Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
|
Our Price: $24.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.95 (click here) Category: VHS Video See more movie releases |
|---|
Buy this VHS video movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
VHS Movie Reviews of Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Movie Review: One Of The Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I think this is by far the best adaptation of Oscar Wilde's brilliant novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray". It has a rare brilliance to it that is rarely seen today. I you are a fan of Cinema you can't afford not to have this DVD in you collection.
P. S. While many people prefer VHS over DVD I would suggest the DVD it has been restored and is just beautiful!!!
Also, be sure to watch "The Picture of Dorian Gray" on Saturday, October 25, 2008 at 6:00 A.M. (EST) on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
Movie Review: Oscar Wilde Classic on Film
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Picture of Dorian Gray" was produced at M-G-M during Hollywood's Golden Age and boasts a first-class cast and impressive production values. As years bring changes to all around him, Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) remains young and handsome. Instead, a portrait of him changes with the years, revealing the horrific effects of Gray's immoral life of debauchery and evil. Based on Oscar Wilde's novel, the 1945 film co-stars veteran scene-stealer George Sanders, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, and Peter Lawford. More a psychological horror film than the graphic Frankenstein, Dracula, and Werewolf films churned out by Universal around the same time, this feature is a bit talky but does manage to draw the viewer in, and Hatfield's performance is understated creepiness. Extras include commentary by Angela Lansbury, an Oscar-winning short, and an Oscar-winning cartoon.Movie Review: Solid, if Unspectacular, DVD Release
Summary: 4 Stars
This October 2008 DVD release of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945) is a welcome presentation of a somewhat neglected film. The DVD features acceptable (though not perfect) image and sound. There is a disappointingly rambling and unfocused Commentary track featuring Angela Lansbury (who is poised and gracious, but whose role in the film is fairly slight) and Steve Haberman (who is very uneven in his information). This Commentary could have benefited from greater editing and compression: much is unsaid and there are times when the comments are not focused on the scene at hand. There is also a bonus cartoon and short.
The real loss here is a lack of information about the painters who created the portraits of Dorian Gray used in the film (Ivan Albright did the grotesquely decomposed version, which is now in the Art Institute of Chicago, and the younger portrait was the work of the comparatively unheralded Portuguese painter Henrique Medina). In a sense these paintings are as much a reason for interest in the film as any other factor, but they are given short shrift here.
This is, on the whole, an acceptable release, but there is room for disappointment in the extras.
Movie Review: Finally the DVD release
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been waiting for years to own this movie on DVD. I can't believe it's finally being released!!! This movie is great!Movie Review: New DVD release with commentary is announced
Summary: 5 Stars
The classic moral/horror tale is to finally be released on DVD by Warner Home Video. The story has a Jekyl and Hyde type quality with Dorian making a wish after his portrait is painted that he will remain eternally young while his portrait grows old. George Sanders plays Dorian's "friend", Lord Henry Wotton, who tempts Dorian to live a life of debauchery. Sanders was born to plays such roles. Dorian follows Wotton's advice with gusto, living a rather secret second life. All the while the portrait grows hideous in appearance, mirroring the state of Dorian's soul, while Dorian retains his youthful angelic appearance. It is a single DVD release with the following extra features:
Cast commentaries by Angela Lansbury and film historian/screenwriter Steve Haberman
1945 MGM short Stairway To Light
1945 MGM cartoon Quiet Please!
Theatrical trailer
I am particularly interested to hear Lansbury's comments on the film. She and Hurd Hatfield, the actor who portrayed Dorian, remained friends from the time they made this film until Hatfield's death in 1998. I am sure she will have many interesting things to say.