Movie 6 - "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

In this 1945 film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Hurd Hatfield plays the title character.  He is joined by George Sanders playing Lord Henry, Lowell Gilmore as Basil, the artist who paints the enchanted painting, and a slew of young actors including Donna Reed as Gladys, Angela Lansbury as Sybil Vain, and Peter Lawford as David Stone.  Director Albert Lewin also wrote the screenplay. 

The story of Dorian Gray is a warning to the dangers of vanity, selfishness, and gives a physical likeness of the ugliness of a person’s soul for every evil deed committed.  Dorian Gray is a young, handsome, and wealthy man easily influenced by Lord Henry’s philosophical ideals.  Basil, the painter, tries to balance Lord Henry’s negative outlook on situations to no avail.  With the help of an Egyptian idol, Dorian’s wish for eternal youth is granted.  However, Basil’s painting of Dorian changes with every hateful thing the young man does.  He destroys lives for the sake of his vanity and pride.  Sybil Vain is the first casualty, playing a young, innocent actress taken in by his good looks and charm.  My Gram reminded me of this scene today, and it really is haunting, for lack of a better word.  Dorian has asked her to stay for the night and as she exits devastated, she is drawn back in by his melancholy melody being played on the piano.  All you see is her feet and shadow slowly giving in to his spell.  The next day he writes her off completely and vows to live only for his own pleasure.  This is when he notices the first change in the painting, “A touch of cruelty in the mouth.”  His wish to give his soul for eternal youth may have been realized.  He begins to change his mind until Sybil dies and then completely gives his soul over.  The painting is moved to his old school room so no one realizes the transformation of his soul.  For years, the cruel actions and painting transformation continued.  Basil’s niece Gladys, who loved Dorian from childhood, always held hope for him.  Most people cannot stand to be around him anymore, but she still cares.  Basil finally sees the painting, which is now a disfigured, horrible picture.  Here we see how many evil acts he has committed in his life.  It is shown in color…the only color in the film.  Once Basil sees the painting, Dorian commits his most horrendous of deeds to keep Gladys from ever finding out the truth.        

This is a picture of self-entitlement and vanity.  It is a picture of the way a person lives their life can truly affect their “beauty”.  I remember in The Twits, by Roald Dahl, he wrote, “If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face.”  Later he said, “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly.”  This is a simple way to sum up Dorian Gray.  I love Oscar Wilde and his book.  This was a good movie.  Besides, who doesn’t love Angela Lansbury?!