Dorian Gray (1970) User Reviews

Helmut Berger is Dorian Gray

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 9 September 2007]

The story is familiar - Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray wishes his painting would grow old whilst he remain young. This film version certainly does not equal the production quality of Albert Lewin's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945), but it is superior in several other ways.

Foremost, the casting of Helmut Berger as Dorian is perfect. Mr. Berger has the "beautiful/handsome" balance necessary to essay the role; he matches his looks with a fine performance, taking Dorian from youth to decadence. Richard Todd (as Basil) and Herbert Lom (as Henry) support Berger well. Dorian's decadent slide is more appropriately depicted in this "modernized" version; however, the sexual situations run on way too long - for a time, the screen is filled with one sexual romp after another; and, the film loses focus. The sexual situations must have been very risqué at the time, but "Dorian Gray" is not "X-rated". The film may remain titillating because there are numerous sexual escapades; and, Mr. Berger and the women are very attractive.

The final "confrontation" between Dorian and Basil is used to effectively begin this version with a flashback; it might have helped to begin the 1945 version in this manner. The passage of time could have been better depicted during the early part (the 1940s-1950s) of this 1970 version, but the 1960s look terrific. The aging of Dorian's portrait is much more realistic in this version, and it somehow seems much truer to the spirit of Oscar Wilde's original work.

******* Dorian Gray (4/24/70) Massimo Dallamano ~ Helmut Berger, Herbert Lom, Richard Todd, Marie Liljedahl

Good Contemporary Adaptation of a Classic Novel

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 4 January 2007]

In the late 60's in London, the model Dorian Gray (Helmut Berger) meets the aspirant actress Sybil Vane (Marie Liljedahl) and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, his friend Basil Hallward (Richard Todd) concludes his painting, and Dorian Gray, fascinated with the picture, proposes the devil to exchange his soul per a permanent youth and beauty. From this moment on, the character and behavior of the former sweet Dorian changes and he becomes a corrupt and amoral man, sex driven and capable of destroying many lives inclusive Sibyl's. While his friends grow older, Dorian remains young never aging, but his painting discloses his innermost ugliness, fruit of his despicable social conduct.

"Dorian Gray" is a good contemporary adaptation of the famous Oscar Wilde's classic novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray", which I believe is one of the books most read, or at least known, worldwide. Everybody is familiarized with this dramatic and evil story. The handsome Helmut Berger fits perfectly to the role and I really liked this underrated movie. Massimo Dallamano's version is original, attractive and has a good international cast. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Retrato de Dorian Gray" ("The Picture of Dorian Gray")

Note: On 14 July 2022, I saw this film again.

Memorable because it's so trashy

[Maciste_Brother · 7/10 · 9 April 2008]

Once you see DORIAN GRAY you can't forget it. It's an updated version of the famous story, updated for the swinging 60s/70s which today is now outdated, which only adds to its many memorable aspects.

There's no point of giving a brief synopsis of the story as we all know it's about a man who remains perpetually young while a painting of himself ages in the attic. But what's really "new" or different here is the tone. It's trashy or should I say Eurotrashy. Helmut Berger plays Dorian Gray as a bisexual jet-setter who likes to mingle with beautiful young women but also with men on the side. The moral of the story is that Dorian has no morals and Helmut is perfectly cast as Dorian.

The one big problem with this version is that it was made a bit too early in the 70s. Had this been made in the mid to late 70s, there would have been a bit more sex or violence. It was sorta ahead of its times with the lurid update of the Dorian Gray story but it could have used a bit more explicitness to make it more true to its intentions. As it is, it hints at things it almost never shows and it's just a big tease of sorts. With a bit more sex it could have enjoyed a wider success like the Emmanuelle films.

But the main reason to watch DORIAN GRAY is for Helmut. It's one of his few starring roles and he shines here as the decadent title character.

Trashy fun!

Sleazy Vulgar Trash - Wilde Would Love It!

