egyptian statue, which supposedly has the power to grant wishes. When the portrait of Dorian is complete, Lord Henry hails it as a masterpiece and is surprised when Basil announces he will never exhibit it because he feels he put "too much of himself" into it. Basil is also concerned about Lord Henry's influence on the impressionable Dorian, who Basil considers a dear friend and an artistic muse. Basil gives the painting to Dorian, who proudly hangs it in his opulent home.One fateful night, Dorian visits a lower-class tavern, The Two Turtles, where he is given a prime seat for the night's entertainment. He is instantly charmed by the tavern owners' daughter, Sibyl Vane (Angela Lansbury), who performs a sweet singing routine during the lineup. Dorian is invited backstage after the show to meet Sibyl, and plays the piano for her in the empty tavern. Sibyl is flattered by the attention of such a handsome gentleman, and her mother (Lydia Bilbrook) encourages the relationship because of Dorian's wealth, but Sibyl's brother James (Richard Fraser) is suspicious. James tells his enamored sister in private that if this young man, whom Sibyl nicknamed "Sir Tristan" after a virtuous knight in Arthurian mythology, ever harms her, he will kill him. James is then deployed to Australia on a sailing mission.Dorian excitedly tells Basil and Lord Henry that he is engaged to the beautiful Sibyl Vane, and invites them to come with him to the tavern to hear her sing. Despite having heard Lord Henry's disdainful views on marriage, Dorian is so genuinely happy that Lord Henry's words no longer influence him. Basil sees this as a positive development, and after seeing Sibyl perform and making her acquaintance, encourages the engagement for the sake of Dorian's moral purity. Lord Henry, on the other hand, cannot resist exploiting his innate ability to influence his friends, and suggests that Dorian test Sibyl's worth with an "experiment." Dorian invites Sibyl to his house that night and, when she prepares to go home, asks her to stay. Torn between love and honor, Sibyl nearly leaves, but cannot resist Dorian's charm. This meant that she had failed Lord Henry's test, and Dorian sends her an incredibly hurtful letter, accusing her of "killing his love," and that she can have no part in his life henceforth. He sends her a sum of money for compensation, but Sibyl is emotionally destroyed.When Dorian returns home after abandoning Sibyl, he notices a slight change in the portrait Basil had painted of him. The mouth looks somehow crueler, and a cold unkindness is present in the face that had not been there before. When he wakes the next morning, the change is still visible. He feels immense guilt over how badly he had treated Sibyl, and hastily composes an apology letter in an attempt to redeem himself. Before he can deliver it, Lord Henry arrives with the news that Sibyl Vane had killed herself the night before. Dorian is initially devastated, but Lord Henry convinces him to not blame himself for the tragedy and invites him to the opera. Abandoning his grief, Dorian falls deeper into Lord Henry's teachings of "new hedonism", and goes to the opera with him that very night. Basil is surprised and worried when he witnesses Dorian's uncaring behavior in regard to Sibyl's death, and Dorian plans to dedicate his life solely to his own pleasure. Because the change in the portrait still disturbed him, Dorian has it covered with a screen and locked in his old school room at the top of the house, to which he keeps the only key.Eighteen years later, Dorian is nearing his fortieth birthday, but has not visibly changed since age twenty-two. His friends and neighbors are awestruck at his youthful appearance, but unsavory rumors constantly circulate about his strange behavior and acquaintances. Having taken Lord Henry's ideas to heart, Dorian's life consists largely of scandals with women, opium dens, and influencing other wealthy young men to adopt his hedonistic way of living. Over time, many of his friends lost their good standing in society, and women were shamed to be in his company. Dorian meets Basil again, who is preparing to catch a train to Paris, and invites him to his house. Basil expresses his concern about Dorian's behavior, and admits that in order to truly know what kind of man Dorian is, he would have to see his soul itself. Dorian grimly leads Basil up to the old school room to look upon his handiwork for the first time in eighteen years. Dorian removes the coverings from the hidden portrait, and Basil is horrified to see that the man in the painting has warped into a hideous, demon-like creature to reflect Dorian's multitude of sins. Basil begs Dorian to repent and change his ways, but Dorian feels a surge of anger toward Basil, blaming him for his miserable life because the painting was his own work. Dorian stabs Basil to death and locks his body in the school room with the horrible painting, in which blood has appeared on the hands of the twisted painted Dorian.The next morning, Dorian summons a former friend, Allen Campbell (Douglas Walton), whose reputation had