The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film) The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film) The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1945 American horror-drama film based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel of the same name. Released in March 1945 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film is directed by Albert Lewin and stars George Sanders as Lord Henry Wotton and Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray. Shot primarily in black-and-white, the film features four colour inserts in 3-strip Technicolor of Dorian's portrait; these are a special effect, the first two inserts are the original portrait and the second two after a major period of degeneration then recovery. It is London, 1886.
The Picture of Dorian Gray the shorter, more inflammatory, magazine version in England the previous year, published the revised version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray". The only novel written by Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" exists in several versions: the 1890 magazine edition (in 13 chapters), with important material deleted before publication by the magazine's editor, J. M. Stoddart; the "uncensored" version submitted to "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine" for publication (also in 13 chapters), with all of Wilde's original material intact, first published in 2011 by Harvard University Press; and the 1891 book edition (in 20 chapters). As literature of the 19th century, "The