10 Motion Pictures of Dorian Gray Ranked from Best to Worst
After reading Oscar Wilde's only novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," I reviewed every screen adaptation I could find. Unfortunately or fortunately, there aren't as many Dorian Gray movies as there are for the other 19th-century English-language Gothic horror literature "Frankenstein," "Dracula" and "Jekyll and Hyde," even though I think the novel is well-suited for cinematic versions because it's partly about visual art and with the exception of maybe one chapter is a good and easy read. For my full reviews at IMDb for these movies, a link is posted at the bottom of each movie's brief summary in this list.
Also check out my ranking of Frankenstein films.
And my ranking of Dracula movies.
List now also at and open to comments at letterboxd: https://boxd.it/40PmO
My average rating of ranked movies: 4.4 stars.
Also check out my ranking of Frankenstein films.
And my ranking of Dracula movies.
List now also at and open to comments at letterboxd: https://boxd.it/40PmO
My average rating of ranked movies: 4.4 stars.
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- DirectorAlbert LewinStarsGeorge SandersHurd HatfieldDonna ReedA corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.The definitive "straight" version of the novel. It's literate, well acted and beautiful, including exceptional use of deep-focus cinematography, layered set design, ornate Victorian-era-styled decoration and stunning Technicolor inserts of the painting, which in its decayed form is an impressive work of art itself. George Sanders is perfect as Lord Henry.
My Full Review - DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsPaul WilliamsWilliam FinleyJessica HarperA disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.This rock musical cult classic is a loose reworking mostly of another Gothic novel, "The Phantom of the Opera," but its Faustian themes also reflect "The Picture of Dorian Gray." There's also a Frankenstein musical number as performed by a Caligari-eque band of KISS imitators. It's an entertaining, postmodern and highly cinematic experience from writer-director Brian de Palma.
My Full Review - DirectorEugene MooreStarsHarris GordonHelen FultonErnest HowardBasil Hallward, a celebrated artist, had completed a portrait which he privately declared was his masterpiece. It was a picture of Dorian Gray, a wealthy and handsome young man, who was a great favorite in London society. Basil and Dorian were looking at the painting in the artist's studio when Lord Henry Wotton, a mutual friend, came in. He complimented Dorian upon the picture, and remarked that in years to come it would be something to look back upon, for it would remind him of what he had been in the days of his youth. Dorian was deeply in love with an obscure actress who played Shakespearian roles in a minor theater. For a time he wooed her from afar, finally scraped up courage and secured an introduction, and speedily won the love of the simple-hearted girl. One evening he told her of his love, and she gladly consented to marry. The next evening Dorian was again in the theater, this time accompanied by Basil and Lord Henry. Dorian had told them of the actress they came prepared to admire, but remained to laugh, for her work was woefully mediocre, in fact so bad that the audience hissed her from the stage. Angered, Dorian abruptly left his friends and went back upon the stage. He reproached his charmer, and she told him she never again would act well, for his love had taught her "the hollowness, the sham, the silliness of the empty pageant" in which she had always played. She looked to him for consolation; he threw her from him with reproaches and angrily told her she killed his love, and that he would never see her again. Then he left, and heard in the morning that she killed herself. It only stirred him vaguely. A little later he idly looked at his picture, it was not the same picture; there was a touch of cruelty about the lips. The picture he secretly hid in the attic of his home. As the years rolled on he became more evil, but those who heard the stories about him could not believe them, for he always had the look of one who kept himself unspotted from the world. But there were moments of anguish of which no one knew, the times when he slinked up to his attic, drew aside the draperies that concealed a portrait, and saw for himself how his wickedness was indelibly stamped upon his picture. He would examine it with minute interest, and sometimes he would laugh when he realized that to the world he was still young and pure in appearance. One day he determined to get rid of this hateful reminder of his vices. He smiled as he picked up a knife, and smiled again as he sunk the knife into the breast of the horrible painting. There was a terrible cry, and when the servants broke in the door, they found hanging upon the wall a splendid portrait of their master, as they had last seen him, in all the wonder of his exquisite youth and beauty. Lying on the floor was a dead man in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled and loathsome of visage. It was not until they examined the rings that they realized who it was.This seems to be the earliest surviving, or at least available, screen version of the book. It's a two-reel silent film that selects the right parts to adapt, including Sybil Vane's Shakespeare performances--shamefully unseen in the other titles on this list--and Dorian's debauchery in the face of his changing portrait, which here is a photograph, and his sins mostly consist of a cocaine addiction.
