Dorian Gray (1917)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dorian Gray |
| Original title | Az élet király |
| Country of production | Austria-Hungary |
| original language | Hungarian |
| Publishing year | 1917 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfréd Deésy |
| script | based on the novel of the same name by Oscar Wilde |
| production | “Star” Filmfabrik und Filmvertriebs AG Budapest-Vienna |
| camera | Karl Vass |
| occupation | |
| |
Dorian Gray is an Austro-Hungarian silent film filmed in Hungarian in 1917 with Bela Lugosi in a leading role.
action
Dorian Gray is an equally weak-willed and attractive young man, whose appearance is above everything else. Women have fallen for him, and all too easily he could have any. But he rejects many, and his morals and character are marked by severe deficits. When Dorian had himself portrayed one day in the studio of the painter Basil Hallward, the handsome man made the acquaintance of Lord Henry Wotton. This is a thoroughly cynical manipulator. He is fascinated by Dorian's attraction and begins to use and abuse him for a cruel game. From now on he steers the fate of Dorian Gray with his suggestive powers and a diabolical lust for corruption. Watton convinces Dorian of his hedonistic way of life and even suggests that if he surrendered solely to the pleasure principle and closed himself off to any suffering he encountered, he would never age. This would take the Gray painting from Basil for him.
Dorian falls into the clutches of the devilish lord and gambled away the sincere love of the enchanting actress Sybill, the painter's previous friend. Dorian cannot and does not want to recognize her love. While he is losing himself in a boat party with the Duchess of Marlborough on a lake, Sybill, who is sick with the pain of love, drowns himself in the same waters. Henry Watton prevents Dorian from thinking about her death and instead drives him to ever greater, ever more intense debauchery. Dorian Gray only begins to rethink his life in the rare few hours of being alone, and in a moment of curiosity he pulls down the cloth covering his painting to contemplate his own image. He is shocked to see how he ages in the painting and how his face gradually contorts into a disfiguring grimace. When Basil asks him one day to borrow his portrait for an exhibition, Dorian clutches it terribly pale. Nobody should notice their aging on the painting! In order to be sure of his secret forever, he even lures the painter up to the attic, only to plunge him down from there. Basil Hallward remains on the ground with his limbs shattered.
From now on there is only one chance of love for the damned. But Dorian also rejects the deep affection of the miller's daughter Hetti, and she also takes her own life in view of the fact that the morally deeply depraved youth had only played with her. With every further crime, an inner voice almost forces Dorian to take a look at the curtained image, and he has to realize more and more how much his appearance is beginning to deform and the malevolence of Henry Wotton is reflected in his features. Dorian Gray's decline is rapid. He tries to numb his miserable existence by taking opium and, often in the company of Lord Henry, hangs around in dark, filthy pubs. One day he gets caught up there by the sailor Jim. He would like to stab him because he blames Gray for the suicide of his sister Sybill. A strange girl comes to Dorian's help and hands him a knife for defense. Lord Wotton gets into a duel and is fatally injured by Gray's knife.
Dorian Gray rushes out of the dive bar and hurries home, where the Duchess of Marlborough is already waiting for him. But he is so confused by the events that have thrown his life upside down in recent times that he is not interested in a love affair with her. Storms whirl in Gray's head, all of his thoughts, all of his senses are confused. He rushes onto the painting, looks in dismay at the old, malicious man in the portrait and also discovers his blood-stained hands. Dorian takes the dagger and stabs the likeness like a man possessed. But with every stab of his alter ego he hits himself and kills himself. The Dorian in the picture is regaining his youth, the dead man on the ground has aged to be old. And the shadows of the lives destroyed by Dorian Gray's way of life flutter over the sinner's bloody corpse.
Production notes
Dorian Gray was written in Budapest in 1917, had a length of four acts and was listed on January 21, 1918 in the Hungarian capital. As part of a separate screening at the Haydn Cinema in Vienna, the film was shown for the first time in a German version on November 5, 1917.
Bela Lugosi was still called Arisztid Olt back then. The buildings were designed by Stefan Lhotka , who was still known as Lhotka Szirontai in his homeland.
criticism
"Except for a few variations, the content of this drama is taken from the famous novel Wildes."
Web links
- Dorian Gray in the Internet Movie Database (English)