The Picture of Dorian Gray

The ring on column remains the definitory image of film for me. Like the causes, more than explicit , of the transformation of picture.

A good point - the option for Shane Briant as Dorian Gray. Not impressive, not the memorable, only the credible one .

Another virtues - the atmosphere and the way to craft his Harry by Nigel Davenport, like the precision of the time period ( from the year 1891 - the apparition of novel- to 1911 ) . TV movie, it proposes not exactly revelations and the second part can not be the most tasted by the admirers of novel but it works in just reasonable manner.

An interesting part - the induced nostalgia , not only for the half of century from the birth of movie but for the theater solutions for solve some scenes.

In short, just a correct adaptation.

I first saw this one when it was first shown, so I'm not too objective about it. It really managed to scare me, partly because it was so late at night, but partly because of that whole feeling from a videotaped suspense story (the same thing that helped Dark Shadows itself). And the casting was so right. I hardly know Shane Briant from anything else, so it might not be so right to call HIM "well-cast," but to me, he IS Dorian Gray. And as far as the other male actors, the one who fit his part so well was Nigel Davenport (who's so good at "larger than life" characters) as Sir Henry. And John Karlen, a sort of Dan Curtis "repertory player" at the time, because of Dark Shadows. As one poster points out, this version manages to include the involvements with men, in a fairly subtle way. The scene where Dorian recites a list of men's names to John Karlen's character, as a way of blackmailing him, and the look on Karlen's face, were very well-done. (If that scene were done now, it would probably be done in a TOO OBVIOUS way, and be bad by comparison.) I saw it when "Dorian Gray" was barely a name to me, let alone more, so even more than the famous 1945 version (which is rightly famous), this is THE version to me.

This one I was planning on watching again after not seeing it in years but I ended up skimming though it because I found it not as good as I was remembering it was.

The movie has a the look and feel of an older TV show or older soap opera. It felt very stagy and didn't play out as well as I had remembered. I guess some movies really are best left to a childhood memory. It's a shame I wasn't as happy with this film as I once was.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) and Dorian Gray (2009) I have both enjoyed very much. This 1973 version will still be a good childhood memory for me, just not one I would care to watch these days.

5/10

This is a TV thriller based on Oscar Wilde's novel - a suspenseful plot from beginning to end about young English aristocrat Dorian Gray, whom after meeting the hedonistic Sir Harry Wotton, dives into a life of decadence and self-indulgence. The story gets even more thrilling when a self portrait of Dorian changes appearances, reflecting his sinful ways.

Great-pacing with decent acting and a good setting that captures the beauty but eeriness of the atmosphere. There is hardly any dull moment in the movie and the drama, though a little too theatrical in some ways, keeps you glued to the screen. Overall, a captivating thriller!

Grade A-

I like both this version of DORIAN GRAY and the MGM version. Both add a little girl early in the story who grows up to have an association with Dorian (this is not in the original book), and that is my only complaint. I especially like Angela Lansbury as Sybil Vane and George Sanders as Harry in the MGM version, but Shane Briant as Dorian in the TV-version is much better looking (I think) and far more ruthless than Hurd Hatfield in the MGM version: I think Briant is more true to the novel's Dorian. In the end, this is a very good adaptation of the novel (it even hints at Dorian's liaison's with men, as does Wylde, which could not be done in the MGM version).