[dwingrove · 19 March 2002]

Updated to the Swinging Sixties, produced by infamous exploitation guru Harry Alan Towers and directed by a one-time cameraman from 'spaghetti' Westerns, this is - incredibly enough! - one of the best versions of Oscar Wilde's oft-filmed Decadent classic. At the very least, such a hedonistic decade allows for a frank portrayal of Dorian's bisexuality, promiscuity and drug addiction - hinted at so strongly in the novel, but barely glimpsed in Albert Lewin's 1945 film classic.

Its trump card is the presence of gorgeous Helmut Berger as 'the god named Dorian' (to quote the Italian title). If there was ever a more inspired bit of casting in film history, I can't think of it right now. Best known as the protege of Luchino Visconti, the beauteous Berger here proves himself as an actor in his own right. In or out of his deliciously camp Carnaby Street wardrobe, Berger glows with golden-limbed hedonism and seductive evil!

Backing him up is a splendid supporting cast. Herbert Lom as the sinister gay aesthete Lord Henry Wotton, whose barbed witticisms are lifted directly from Wilde. Margaret Lee and Eleonora Rossi Drago as two Sapphic jet-setters. Isa Miranda as a raunchy and vulgar American millionairess. (Her outfits would make Fellini blush for shame!) Not too sure about Euro-porn starlet Marie Liljedahl and Richard Todd is a bore as the painter Basil Hallward.

But even when the acting falters, the outrageously kitsch costumes and settings make this film a visual delight! Will I ever recover from that first sight of Dorian's zebra-lined 60s shag pad? Somehow I doubt it. This whole film is sleazy, trashy, vulgar, over-the-top...a shameless piece of camp on every level. Poor old Oscar Wilde would have adored every minute of it! And so do I!

Oscar Wilde would have liked this

[rundbauchdodo · 7/10 · 11 January 2001]

Massimo Dallamano's film of Oscar Wilde's work places the story to the London of the 1960s. Even though many reviews obviously didn't like this and wrote rather negative about the film, I think the story works surprisingly well.

Helmut Berger is excellent and undeniably gorgeous as the (in the end tragic) title character, but also the other actors deliver their best. Especially Herbert Lom as Henry Wotton acts absolutely great, and most of the women are not only very pretty, but also deliver convincing performances.

All in all, "Dorian Gray" surely is the most unusual film version of the writing, it is rather drama than horror, but that's what Oscar Wilde's work is too, isn't it? I guess that Oscar Wilde would have liked this.

Berger makes the perfect Dorian Gray

[jaibo · 7/10 · 11 December 2009]

Probably the best screen version of Oscar Wilde's novel, mostly due to the casting of Helmet Berger as Dorian. Berger is a fascinating actor, physically beautiful but with a classic European aristocratic sense of petulance, superiority and cat-like selfishness (the film's first sequence ends with Dorian stroking a black cat).

The film is updated to the fag-end of the swinging sixties in the city at the heart of the era, London, when and where it was becoming apparent to everyone that clubbing, screwing around and dressing in the latest designer fashions did not a satisfying life make. Dorian is the employment free scion of some wealthy family, trading on his looks and the land left to him in his parent's will. He falls in with some fashionable upper class bohemians – Richard Todd's painter Basil Hallwood and Herbert Lom's homosexual wit Henry Wotton. At the same time he picks up a pretty actress playing Juliet at some crummy fringe theatre, Sybil Vane. The film's version of the Sybil and Dorian affair gives her a little more mouth, pluck and vibrancy than the novel or most adaptations, and she is as to blame as he when the relationship goes belly up, with her jealousy and nagging – even her death seems more an unhappy accident than the wilful, victimized suicide of Wilde's book.

Once Sybil has died and shortly after Dorian has made the usual wish to sell his soul in front of Basil's picture, the film turns into an episodic trawl through the sexual conquests of the anti-hero, who with Berger's looks and body understandably is able to seduce anyone. Old women pay for it, wives stray from their husbands and kinky scene hangers-on take a beating from his belt, but Dorian soon gets a taste for the boys as well as the girls, not entirely understandable given that his first taste of gay sex is with Lom in the shower! But he's cruising the yachts along the marina on the Riviera and picking up black men from the cabin crews.

