The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) on Netflix
NR19451h 50mDramaFantasyHorrorMysteryRomanceThriller
Young Dorian Gray sits for a portrait by his friend Basil Hallward and meets Lord Henry Wotton, who preaches a life of pleasure. Dorian wishes the painting would age in his place.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.5/1016,273 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
Dorian Gray is a wealthy, handsome young man in late-19th century London, naive and easily led. While sitting for a portrait by his friend Basil Hallward, he meets the cynical Lord Henry Wotton, who insists that a life given over to pleasure is the only one worth having. Taken with the idea, Dorian wishes in front of an Egyptian statue that the picture might grow old in his place, and keeps the finished painting at home. Basil, who counts Dorian as a friend and an artistic muse, worries about Lord Henry's influence. A night at a tavern called The Two Turtles brings Dorian Sibyl Vane, a singer whose mother welcomes the rich suitor while her brother James distrusts him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The hideous final portrait was painted on commission in 1943-1944 by Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, an artist known for painting the macabre, and he altered it while the film was shooting so it would show Dorian Gray's degeneration. The canvas is now part of the Art Institute of Chicago's collection.
- Henrique Medina's early portrait of Dorian Gray, painted from Hurd Hatfield, was sold off when MGM auctioned its contents in 1970, brought $17,250 at a 1997 memorabilia auction, then $149,000 at Christie's in New York in 2015, and is believed to be privately owned.
- The 1945 film is shot mostly in black-and-white, but Dorian Gray's portrait appears in four inserts in three-strip Technicolor, moving from Henrique Medina's youthful painting to Ivan Le Lorraine Albright's final, degenerate one.
- Censorship restrictions of the day kept Dorian Gray's unspeakable acts offscreen, one of the changes the adaptation made to Oscar Wilde's novel.