My Full Review - DirectorMassimo DallamanoStarsHelmut BergerRichard ToddHerbert LomA corrupt young man seemingly sells his soul to eternally retain his youthful beauty, all while a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.Made at the height of the sexual revolution, this 1970 updating of the novel is explicit regarding the sexual "sins" of Dorian, including homosexual ones, and Dorian prostituting himself to a rich old lady. And in one scene, Dorian drops the soap in the shower, and Henry picks it up!
My Full Review - DirectorOliver ParkerStarsBen BarnesColin FirthRebecca HallA corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty eternally, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.The most recent movie on this list and the dullest-looking one to appear in theatres, besides its more explicit scenes of Dorian's sexual decadence, all of its many alterations to the book are bad. Colin Firth as Lord Henry does his best to hold this mess together, but his character is ruined by the revised final act.
My Full Review - DirectorStephen NorringtonStarsSean ConneryStuart TownsendPeta WilsonIn an alternate Victorian Age world, a group of famous contemporary fantasy, science fiction, and adventure characters team up on a secret mission.Dorian Gray as a supervillain who copulates and spars with Mina Harker from "Dracula," who also has superpowers here from becoming a vampire. Lots of CGI-bloated nonsense.
My Full Review - DirectorGlenn JordanStarsCharles AidmanWilliam BeckleyShane BriantIn Victorian London, Dorian Gray is given a portrait of himself by an artist. Dorian treats actress Sybil Vane cruelly and sees that his portrait looks meaner. As years pass, he grows dissolute and never ages but his picture grows ugly.Dan Curtis, of the TV daytime soap opera "Dark Shadows," produced rip-off of the 1945 MGM film at the top of this list. But, sadly, it looks and sounds like a "Dark Shadows" episode. Even the TV Dracula by Curtis is better than this.
My Full Review - DirectorAllan A. GoldsteinStarsMalcolm McDowellEthan EricksonVictoria SanchezA modern retelling of the Oscar Wilde novel.Direct-to-video mess of an updated reworking of the book full of cluttered shots of time-lapse photographed traffic and an obnoxious soundtrack. For some reason, real actors Malcolm McDowell and Christoph Waltz are in it, while the rest of the cast are rank amateurs. Dorian is a supermodel, as in the 1983 version below, and like the 1915 film above, his portrait is photographic. And Lord Henry is the devil, I guess... so that's new.
My Full Review - DirectorJohn GorrieStarsJohn GielgudJeremy BrettGwen Ffrangcon DaviesA corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.Videotaped play that cowers from the most risqué implied subject matter of Wilde's tale, such as the sex and the opium den. It may contain more of Wilde's words than the other movies on this list, but it's the least appealing to look at.
My Full Review - DirectorTony MaylamStarsAnthony PerkinsBelinda BauerOlga KarlatosA young woman sells her soul for eternal youth and beauty, while her screen test grows elderly and depraved to behold.Yet another TV version, this one had a couple semi-novel notions: Dorian is a woman and a supermodel, and her portrait is a filmed screen test, but nothing of much interest comes from any of it. Otherwise, it's a heteronormative, illiterate, visually dull and poorly acted updated reworking of the novel. Anthony Perkins manages to be the worst Lord Henry I've seen. A 2007 TV "Frankenstein" handled its gender-reversal in more interesting ways.
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