The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
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The Picture of Dorian Gray Movie Review
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1945 horror drama film directed by Albert Lewin and starring Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders and Angela Lansbury. It’s a terrific adaptation.
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“I apologize for the intelligence of my remarks“
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I adore this book so I was cautiously optimistic about this movie, and upon watching it I am more than happy to say that it deserves the distinction of being the definite adaptation of its source material. Yes, some of the things here are problematic and I will get to those, but for the most part this is as great as it possibly could be.
I particularly admired how incredibly faithful it is to the novel. Literally all of the major plot points are covered and only some were added or invented, but neither diminished the impact of the story in any way. I personally liked how modernized it was in some areas and made more fitting for the 40s audiences by adding the Egyptian mythology elements as well as changing the theater setting in some scenes to the vaudeville one. The essential core remained the same though.
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Hurd Hatfield is a pretty good Dorian Gray, not the best, but still pretty strong and I particularly admired how he sold those emotionless eyes and facial expressions. He was the best in such sequences. Lowell Gilmore is also quite good as Basil Hallward and as likable as he was in the book. Angela Lansbury is very good as Sibyl Vane, but her role is too small so her Oscar nomination is somewhat questionable, though she did deserve it in terms of her performance overall.
Donna Reed was also very good as Gladys and although this character was invented for the movie, she was good enough that they justified her existence. As for George Sanders, well, he’s the standout of the movie for sure. Reading the book, I literally imagined Lord Henry Wotton exactly as he was in this movie. Sanders absolutely killed it in this role, he was quite amusing, believable and his killer voice suits the role amazingly. What a swell casting this was.
I loved the beginning, and I also really liked that ending and how they executed it flawlessly in terms of the visuals and in terms of the horror atmosphere. The movie is modernized in a way that the portrait is changed from just an old man to a sick, leprous, decomposed ruin of a man and that really made the movie much more horrific than the book. That was a stupendous choice that paid off significantly leading to that outstanding finale.
James Vane is also memorable and I loved the scenes in the dark alleys and taverns. The dialogue is reliably superb and simply perfect in tone as the conversations seemed fittingly snobbish and character-revelatory. The humorous touches are also fantastic as they are present quite a bit in some scenes. But it does succeed as a horror even which I really appreciated.
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The movie has its problems. One is that it is probably a bit too faithful to the book, and another bigger problem is its sluggish pacing during the first half with some a bit dull sequences here and there. But the score is swelling at times, and often times fittingly creepy. And the cinematography is absolutely remarkable and most deserving of its Oscar. How it failed to garner an adapted screenplay nod is beyond me.
1945’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the best and most faithful book adaptations in the history of cinema. It has its pacing issues, but the score is absolutely remarkable and the cinematography is strikingly good. The changes to the plot are solid, but it remains very faithful for the most part and its core is never lost as the dialogue is superb and the themes are well explored. Everyone did a great job of the performers, but George Sanders simply stole the show in the most memorable, amusing performance. That was the case of simply perfect casting.