The film is racy for its time, and probably (outside of porn takes) the most raunchy version of the book to have hit the screen; nevertheless, the sex is pretty non-explicit and Berger can be seen rather too obviously hiding his genitals in the scenes where he is nude. Yet each of the sexual episodes plants the seed of a fantasy scenario in the audiences mind, and they are left to guess quite what Dorian is doing behind his old mare of a sponsor when he stands behind her, causing her to gasp, at a stable door, what exactly Dorian and that black man are doing to get up to when they leave the public toilet they are admiring each other at the urinals in, and quite what is that black magic ceremony Dorian attends at "the house of pleasure." The film's opening sequence is shot from Dorian's point of view as he staggers out of the room in which he has killed Basil (it's a flash-forwards) and at one point he gazes at himself in the mirror; the film encourages its audience to catch themselves gazing at Berger, and to fill in the things which its moving pictures of Dorian Gray leave out.

Near the end, Dorian (who has increasingly been dressed in costumes which teeter between sexy and ludicrous) stalks down somewhere like the King's Road in an absurd Zebra-striped costume, turning everyone's head but utterly hollow in himself. So, the film suggests, ends the decade of free love, fashion and frolics – an attractive but hollow shell doomed to suicide or age, both of which come together in the film's close-to-the-book final scene.

Massimo Dallamano shoots the film like a cross between a travelogue and a giallo, which feels appropriate, and Peppino De Luca exquisitely scores it to match. There's a Raro Video DVD release which has a lovely to look at transfer and includes English and Italian language tracks; sadly, the sound is rather mashed and fuzzy but the film is well worth seeing as a visual feast for the eye, in which one can't help but fall under the spell of Berger as Dorian.

"Today Beauty is More Important Than Genius"

[richardchatten · 3/10 · 19 April 2020]

A faithful plod through Oscar Wilde's Victorian shocker. Nearly eighty years after it was originally written, the time was uniquely ripe during the sybaritic pre-AIDS early seventies for a film version of Wilde's original that fully did justice to its florid homoeroticism (although the early seventies quickly ended, while the period during which young Dorian remains eternally youthful lasts much longer in this telling).

Despite being shot in London with a couple of reputable British-based actors leading the supporting cast (Herbert Lom's Henry Wotton looks an unlikely 'Daily Mirror' reader, despite being depicted immersed in a copy at one point), the constant vertiginous zooms and obviously post-synced dialogue symptomatic of the era in which it was made definitely enhances its continental-style depiction of the joyless hedonism of the milieu Wilde was really writing about and renders it far more dated than had it actually been set in the 1890s.

Shagadelic Dorian Gray

[Cineanalyst · 6/10 · 8 September 2018]

This updating of Oscar Wilde's Victorian-age novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," to the 1970s and translating of the English-language text to Italian is surprisingly faithful--more so in some ways than the classic 1945 MGM version, among others. I generally don't find faithfulness important for an adaptation, but in this case it's usually for the best. And, the ways in which it does diverge from Wilde are interesting, including all of the 1970s style. I also believe that this is the first screen version to be explicit about homosexuality, which, of course, even the book wasn't (although granted, chronologically, this is only the third Dorian Gray film I've found available after the 1945 one and a 1915 silent two-reeler).

Some of the film techniques employed leave much to be desired, including the abruptness of the opening prolepsis, and its point-of-view shots of bloody hands. Some of the sex scenes are too long as well, although they're not very explicit because the bodies are generally obscured by foreground objects. Consequently, some consider this trashy or a sexploitation film, but I don't necessarily agree. At least, it could've been a lot more risqué considering its source. Anyways, it's not the gorgeous piece of art that the MGM film remains. It does, however, have plenty of 1970s fashion and style and a groovy soundtrack. It also benefits from the most-appropriate-looking (as far as being blonde, blue-eyed, young and handsome) and probably best-looking Dorian to ever appear on screen, Helmut Berger. The removal of many of Wilde's epigrams, however, leaves an unusually dull Henry.

