The Picture of Dorian Gray. (1945)
I knew there was an earlier version but had never seen it until now. I feel like this would be the one to watch if you didn't want to read the book. It totally captures Oscar Wildes message and is as (I think) He would have written the screenplay. Its sharp and sophisticated and the acting is subtle but emotional. I really loved this version and felt the most connected to the movie out of the 3 I watched. It definitely incorporated the complicated emotions Oscar had painstakingly researched, written and then re-written. A true dedication to the classic.
The Picture of Dorian Gray 1976
I actually really liked this version. It was to the book and didn't miss out the full dialogue like the book. Really impressed with the acting and I felt the same watching it as I did reading the book. It did have a dryness in some parts as I feel this era for TV movies tended to have, but I The actors gave full performances and did the author justice with the story.
The picture of Dorian Gray (2009)
This is the most recent version I watched. I have to say I didn't like it much. I liked Colin Firths version of lord Henry Wotton as I feel he kept quite close to the character. I didn't like Dorians portrayal though, as I don't feel the actor embodied Dorian and he wasn't how I pictured him when I read the book. The movie moved way to far away from the original book which was a let down, as I feel it missed out the most intelligent aspects of Oscar Wilde's story. There was way too much unnecessary sex and erotica which was completely off story most of the time, and I felt like they took the story line as an excuse to make another sexually charged movie. It was unrecogniseable.
References:
The picture of Dorian Gray,(1945 film), Albert Lewin, Metro-goldwyn-Mayer
The picture of Dorian Gray,(1976 TV)Glenn Jordan, BBC
Dorian Gray,(2009 film)Oliver Parker, Alliance films, UK film council, Ealing Studios.
No comments:
Post a Comment