Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-05-10

liiile grdEQmother ana the impress
sionable young had better be left at
home, leaving it to the adult mind
to Wrestle with the implications of
Wllde's famous old shocker. Metro
has sought to impose the accepted
standards of cinema restraint and
taste upon the story, a catalogue of
sin that is more complete than most
1t is doubtful that it worked. 1t is
doubtful, too, that the resultant &C
count OF degradation will prove your
favorlte bitter brew even if YOU are
feeling on the morbid side yourself
There is no doubt that the pro-
ducers of The Picture of Dorian
Gray" did their best to make it an
acceptable piece of entertainment.
They cast it acceptably and pro-
duced it with becoming grandeur
of background. They sought to tell
the story with the same degree of
daring that Oscar did. But the fact
remains that they are not able to
feel the same degree of irreverence
for morality and the conventions
that he felt. They are required to
speak guardedly and the effect is
likely to be confused and obscure,
ilol " lllCIlI1O1l llidL IL 10 dlSO I'll
cuitouS and sometimes repulSiVe to
the naked eye.
Another thing that mars Metros
great adventure is that Oscar is less
of wit today than he must have
been in his time. George Sanders,
who plays his mouthpiece, the
suavely savage Lord Wotton. tries
to reproduce the dazzling effect that
Oscars epigrams had upon his list
eners. 1t is undeniable that some
times they do dazzle At others
tthey sound lamentably like some
one trying to be witty and missing
by mile. You remember having
heard the same thing before.
The outline of the original story
Is reasonably followed in the adap-
tation which Alfred Levin wrote
and directed.
1t is the account of a fatally
beautiful and weak young man.
Dorian, who falls into the diabolic
clutches of Lord Wotton. who
breaches a philosophy of sensual
of the consequences,
At the same time that he is sue
cumbing to the philosophy so elo-
quently espoused by the aristocratic
demon of London society. Dorian is
granted his fantastic Wish-that he
remain young while whatever eff
feet age immortality shall have shall
express itself in the portrait that
has just been done of him.
1t was patiently fanciful of Wilde
to have thought of that But he did
not stop there. not with his imag-
ination. He went on to bulwark the
idea with as exciting a set of con-
sequences as any fanataSist has
dreamed up since.
The picture makes much-and
takes too long to make it-of the
touching incident of Sybil Vane /
She, played very ably by Angela |
LanSbury. was the little music hall |
artist whose devotion and naivete
Dorian's fatal charm turned into
his first death. There are four
other deaths to be charged against
him before the sceenplay runs its
course. establishing it as the most
murderous item of its year. at least
so far. They all suffer by being
long drawn-out affairs, interspersed
with comedy passages in which Lord
Wotton gives vent to Wilde's one
time cracking comments on women,
marriage, love and morality. Espe-
cially morality.
X X
The changing portrait, in which
Dorian ends up looking like an
Adonis who has been hit in the
stomach with a handful of hand
grenades, is an effectively used dra-
matte device in this attempt to
bring Wilde's tale to the screen
Throughout most of the drama the
audience is permitted to study it
only through the eyes of the sub
Ject. The picture of Dorian thus
looking at the picture of Dorian, if
that is clear, has it's element of sus-
OenSe YOu NAV find Yourself wish