Unlike other versions, including the 1945 and 2009 ones, this film doesn't do away almost entirely with the details of Sybil Vance's Shakespearean acting. It keeps the reason that Dorian rejects her because of her poor performance, even though she still has sex with him, as in the other movies and as just about everyone else in this film does. It bothers me that other adaptations miss the self-reflexive implications and theme of artistic illusion of this plot point. Another thing I like here is that it doesn't add a second grand romance, who is either related to Basil or Henry, for Dorian. It's entirely unnecessary. The Gladys here is an actual character from the book who partly fits that bill, instead, as well as the host of other characters from Wilde whom Dorian shags here. One of these liaisons explains his wealth, as 1970s Dorian, apparently, must work unlike his 19th-century counterpart. Another is the source of his blackmail of Alan Campbell, which is unexplained in the novel. The Alan storyline also involves photography, which is better employed here than it was in the 2009 "Dorian Gray."

Most sensationally, however, is the scene where Dorian drops the soap in the shower and Henry picks it up, and there are a few more homosexual hookups besides that. Oddly, the two characters I thought were most coded as gay when reading the novel are straight here: Basil, who gushes over his feelings for Dorian's looks in the book and fears that his portrait will expose those feelings, is merely a painter for hire here; and the usual theory of Alan's blackmail in the book is that Dorian threatened to expose his homosexuality--a crime back then, for which the author Wilde would later be sentenced. Dorian, Henry and Gwendolyn, on other hand, all take part in this iteration. I'm also rather surprised by the lack of drugs for a 1970s low-budget, supposed exploitation film. Even Wilde had Dorian visit an opium den. Regardless, this remains the most daring Dorian Gray screen adaptation to that date, which benefited by its updating to the sexual revolution.

Stupid near porn version of Wilde's tale

[preppy-3 · 2/10 · 18 April 2007]

Oscar Wilde's classic is updated to the 1970s with disastrous results. Dorian Gray (Helmut Berger) has his picture painted and, through some circumstances, finds his portrait aging while he stays young and beautiful. It leads him into a decadent life style which is basically sleeping around with any woman he can find. As the years go by his immoral behavior continues while his portrait horribly ages.

Caught this on video years ago. Why they tried to turn out a virtually porno version of Wilde's story I'll never know. It's badly directed with stilted dialogue. Berger is very handsome but kind of a blank--he says all his lines in a monotone. I can't totally blame him--English isn't his first language. Herbert Lom (obviously desperate for work) plays a gay man who lusts after Dorian. Lom said in an interview many years ago that he never saw the movie after reading the reviews when it came out. Marie Lijedahl as Sylvia isn't half bad and spends a considerable amount of time nude.

All in all, this is a movie made for guys who want to look at nude women. For some reason Berger is never shown fully nude. In one particularly awkward shot he is naked but his hands are covering his best parts. If you want a good adaptation of Wilde's tale stick to the 1940s version--avoid this.

I give it a 2 only for Berger--visually he was a good choice for the role.

A not so bad adaptation

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 10 February 2021]

The 1970 British/Italian/West German film THE SECRET OF DORIAN GRAY (Original title Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray) is notable for sexing up the Oscar Wilde novel; that comes as no surprise given that the producer is none other than Harry Alan Towers, well known for cheapo literary adaptations, Fu Manchu sequels and a number of continental Christopher Lee movies made during the era. It updates the tale to 1970's London and features a blond Helmut Berger in the title role, playing the amoral playboy - shades of ALFIE - who remains ageless while hiding a dark secret in the attic.

So far, so straightforward; this is quite the conventional movie. Some style is brought to the proceedings by director Massimo Dallamano (whose WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE? might just be my all-time favourite giallo) including novel P.O.V. shots and plenty of nice location work around swinging London. A bevy of Euro beauties prop up the cast, including among their number Maria Rohm, Margaret Lee and Beryl Cunningham; you'll know many of them from Jess Franco movies. But the lengthy sexuality and explicit material takes a toll on the running time, and the pace flags after a while.

