Film of the Week: The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1945

Medina's portrait of Dorian

Who among us wouldn’t want to preserve our youth and beauty forever? At what cost?


Oscar Wilde posed this question in his only published novel, 1891’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. We’re all familiar with the novel which tells the tale of the handsome Dorian Gray whose beauty so impresses his friend Basil Hallward, a painter. Upon painting Dorian’s portrait, Basil reluctantly introduces Dorian to a Lord Henry Wotton who, in turn, introduces Dorian to the concept of hedonism. Under Lord Henry’s influence, Dorian’s desire to remain youthful and comely costs him his soul. The portrait that Basil painted will age while Dorian will remain physically uncorrupted. However, Dorian’s soulless and increasingly debauched and depraved behavior shows in the painted flesh of the portrait, and, soon Dorian reaches new depths of corruption as he tries to hide his secret. The novel is a multi-layered masterpiece, rich with meaning—a true work of art.

Hatfield and Sanders

Any film version of Wilde’s work would be faced with the tremendous challenge of meeting the subtly and brilliance of the original. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1945 film directed by Albert Lewin rises to the occasion. Hurd Hatfield was cast as Dorian. Relatively unknown, Hatfield had only one film—Dragonseed—to his credit. Handsome in a peculiar sort of way, Hatfield made such a perfect Dorian Gray that he found future film work hard to find. Directors only wanted to cast Hatfield in horror-parts.

Rounding out the cast was the perennially creepy George Sanders as Lord Henry, and Angela Lansbury (in only her third film role, most notably following her brilliant turn in Gaslight) as music hall singer, Sybil Vane. The picture also features a young Donna Reed and Peter Lawford.

While the script writers took liberties with the original text—toning down some of the references to Dorian’s lifestyle and introducing a very-Hollywood plot device of a mystical Egyptian cat sculpture—the film captures the spirit of Wilde’s novel very nicely.

Albright's Dorian

The set for Dorian’s Belgravia townhouse is exquisite and makes for some perfectly-framed shots. There’s also the added attraction of the paintings of Dorian themselves. Henrique Medina painted the original portrait of Dorian and Ivan Le Lorraine Albright made the grotesque changes to the painting while the filming was underway. Albright’s version of the painting now hangs in The Art Institute of Chicago. With it’s surprising Technicolor inserts, haunting score and superb acting, The Picture of Dorian Gray is a thoroughly enjoyable adaptation of a brilliant novel.

When you watch it, keep looking at the toy blocks under the table in the upper-story room where Dorian hides the picture. Just a bit of trivia…