since been ruined by his associations with Dorian. Campbell is a scientist specializing in anatomy and chemistry, and Dorian blackmails the highly reluctant man into disposing of Basil's body. The nature of the blackmailing subject is not revealed, but Campbell agrees to disintegrate Basil's body, and departs afterward looking shaken and disturbed.Basil's disappearance is talked about in London society for some time, but Dorian is never suspected. Among the few who have remained his loyal friends are Lord Henry and Gladys (Donna Reed), Basil's niece, who was a little girl when the portrait was painted. Dorian enters a romance with Gladys, though he is apprehensive about the effect he appears to have on the lives of those he becomes close to. He visits a seedy inn one evening and finds a former friend, Adrian Singleton (Morton Lowry), a wealthy young man who had been ruined by following Dorian's influence. Adrian is now a disheveled opium addict, but he knows of Dorian's sordid past and mockingly addresses him as "Sir Tristan" as Dorian departs the inn. The nickname is overheard by James Vane, Sibyl's brother, who happened to be at the inn and had spent eighteen years being hell-bent on avenging his sister. Though he did not know her cruel suitor's name and had never seen his face, the name "Sir Tristan" is enough to motivate him to follow Dorian outside and threaten him. Dorian calmly denies ever knowing a Sibyl Vane, and asserts that he is too young to have had anything to do with a death that occurred eighteen years before. James Vane admits that this man looks too young to be the suspect, and releases him. Adrian Singleton, with both amusement and resentment, explains to James that Dorian Gray was the man he sought, and that he had not looked a day older than twenty-two for the past eighteen years. Enraged, James Vane begins to track down Dorian Gray.A few days later, Dorian attends a hunting party with several society friends. The sport is interrupted when a man, assumed to be a beater, is shot to death by accident after hiding in the bushes unseen. It is revealed to Dorian later that the dead man was not a beater, but James Vane, having followed Dorian in revenge and lost his own life in the process. Dorian feels even more guilty and cursed, but wishes to make one final stab at having a good and worthwhile life. He soon proposes marriage to Gladys, who happily accepts, much to the displeasure of her friend David Stone (Peter Lawford), who is one of the many who are suspicious of Dorian.Despite his happiness about his upcoming marriage to Gladys, Dorian is weighted down by the deaths of Sibyl, Basil, and James, as well as the ruin of Adrian Singleton and others like him. The last straw is the news that Allen Campbell, whom Dorian ruined and then blackmailed into disposing of Basil's body, had killed himself in misery. Dorian realizes that the one noble thing he can possibly do is to spare Gladys from the certain misfortune he will bring her.At long last, Dorian ventures up to the school room to face the painting that is the embodiment of his corrupted soul. Using the same knife with which he had murdered Basil Hallward, he stabs his painted figure through the heart. Dorian himself feels the effect of the knife, and collapses, praying for his salvation. Roused by his screams, his houseguests, including Gladys, David, and Lord Henry, rush upstairs and find Dorian Gray's dead body on the school room floor, now in the form of the hideous creature from the painting. The painting itself, with the knife still protruding from it, has reverted to its original image of the handsome, innocent youth than Dorian once was. Lord Henry, stricken, sees the horrible results of his own influence and gazes at Dorian's corpse in shocked remorse.

Tags: revenge, gothic, murder, melodrama

Review:
Based on a story by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray tells the story of a man that sells his soul for eternal youth.
After having his portrait done, Dorian Gray, under the influence of the eloquent Lord Henry Wotton, wishes for the picture to age instead of him so that he may be blessed with eternal youth.
I'd give my soul for that." Dorian Gray's obsession with youth became eternal youth.Imagine that as time goes by, he will always stay the same rich attractive young man that he is -- never grow old, while the picture will take on the changes -- his soul and character.
Her character feels tacked on, and she isn't allowed to do much but look faithful and beautiful.The film is shot wonderfully, and Harry Stradling's cinematography gives the East End scenes a dark, atmospheric counter balance to the rather plain and flat interiors of Dorian's home.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is directed by Albert Lewin, and he also adapts the screenplay from the novel written by Oscar Wilde.
Music is by Herbert Stothart and cinematography by Harry Stradling Sr. Dorian Gray of Mayfair and Selby.Oscar Wilde's Faustian tale about a young Victorian gentleman who sells his soul to retain his youth, is given a magnificent make-over by MGM.
