Customer Reviews

The Picture of Dorian Gray

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I saw this movie when it came out in the 70's and it's a great movie, but the sound is so low on the DVD that even at full volume, it is inaudible. I had it replaced and the second one was the same way. Until they get this fixed, don't waste your time and money.

As much as I would've liked this film, my enjoyment was ruined by a bad DVD transfer that had a horribly inaudible soundtrack. When this occurred on my replacement DVD, I had to come to the conclusion that this was a flaw of MPI, who distributed this disc. While they present a great product in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes films, they do nobody any favors with this slipshod transfer. It only gets the one star for the solid visuals, but unless you want to crank your TV volume at full blast to even hear a bit of the soundtrack, this is a product that I recommend avoiding.

Leaving aside audio issues, which are there, not imagined, this adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novella leaves many other things to be desired.

Not only does the screenplay and eerie soundtrack lend an ominous, "Dark Shadows" feel to the proceedings, there has been a concerted effort to downplay the homo-erotic subtext of Wilde's work. Gray is transformed into a Jack-the-Ripperesque, Jeckel and Hyde figure, preying on women, living the life of a rock-star or playboy. Shane Briant does have a bit of a Freddie Mercury/David Bowie quality about him, but any suggestion that he might be involved with other men is minimized to a few lingering glances and innuendo.

Without Wilde's subtext, some plot points and characters no longer make sense. Here Sybil kills herself because Gray deflowers her and then abandons her -- in the text it is a split over aesthetics in a much more profound and psychological encounter. This Gray is simply an insensitive cad, not worthy of the picture becoming so twisted. Wilde's Gray is a self-consumed aesthete who tires of people and throws them aside when he becomes disillusioned. This is far more damning to one's soul.

The tell-tale test for me was the handling of Alan Campbell. Compare this rendering with that of the BBC version just three years later. Again this one doesn't make much sense. Nor does the relationship with Beatrice, again I feel as an attempt to "straighten up" Dorian.

Certainly this production is more ambitious than the BBC version, including remote shots and crowd scenes, but what good are production values when the script is fatally flawed and the mood is reduced to melodramatic horror.

Watch the BBC version with John Gielgud and the far superior Peter Firth. Not only is that cast more attractive and has a better grasp of the work, it's to be chosen primarily if you want to come anywhere near Wilde's spirit and intention.

I'm just another customer who was very disappointed to discover that my new DVD of this title (as well as the replacement DVD MPI sent me) had such appallingly bad audio (the actors sound as if they're speaking through wads of cotton). It's also worth noting that MPI's DVD of "Turn of the Screw" has the exact same problem. Beware!

First off...... I liked the story. The acting was mediocre at best - but acceptable.

But this DVD transfer is appalling and has to be the worst I have ever encountered. The picture is grainy and soft. It also suffers from numerous disturbances throughout the film.

The sound is even worse and has to be experienced to be believed. Considerable effort must have been put into making this so bad.
Played on my (very high quality) surround sound system, the entire soundtrack exhibits an extremely echoey effect with the surround speakers fuzzily mirroring the fronts with a considerable time delay. Very weird!

Turning the sound processor off and simply using the front speakers clarified the sound but it still sounded very second rate.... though clear enough to understand without too much effort.

Why, when there are still so many good films out there waiting for a DVD transfer, is resource wasted on producing such a bad disc as this?

Unless you consider that you must have this on DVD for some reason, I would advise passing it by in favour of spending your hard earned cash on another title.

As in all of Oscar Wildes work this had an excellent story line. The acting was wonderful and it followed the book quite well. This is a must see for anyone that values good literature.

I wanted to respond to the many reviewers regarding the poor audio quality of this DVD. Evidentally, the transfer was not up to the newer DVD player technology because it plays fine in my older player, but I experience a sound problem when I play it in my newer one. I intend to contact MPI and hopefully get this resolved, and a new, updated copy of this DVD.

Until then, this one gets 1 star.

I saw this movie as a kid on late night tv and thought it was much better then the original , then again I was a kid and hated black and white movies , now in my adult years , I havent seen this 1970's version is quite awhile , but did see the 1945 version again and this time loved it , I then saw the remake with a female version and thought this is interesting too , but alas I have to admit the 1945 version was so much more exceptional .

I am so glad that Oscar Wilde's genius prose was made into movie form. The cast is excellent. I have always loved John Karlen. I started watching him when the daytime horror-soap "Dark Shadows" was popular. He, along with Shane and Nigel, give a too true- to- life portrayal of Wilde's mixed characters battling their own curses and demons that life seemingly has bestowed upon them. However, it is not exactly circumstances which mold us into who we are, but our choices and how we handle conflict. I had one of my English classes watch this movie so that they could see that everything we do and say eventually makes us who we are, and we can never undo or repair the damages of ill deeds, greed or lust. It's a frightening thought. Sometimes it's more difficult to take the hard right than it is to take the easy wrong, as Al Gore so brilliantly suggested in his 2000 Democratic Convention speech. The fact that man would literally sell his soul for youth teaches us that our priorities are still out of order. The conflict of man versus himself is the power point of this book/movie. Sometimes we truly are our own worst enemies. While the character Dorian continues to do as he pleases despite hurting others, his portrait changes, grows old and reveals all of his past sins. This effect is pure genius, and it really makes one stop and think about his/her own life and choices. Everyone should watch this movie at least once a month....it's that powerful and meaningful. I also believe that Oscar Wilde saw himself in many of his characters. He had a difficult life along with the world judging him harshly, but he too made choices that cost him everything. In conclusion, sometimes the hardest thing in the world is self-reflection.

And although the picture and sound were great, you didn't miss much. This appears to be a rather low budget film judging by the sets and clothes (Dorian doesn't redecorate once in 20 years - and his wallpaper never fades either).

Dorian Grey is having his portrait done by Basil, not sure of the relationship if any, when an old, rather dissolute friend of Basil's drops by, and bends the tender ear of Dorian with his tales of a life of fun, and how youth is the only thing worth having. This leads the weak-minded Dorian to proclaim to his portrait that he would give his soul to stay young, if only the portrait would age, and he wouldn't. He gets his wish....Dorian falls in love with Sybil and wants to marry her, but when this friend advises him to ask her to his house and spend the night, even though she wants to wait until they are married, Dorian, for some unknown reason, decides to heed his advice. Once he has her, of course, he no longer wants her, and she commits suicide. Dorian goes on to become completely cold-blooded once this happens. He's truly an annoying little man. He proceeds to gamble, have affairs with men and women, and pays for sex with a child. He also murders. He also lies in bed tearing off one tiny scrap of toast at a time, then buttering, then putting jelly on the piece, eating it, then repeating the entire process with another tiny piece! He does this with about 12 pieces and I would have murdered him myself for it! Just put butter and jelly on one slice of toast and eat it!

In any case, Dorian's picture gets gorier and gorier, and even though at one point he hired a handyman to board up the nursery door where the portrait resides, it appears that after that the door to the room is still unimpeded and works as well as ever. It's at the top of about 10 stairs (which take each person about 5 minutes to get up the last 5 - I had to fast forward this every time). Dorian likes to visit his picture now and then because he thinks that if he does something good, it will show up in the picture. However, it just gets worse and worse, so he thinks he might as well continue with his bad ways. You wonder why he didn't just burn the picture.

Basically, Dorian was a boring, self-centered rich guy, who was not a good person to begin with or none of this would ever have happened.