The Picture of Dorian Gray - Secret Places and Trippy Houses Blogathon

When I came across Taking Up Room’s Secret Places and Trippy Houses Blogathon, I had two immediate thoughts—Gaslight (which I already wrote about) and The Picture of Dorian Gray. The latter is a trippy (ha) movie that has a secret room that Dorian always keeps locked on account of his creepy painting that just gets creepier with the more bad stuff he does. Since he hides this away, it seemed like a great fit for this blogathon.

I first saw this film years ago and was excited to revisit it. I remembered enjoying it, despite its oddness. It not only is weird, but it also has some interesting lessons within it and an element of magic. Although the classic novel has been adapted into film multiple times, I will be writing about the one from 1945 that features some key figures from the classic movie era.

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Synopsis

Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) gets his portrait painted when he’s in his early 20s. While there, he meets the friend/acquaintance of the artist, Basil (Lowell Gilmore), named Lord Henry (George Sanders). Henry points out that while Dorian is young now, that youth is fleeting, and he will soon lose it. The idea freaks him out enough that Dorian makes a deal with the devil-cat to remain young and have the portrait age in exchange for his soul.

While he doesn’t know what he’s doing is real, you should never voice wishes in the presence of any sketchy statues of Egyptian gods, feline or not. So the cat is also in the painting and honors Dorian’s bargain. This doesn’t become an issue until he meets Sibyl (Angela Lansbury) and is immediately smitten with her. Lord Henry again messes with the impressionable Dorian, suggesting that he test her purity by inviting her over to his house and then propositioning her to stay the night with him. I don’t think Dorian was going to let himself be manipulated this time, at least not at first, but Henry sets it in motion by telling Sibyl she should see Dorian’s portrait.

Dorian does decide to try out asking her to stay. He’s super cruel about the entire thing, pretty much breaking up with her when she refuses to sleep with him and starts to leave. But then returns to him.. we assume they sleep together.. and then he writes her a letter about breaking up with her after all because she failed his test and is a whore. Talk about some manipulative crap.

This is the first instance of the painting changing, creating lines around the mouth to suggest his increased cruelty. Turns out that not only will the portrait age, but it’ll take on his corruption instead of that showing on his face as well. He vows to change his ways and apologize to her.

But it’s too little too late, and things just spiral for him from there until he gives into all the nastiness in his heart. By the time he finally decides to change again, things are beyond repair.

The Players

Hurd Hatfield and Angela Lansbury

Although his performance has been criticized for being “wooden,” Hurd plays the part brilliantly. He followed the strict direction of Albert Lewin, and it makes sense with the character. Dorian hardens his heart after Sibyl and attempts to not let things get to him, burying his feelings deeper and deeper.

Hurd wanted to be more emotional like Dorian in the novel, but he was overruled by the director. This is even though his audition was dramatic, including Hurd throwing the manuscript across the room at the end of it. According to Hurd, filming would stop by 4 p.m. or when he began to look tired since his character was to look perfectly beautiful at all times. Any change in his face, including simply being tired or any scrunching of his face would not be filmed to maintain the facade.

As for Angela, even though her part wasn’t throughout the film, it was an impressive one. From her singing to expressions and line delivery, she made quite an impression. It made me so mad about how creepy Dorian was to her!

George Sanders and Lowell Gilmore

First of all, George steals the movie. His voice will always make me think of Shere Khan in The Jungle Book… and evil. And while Dorian is made out to be the soulless man of the film, Lord Henry is right there with him. His philosophies are what get Dorian in trouble in the first place. I’m not sure if Dorian had evil inside already that made him so easily manipulated or if it was his inexperience, but he just listens to Henry way too much.

George conveys this character masterfully. He’s funny and appalling at the same time and a delight to watch.

Lowell’s character isn’t as big, but as the painter of this portrait, he still plays an important part. He’s also the uncle of Gladys, played by Donna Reed.

Donna Reed and Peter Lawford

Donna Reed and Peter Lawford show up later in the film. Donna plays Basil’s niece, who Dorian knew since she was a little girl. He may not age in the 18 years from the time the portrait was painted through the end of the film, but she does. And her crush on him persists so strongly that they enter into an engagement. His sliver of goodness shows him that he needs to end it before pulling her into his downward spiral.

Peter plays David, a friend or maybe something more of Gladys, who goes poking around Dorian’s house, including getting into the secret from where Dorian has locked away the portrait and evidence of his damnation.