The horror aspects here mostly are implied or discussed in elegantly stated conversations, the horror in fact is purely in the characterisation of Dorian himself, we really don't need to see actual things on screen, we are urged to be chilled to the marrow by his mere presence, which works because Lewin has personalised us into this man's sinful descent by way of careful pacing and character formation.There are some jolt moments of course, notably the famous inserts of Technicolor into the black and white film, the impact of such bringing the portrait of the title thundering into our conscious, but this is not about thrill rides and titillation, the film, like its source, is intellectual.
Although sparse treatment of minor characters and some noticeable deletions from the novel (due to the straight-laced, 1945-ish treatment of certain of Gray's more perverse and debauched atrocities) may be "intrusive" to fans of Wilde's disturbing (but often delightful) descriptions of the more colorful of the late-Victorians' tastes in sensual depravity, this production is a fine example of the careful writing, thoughtful directing, and the control of character Hollywood's artistry could (seldom so successfully) proffer.Despite George Sanders' somewhat stilted and--in modern terms--"out of the moment" portrayal as the film opens, within ten minutes or so the audience meets the serenely enchanting Hurd Hatfield's rendition of the title character, and the artistry begins.
Once Hatfield enters the film the supporting performances become increasingly effective, and the remainder of the production, including Sanders as "Lord Henry," reach almost mythic proportions.With near-perfection, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) delivers Wilde's portrait of Narcissistic and perfidious sensuality--the delight and desire of the suppressed and decayed late nineteenth-century Victorian elite-- .
Angela Lansbury's performance as the pathetic little cockney singer Dorian goes for, is very fine, though he part seems underwritten.I wouldn't go so far as to say that director Lewin bungled his job, but the film overall succeeds only with Wilde's mood, not his ideas.
Hurd Hatfield sells his soul so that his portrait ages and reflects his evil while he stays young in "The Picture of Dorian Gray," based on the classic novel by Oscar Wilde.
After wishing to stay young forever and falling prey to the words of a cynical friend, Gray goes against what might have been a decent nature and embarks on a vicious life that brings cruelty, sadness, and even death to those with whom he interacts.The film is striking for several reasons: There is very little of what one would call action; many scenes are quite short; the film relies heavily on narration; the leading man's face remains impassive throughout.
Peter Lawford and Donna Reed are the beautiful young things who don't have to depend on a portrait for youth.Hurd Hatfield surely had one of the strangest faces in film - he certainly looked the part of a young, almost pretty Englishman, with his unlined face, high cheekbones, and full lips.
Hurd Hatfield, an extremely handsome actor  with a limited range ,gives the best one of his career as does George Sanders as the cynical Lord Henry Wotton, and a young Angela Lansbury is very moving (especially when she sings "The Little Yellow Bird").One (very small) criticism.
With two English speaking nations, there is always a dilemma from a Hollywood producer's point of view on how to maximise the most important worldwide gross (which comes from the U.S.) when filming classic works of English and European literature, whilst attempting to stay true to the spirit of the original book.Inevitably a compromise is reached and American actors known to the U.S. public are hired in central roles to lure the punters into the movie houses, e.g. Charlton Heston in "El Cid" and "Khartoum", while the resident Hollywood British acting fraternity are hired to lend authenticity to certain key roles.We film purists must accept the facts of Hollywood life and look for our art in more parochial productions with a cast of indigenous actors produced from our own home tv networks.On the other hand in the long run does it really matter what nationality the actor is so long as their performance is credible and you enjoyed the production?In modern times we have had "Coals to Newcastle" in the shape of Gwynneth Paltrow in "Emma" and Jennifer Ehle in Pride & Prejudice.Both American ladies playing utterly convincing roles of English ladies on films produced in England!I just had to comment on this the most popular of the filmed versions of Wilde's masterpiece which was published in 1890 and has attracted at least 14 versions alone listed on Imdb from 1910-1977.Said to be an analogy of Wilde's life, this version from 1945 espouses most of his sparkling epigrams via the rather rushed mouthpiece of Lord Henry Wooton (George Sanders).Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) portrays the unemotional, narcissistic central character who enters into the sub Faustian pact of eternal youth for his soul.In this role there seems some contraversy by the reviewers below on how effective he was but the fact is it remains his most notable role.Sir Cedric Hardwicke narrates the fill-in literary details quoted from the book and Albert Lewin gives a suitably creepy direction.As quoted in some of my other reviews I always like to spot bit part actors in some of the minor character roles and once again I espied Billy Bevan (c.f.