It's certainly not all bad though. It looks great (I caught it in HD on Amazon Prime, not sure who uploaded it). Richard Todd is one of my favourite film stars and he stands out in a minor role as the painter, while Herbert Lom is a typical delight as the predatory older male. Berger convinced me too: it's easy to get a handsome model for the role, but you need someone to also get across the inner seediness and I think he manages that. The painting inevitably plays a big role in the film and looks great, and there's a nice flourish at the climax. Purists will want to stick with the 1945 Hollywood version of the tale, but this one's not so bad either.

Cheap sexploitation

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 6 June 2020]

I have seen the excellent but censored 1946 version,the poor 2009 version,and now this.It's fairly awful at times with the ending particularly botched.Mind you with the producer being Harry Allen Towers you do not expect either class or subtlety.

A Wild(e) portrait of degradation.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 25 April 2021]

Massimo Dallamano's Dorian Gray is a REALLY kitsch version of Oscar Wilde's classic tale, set in 'swinging' London, with funky music, gaudy fashion, and decadent sexually-liberated characters of all persuasions. Helmut Berger is the beautiful young Gray, who sells his soul so that his portrait will age and decay while he himself stays eternally youthful; Richard Todd is artist Basil, who captures the likeness of Gray so perfectly that his subject becomes obsessed with his own attractiveness; and Herbert Lom is influential art dealer Henry Watton, who leads Gray astray by telling him to make the most of his youth and yield to temptation. Marie Liljedahl plays stage actress Sybil, who falls for Dorian, but finds herself abandoned once Gray gets a taste of the high life.

Dallamano keeps the film moving at a decent pace, and his cast all put in entertaining performances, with Lom being particularly fun as the corruptor of youth, providing the film's funniest moment (unintentionally so) when he pops up in Dorian's shower, bar of soap in hand. Isa Miranda is also a hoot as ageing millionairess Mrs. Ruxton, who Dorian reluctantly treats to a spot of back-door sex in a stable. Perhaps the best thing about the film is the hideous '70s clothing, especially Berger's wardrobe: his blue velvet shirt and shorts two piece is quite the fashion statement, but it pales in comparison to the zebra stripe coat, brown flares, foppish hat and cravat ensemble that he opts for in the final act. Talking of zebra stripes, they must have been popular back then - Dorian's apartment is adorned with zebra pattern curtains, and not one, but two zebra skin rugs. Other animal-based decorations include a lion skin rug (you can never have too many dead animal skins to lounge on) and an elephant tusk picture frame. How tasteful!

7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for Liljedahl, who is gorgeous (and not averse to taking her clothes off), and for the hilarious pair of mincing queens outside the Black Cock nightclub (I kid you not!).

Not As Trashy As Expected

[ginnymason · 6/10 · 19 May 2020]

Much like other sexploitation films of this period, looking back on them can be quaint. They have plenty of nudity, but it's not as if they ever get into hardcore sex. This adaptation of Dorian Gray promises tons of sex and depravity, but its fairly chaste when all is said and done. What's most surprising about it is that it's not a half bad adaptation of the Oscar Wilde story from which it's based.

Helmut Berger plays Dorian Gray, an impossibly beautiful young man who falls for an actress named Sybil, but as he starts to make it way up through the London society crowd, he no longer has much use for Sybil and after he discards her, she kills herself. This leads Dorian to harden and only rely on his looks until people begin to get suspicious as to why he never seems to age after many years. Perhaps the secret involves a painting hidden away in his attic.

Despite adding in some sex and nudity to spice things up, this version of Dorian Gray plays out, more or less, like the original story. It might dwell in the sexual depravity a bit more than most adaptations, but at least it works for the story it's telling. It's a bit slow at times, but at least it's trying to tell a somewhat interesting story.

Oscar Wilde decadence in Swinging London

[vampire_hounddog · 3/10 · 28 July 2020]

Dorian Gray (Helmut Berger) is a devilishly good looking young man and is a magnet for the ladies. When his artist friend Basil Hallward (Richard Todd) paints his portrait, as he stares at the finished result and having come under the spell of the decadent Henry Wotton (Herbert Lom), Dorian wishes that the picture would grow old and he would stay forever young, thereby selling his soul.

