1976 Directed by John Gorrie
In Victorian England, handsome Dorian Gray (Peter Firth) makes a Faustian deal that his portrait painted by Basil Hallward (Jeremy Brett) will age while he remains young. But his vain bargain eventually leads to murder and destroys Gray's life. This 1976 installment of the BBC's long-running "Play of the Month" television series co-stars Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Judi Bowker and John Gielgud as Lord Henry Wotton.
USA
USA
i actually think this is the best adaption ive seen, it follows the book to a t without adding any stupid things or cutting out the implied homoeroticism. the acting is also extravagent for 1976, the costumes as well are gorgeous and accurate. basils whore shirt is great too, love him.
never imagined basil hallward as a freddy mercury type, but this movie really made me change my mind
i've been meaning to watch this version for years, it's the first adaptation of the picture of dorian gray i've seen and honestly? it's so fucking good? like yeah it's not the biggest budget movie ever so it suffers a bit but the acting??? the acting??? it's so fucking good and daring (it's really really gay for a thing meant to be shown in the tv in 76), it gave me way more than i expected and for that i am very very glad.
You call this Dorian beautiful? Wouldn't even make it past the Bel Ami auditions
This BBC 'play of the month' positively revels in the gay subtext of 'Dorian Gray', and perhaps with the cast it has (John Gielgud as Henry, Jeremy Brett as Basil, Peter Firth as Dorian) this was inevitable. However it came about, it certainly gives the novel's dramatisation (courtesy of John Osborne) considerable zip.
I do have a bit of a quibble with Peter Firth's Dorian, he is a bit too much of a petulant, self-centred brat to really highlight the complex character created by Wilde. But this is offset by the marvellous acting of Gielgud and Brett (and of Nicholas Clay as the unhappy scientist Alan, and Judi Bowker as Sybil Vane).
Despite only being able to restrict the settings…
The video on youtube I watched this on described this as Jeremy Brett's exquisite performance in "The Picture Of Dorian Gray" and it was most certainly correct. His performance as Basil (my favourite character) was magnetic, and I especially loved how he handled the confession the scene... that hesitation before deciding not to touch Dorian, incredible. Sir John Gielgud was fine as Lord Henry, though I do think that I prefer Colin Firth in the 2009 adaptation more. Peter Firth made a wonderful Dorian too, I was delightfully surprised. John Osborne's script was excellent, a faithful adaptation of my one my favourite books.
As this was a BBC Play for Today it was rather lacking in the design department, which…
man this was so gay... it was so gay. i bet you're thinking "it can't be that gay" it was. not an extremely faithful adaptation of the novel but it was certainly good
I've had an unsuccessful attempt watching Dorian Gray (2009) but this one was faithful to the essence of the book. Peter Firth was a really good Dorian Gray and although Jeremy Brett's Basil Hallward wasn't what I imagined him to be in the book, it was good nonetheless (I mean, it's Jeremy Brett). Alan and Dorian were surprisingly gay in that one scene? Good for them.
One of the incredibly few good Dorian gray adaptions (I have strong opinions on this subject)