"Cluny Brown" 1946) as Sybil Vain's father playing the m.c. at the East End music hall.I especially liked the colour painting of the decayed Dorian Gray by Ivan Allbright.Imdb trivia informs us that this painting took one year to complete.Angela Lansbury spent a lot of her formative Hollywood years playing her native British role - (see also "Gaslight" 1944 and "Kind Lady" 1951) but as one reviewer remarked, she seems a bit too demure for someone reared in the East End of 1886.I must add a word of congratulation on the excellent indoor set of Dorian's grand Mayfair town house, although the rather quaint Hollywood idea of late 19th century East End comes over as artificial, would that David Lean had been consulted!
In 1886, in the Victorian London, the corrupt Lord Henry Wotton (George Sanders) meets the pure Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) posing for talented painter Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmoure).
Can he still have salvation or is his soul trapped in the doomed painting?"The Picture of Dorian Gray" is a wonderful and timeless adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel.
The readers in the English speaking world certainly got a good grasp of Wilde's character in The Picture Of Dorian Gray long before Wilde filed that ill-fated libel suit.But if you think that George Sanders is Wilde written into the novel, tossing off witty aphorisms you'd be wrong.
I read that Wilde in a private letter wrote that Lord Harry Wotten (Sanders) is who everyone thinks I am, artist Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore) is who I really am and that title character Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) is what I desire to be.
The film got another nomination for Best Art&Set Direction and won an Oscar for Best Black and White Cinematography.On one of the boards here I saw that someone had thought Tyrone Power had played Dorian Gray.
Except for the pure and slightly ethereal Sibyl Vane (Angela Lansbury), none of the characters here are sympathetic, least of all Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield), a young man who makes a wish in the presence of a figurine, described as a magical Egyptian cat.
Oscar Wilde would not have served up these nuances but his framework allows for stark unreal qualities that are disturbing and tutorial.Angela Lansbury's Cybil Vane puts the film in motion as the first major sin committed by Dorian Gray.
If you want a true thinking person's horror film, one that was much ahead of its' time when released, and which just gets better with the years, you can't beat this, the original and best version of Oscar Wilde's classic tale.The atmosphere of late-Victorian London is so pervasive throughout that it can almost be felt.
And George Sanders contributes yet another of his epigram-spouting gentleman heavies as Lord Henry, who becomes Dorian's Evil Angel, and, like Dorian, only comes to realize too late what he's done.Add to this Herbert Stothart's eerie, evocative score, Irene's costumes, and, most especially, Ivan DeLorraine Albright's striking portraits of Dorian Gray at the various stages of his destruction, and you have all the makings of classic suspense in the grand manner..
It looks into the soul of Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield's) character with poetic clarity, and the atmosphere of the movie (always luring the viewer towards wishing to view the infamous 'color' painting of Dorian) compels a sense of foreboding and terror.
The Oscar Wilde character is represented by George Sanders' Lord Henry Wotton and he speaks the epigrammatic dialogue as well as anybody and Hurd Hatfield, in his first, and really only, major role is ideally cast as Dorian; he's blank and looks like a waxwork dummy rather than a living person.
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.
This is a pretty good rendering of Oscar Wilde's distinctive story of "The Picture of Dorian Gray", with generally good atmosphere and a cast that makes the characters and the situation believable.
I thought Hurd Hatfield looked a little too 'man-made' to be believable as the eternally youthful Dorian Gray, and, as with a previous reviewer, I couldn't tell whether he was acting the role perfectly or just not acting at all.
Dark and brooding version of Oscar Wilde tale about a man who remains forever young looking while his portrait reveals his true age and evil spirit.
An ambitious film for this time       The story takes place in London, in 1886.The plot is about a man, called Dorian Gray, who realized that youth is the worth thing having.
The basic story of a man who turns to a life of pleasure and sin and eternal youth at the cost of his soul, which subsequently ages in his portrait, is handsomely produced, directed and acted in this adaptation.
This MGM production is easily the definitive screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde's only novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," about the eponymous Dorian whose Faustian bargain makes him eternally youthful as his doppelgänger portrait displays the true decay of his age and sins, although there aren't many movie versions--after reading the book, I could only find 10, counting loose reworkings.
It is philosophical essentially in nature, but also very chilling, dripping in atmosphere and full of Wilde's sparkling wit.This 1945 film adaptation had so much going for it, with the involvement of great actors like George Sanders and Angela Lansbury for one thing.
Oscar Wilde's bizarre story is brought vividly to life in this film of the same name, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." Hurd Hatfield is the man in question who wishes to retain his young looks while his portrait ages.