Oscar Wilde's classic novel from 1890 is updated to modern Swinging London in this Italian-British-West German international co-production. It is quite a dreadful transposition from fin-de-siècle 1890s to Swinging London, although it probably seemed a good idea at the time. Berger (his normally great accent dubbed here) makes for good casting as Dorian Gray though, while Lom seems a little embarrassed at fitting Wilde's most cutting epigrams into the dialogue. Filmed in London and Italy, Sir Henry's house is most definitely a Lazio villa and not in the home counties.

Oooh! Young Man!

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 14 June 2018]

Now I see what all the fuss is about with Helmet Berger. Like Bowie, he's some sort of androgynous taboo-breaking figure and therefore perfect to play the narcissistic title character in this film.

Everyone knows the story of Dorian Gray, right? Everyone wants a bit of Dorian - an arrogant young upstart who becomes obsessed with a portrait of himself and hates the idea of growing old, and therefore he's tickled pink to find that the portrait is the one who suffers from his excesses. But who's pink is Dorian going to tickle? And who's Berger is Dorian going to munch on? And who is going to shine Dorian's Helmet?

Herbert Lom appears here as the sinister guy who seems to egg Dorian on in his debauchery, where Dorian gives it to about three quarters of the cast, including young Sybil, the doomed actress, many other ladies (sometimes introducing them to each other afterwards, no doubt for a bit of Sapphic love), a couple of guys, and even Herbert Lom himself in the shower. I guess dropping the soap really does serve as some invitation for man to man bottery!

Due to a horse-porn trauma I received after watching Dallamano's Venus In Furs, I was really worried when the action switched to a stable, but I needn't have worried, because it was only setting the scene for Dorian to give it fudgeways to an old woman! What's this film about again?

You'd be surprised how tastefully Dallamano films all this nonsense, what with him being a master cinematographer and all. It's all groovy interiors and even groovier clothes with Helmet Berger always the centre of attention. I've got to admit this is a pretty good film about a mad shagger.

Better than expected

[Angeneer · 6/10 · 18 February 2001]

I was certain that no cinematic representation would do justice to the book. However, the clever idea of making a contemporary film made it interesting and original. Even the focus on Helmut Berger looks is not faulty, since this is the spirit of the book. Thankfully, all the girls were also very pretty. Although it's no masterpiece on its own right, Oscar Wilde would have liked it.

true Dorian

[Kirpianuscus · 19 March 2023]

One of inspired versions of the novel by Oscar Wilde. For the fair portraits of Dorian, Harry and Basil, Richard Todd offering the perfect tones for his character. For the portrait itself and its last form of degradation. For the revelation of soul to Basil and scene of murder. For the hunting scenes and for the way to reflect his character proposed by Helmut Berger.

Not the last , for the images of sin and the more realistic and profound exploration of the relation with Sybill ( not the last, for wise solution of her last gesture ).

In short, provocative, no doubts, but well integrated in the frame of 1970 sexual revolution One of fundamental good points - the manner to craft his Henry Wotton of brilliant Herbert Lom.

Poor version of classic story

[gridoon · 4/10 · 1 February 2005]

There is only one good thing about this "Dorian Gray": Helmut Berger's ideal casting in the title role. Impossibly handsome, he is credible both in his innocence (early on) and his corruption (later on). That is the only thing this movie does right, however; nothing else. The choppy continuity (Dorian falls in love in the first three minutes...he "changes" after twenty minutes...and so on) renders the story shallow and meaningless. The film obviously wants to "suggest" a lot (including belt-whippings, lesbianism and oral sex), but is so tame and timid in doing it that it could possibly get by with a "PG" rating today. By the time Berger drops the soap in his shower and a straight-faced Herbert Lom picks it up, the whole thing has become a farce. I haven't seen the more famous 1945 version, but it has GOT to be better than this one! (*1/2)

Campy entertainment & raging libidos

[zhivago97 · 6/10 · 20 July 2021]

After seeing the versions of Dorian Gray from 1945 and 2009, I really like all three and for different reasons. But don't compare them, and don't judge against the book, they are each likable and interesting in their own way.

