The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945 Original Theatrical Trailer 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 June 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 three-strip Technicolor of Dorian's portrait; these are a special effect, the first t

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was more than a novel—it was Exhibit A in the courtroom that destroyed him. When Wilde was tried for “gross indecency” in 1895, prosecutors cited passages from the book as evidence of his immorality. The line between art and life had blurred: Dorian’s descent into aesthetic excess mirrored what Victorian society believed about Wilde himself. The novel became a kind of moral confession in the eyes of the court. Its original 1890 Lippincott edition—censored