The Film is a Worthy Mid-Forties Hollywood Production of a Gothic Grotesquery, a Philosophical, Psychological, and Social Rumination that has a Stunning Look and is Well Acted and Presented with Some but not All of the Novel's Explorations of the Soul and Man's Desires, that are not only Hampered by Societal Restraints and Religious Rigor, but by Time Itself.George Sanders Stands out as Lord Henry, but Delivers Wilde's Witticisms at an Accelerated Pace and some of the Profound Proes is Lost in the Hurray.
It's adapted from the Oscar Wilde story about a young man named Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) who wishes that he could stay young forever and a portrait of him painted by a friend would age instead.
Starring Angela Lansbury (who was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film-one of her earliest and best roles to date), Donna Reed (who was to do, "It's a Wonderful life the very next year"), George Sanders (seen here a few years before he played his role as theatre critic,'Addison De Witt' in "All About Eve"), and the appropriately stunningly handsome Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray (probably much closer to what Oscar Wilde had in mind for this characters more dapper & gentleman-like depiction in his novel than what was shabbily reproduced in the 70's), how could this be overlooked for a DVD release???
This screen adaptation of the Oscar Wilde novel has style and atmosphere to spare, but it's also a bit slow and ponderous.Hurd Hatfield is perfectly cast as Dorian Gray, an English dandy who's terrified of losing his youth and unwittingly enters into some sort of supernatural pact -- he will never change, while a portrait of him painted by an artist friend will show all the sins and evils that Dorian gives himself over to in his pursuit of selfish pleasure.
I'm not sure how that relationship is dealt with in Wilde's novel, but in the film not nearly enough time is devoted to it and so it comes off as unconvincing.Combine the period Gothic trappings of "Gaslight" with the themes of material obsession in "Laura" and you'll have a good idea of what to expect with "The Picture of Dorian Gray."Grade: A-.
In this movie an aristocrat, Lord Henry, becomes acquainted with a young man called Dorian Gray and makes him aware of the importance of youth and beauty.
The two actors who play Dorian Gray and Lord Henry are wonderful, they successfully express the characters' feelings, which is very important because it's a psychological film.
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" 1945 is the best embodiment of the Oscar Wilde's novel , which the movie kept its name.
Based on the famous novel by Oscar Wilde, this adaptation, set in Victorian London, stars Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray, an initially pure but shallow young man who was corrupted by the sinful Lord Henry Wotten(played by George Sanders).
So for better or for worse, one can't appreciate the talent and the depth of Wilde without dedicating some time to "The Picture of Dorian Gray", if not the book, at least the film.
The point is, these folks are not getting it at all.Hatfield plays Dorian Gray, an extremely handsome man of inherited wealth in Victorian England, who at age 22 has his portrait painted by his friend Basil Harwood.
Reading several works by Oscar Wilde a few years ago, I realized the talent of that author, and fell in love with one of his best novels, "The Picture of Dorian Gray."  The timeless classic about a young man who traded his soul for eternal youth is one that has made an incredible impact on literature as we know it, and I must say that this novel made a considerable impact upon my perception of life.It was with this in mind, that I anticipated watching the 1945 movie adaptation of the work.
"The Picture ( I prefer the word Portrait) of Dorian Gray " written by the superb novelist Oscar Wilde, is one such film.
George Sanders plays, well, George Sanders, the cynical Lord Henry Wotton, who corrupts with unsolicited advice, and Donna Reed and Peter Lawford are decorative in colorless secondary roles.The story of Dorian Gray, who sells his soul to remain young, while his portrait shows the ravages of time and age, is enduring and has been produced many times over the decades.
Adapted from playwright Oscar Wilde's only novel & reminiscent of "The Monkey's Paw", "The Picture of Dorian Gray" weaves the wicked web of a young man inspired to sell his soul to never grow old upon viewing a portrait painted of himself which perfectly-captured the innocence & beauty of his youth.
A corrupt young man (Hurd Hatfield) somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.As with all classic literature, numerous version of the Dorian Gray story exist.
After his friend Basil paints his portrait, Dorian Gray makes a selfish wish which will haunt him for ever-'If only it was the picture who was to grow old, and I remain young.
A young and innocent man named "Dorian Gray" (Hurd Hatfield) is having his portrait taken by an artist by the name of "Basil Hailward" (Lowell Gilmore) when he happens to make the acquaintance of an aristocrat named "Lord Harry Wotton" (George Sanders).