Background Trivia

Dorian and Sibyl became lifelong friends

This is one piece of this that I love the most. I recently found out, in the preparation of this article, that Angela Lansbury and Hurd Hatfield became great friends. She had him on Murder, She Wrote, which I know was a common thing for her, so I didn’t think anything of that at first until I found out that there was more to their friendship than that. Hurd actually introduced Angela to her future husband Peter Shaw at a party he gave in 1946. He sent Shaw to pick her up and the two hit it off immediately, Angela iniitally hadn’t wanted to go, but Hurd insisted and arranged for her transportation.

Angela also encouraged Hurd to buy property in Ireland close to her, so they could be like neighbors.

Hurd had mixed feelings about the part

While it was his most famous part, Hurd struggled with getting out from under it. He said, “You know, I was never a great beauty in (Dorian) Gray and I never understood why I got the part, and have spent my career regretting it.” He also said, “I’m glad that The Picture of Dorian Gray found its audience, but for the longest time I worried that people wouldn’t realize that for me Dorian Gray was a character part. That wasn’t me!”

He was also disappointed that he ended up being typecast after this as an “elegant menace” and couldn’t do more comedy, which he preferred to drama.

Hurd maintained his youth very well

Not terribly unlike his character, Hurd maintained a youthful appearance into his advanced years, citing exercise and avoiding booze and cigarettes.

Angela did her own singing

I was a bit surprised by this at first because while I know she sang in Beauty and the Beast, I also knew she hadn’t in The Harvey Girls. I wonder why they let her sing in this film and not Harvey Girls. I’m not sure if it was the difference in song style, but I think she could have done well with both. She certainly has a beautiful voice here singing “Good-bye Little Yellow Bird.”

Differences from the Between the Novel and Film

So because I wanted to make this a richer article and give myself more work, I also read/listened to the novel… wow. Let me tell you, the book was amazing. But there were a lot of differences from the book. First of all…

Everyone is Obsessed with Dorian in the Book

What struck me at the beginning of the novel is that both Basil and Lord Henry are immediately obsessed/in love with Dorian. I was surprised since this isn’t conveyed in the film. They are really intense with him in the book. Apparently, this novel was even toned down from Wilde’s original, which was even more blatant and obvious about this.

Basil and Henry Being “Young Men”

There’s a line referring to these characters in the book as “young men.” Both of the actors are over a decade older than Hurd (and about 18 years older than the character of Dorian). That line made me think that maybe the characters aren’t that much older than him after all. In researching this further, the consensus is that they’re about 10 years older than Dorian Gray in the novel, but the young men line threw me while I was reading through it.

Dorian’s Appearance

In the novel, Dorian has blond hair and blue eyes, where as in the film, Hurd obviously has dark hair and dark eyes. Dorian’s golden tresses are referred to many times over in the novel.

Means of the Curse

As noted earlier, it’s the cat statue that grants Dorian’s request to exchange his soul for the portrait to age, but in the novel, that is not the case. We don’t know what prompted his plea to be granted in the novel, just that it was. Maybe the for the film, they thought they needed to address it directly.

Gladys

So while a character named Gladys exists in the novel, she is not Basil’s niece like she is the film. In fact, she’s not a real love interest for Dorian at all. She’s the Duchess, and while she is captivated by Dorian like everyone else, they don’t get together.

I prefer this to the weird relationship with the one in the film that he knew when she was a child. That’s way creepier… but maybe that’s what they were going for?

Sibyl’s downfall

****spoilers***

In the film, Dorian is worse than the book. He sleeps with Sibyl (we assume) and then shames her for it. He’s pretty bad in the book too by breaking up with her because she loves him so truly that her acting suffers. She basically says she can’t play pretend anymore because she has actual love. Dorian throws a hissy fit about how she’s not what he thought and is a terrible actress. I think part of it too is that his friends were there to see how great she is, but then she sucked. Maybe he was also a bit embarrassed.

In either instance, he’s just awful and is the reason she poisons herself.

****end spoilers****

What if…?

Michael Dyne hadn’t been considered for Dorian?

Angela said that her friend had been considered for Dorian and also suggested her for the part of Sibyl. She was cast, but he was not. If he hadn’t been considered, her career would have been altered. The casting director her also suggested her for Gaslight, so she may have missed out on her breakout roles.

Alternative History/Classic Film Era Novels

If you like alternative history or biographical/historical fiction, I write that as well under the pen name Dottie Fray and historical paranormal romance under Elvira Fray. With two books planned for next year, one biographical fiction entitled Planes and Promises and a paranormal romance to follow up Fang Me Tender called No Angel of His Own (official cover coming).