Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Picture of Dorian Gray (DVD)

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) starring George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford. In Victorian England, the aristocratic Dorian Gray (Hatfield) is convinced that it would be a good thing if his portrait aged while he stayed young. His wish is granted by a mysterious Egyptian statue of a cat. After he falls in love with a nightclub singer named Sybil Vane (Lansbury), he treats her cruelly as a test of her love. She kills herself. From then on it's downhill for Dorian Gray. The movie is not very explicit, but we are made to understand that he has descended into a life of sin; tragedy piles upon tragedy. It's a very literate script, based on a book by Oscar Wilde, but unfortunately the subtitles are hard to read. It's a pretty unforgettable film, with an impressive cast. Grade: B+

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