This version is a trashy soap opera with fabulous costumes and characters boasting raging libidos! The acting is decent but the direction and script are where this turns to camp. That said, it's still fun and entertaining. It just doesn't have a serious bone in its body. It's mindless entertainment to watch while drinking your favorite beverage.

I would not call it bad. Not at all. It has its own merits. In other words, it's not funny because it's poorly done, it's funny because the trash is intentional and so over the top. Soap operas have their place and that is exactly how I interpret this film. Nobody would expect an Oscar from this, nor should they. But you should expect laughs and trash.

Nothing more than Eurotrash soft porn.

[MOscarbradley · 2/10 · 16 April 2020]

You won't get too many Wildean epigrams in this dire updating of "The Picture of Dorain Gray" to Swinging London and hot spots further afield. now retitled simply "Dorian Gray". It's an Italian/British/West German co-production, (most of the cast are dubbed), directed, (very badly), by Massimo Dallamano and starring the admittedly beautiful Helmut Berger as Dorian. Berger had the perfect face for the park; blankly handsome with the emphasis on the blank. He was a very limited actor whose face seldom betrayed any emotion; just right, in other words.

Unfortunately, Dallamano reduces it all to the level of soft Eurotrash porn though to be fair it is nicely photographed and does make good use of its locations. Richard Todd is Basil and Herbert Lom is Henry Wotton, (he's the one dishing out the epigrams), but their talents are totally wasted. In fact, outside of what were commonly called 'the dirty mac brigade' I can't imagine what audience this was intended for and ultimately it's really quite offensive. Avoid at all costs.

Not like the Original!

[angelsunchained · 6/10 · 19 December 2005]

Dorian Gray (1970) seems more like a soft-porn movie than a take on the famous classic.

Seems that everyone, and I mean everyone wants to get Dorian Gray into bed in this stinker. Mr. Gray has sex with various beauties, all whom fall madly in love with him. As a matter of fact, two beautiful women whom he has bedded, are so desperate to sleep with him again, that he pawns them off to each other, and the two beauties are so "sexed-up" that they end up having sex with each other. Our hero always winds up in the shower with a 50ish Gay man, as well as having sex with an over 50 woman in a horse stall.

Dorian Gray (1970)is okay for a few laughs. There are some sexy ladies too, but aside from that, it's not much.

Dorian Gray

[CinemaSerf · 5/10 · 13 April 2023]

I wonder what the author would make of this? It's crass and vulgar, which might have tickled him, but is also entirely unsophisticated - and I doubt that would have amused him quite so much. It's got a very early seventies look right from the outset with Helmut Berger in the title role - blonde, good looking, living a debauched lifestyle. When he is painted by "Basil" (Richard Todd) - a painting with nothing at all faulty about it; he is so struck by it that he offers to trade his soul for these looks to last eternally. What ensues is a tale of man gorgeous on the outside, but increasingly hideous underneath - and he can plainly see that as his lifestyle and character become less savoury and, frankly, depraved, so his image on the now hidden canvas becomes more ugly and distorted. His friends are powerless to stop this decline, even the ones that want to - and that doesn't include the decadent homosexual "Lord Wotton" (Herbert Lom) nor some of his less attractive lady friends - Isa Miranda ("Mrs. Ruxton") and Margaret Lee ("Gwendolyn") who successfully add oil to his fire. Berger is well cast from an aesthetic perspective, but his acting is as wooden as the frame on his portrait; Todd is just dull - a skill he frequently mastered during his long career, but Lom rescues it occasionally as the superbly sleazy queer peer and the whole Chelsea chic look to it adds well to the overall trashiness of the thing. On the whole, it's pretty cringemaking, but these stories have to reinvent themselves from time to time, and this contemporary (for 1970) version, though poor, keeps the spirit of Wilde's story alive just about.

Great version of a familiar tale

[Thomasco · 8/10 · 22 September 2006]

I enjoyed seeing this on TV over the years. It is typical of pictures that came out during that time period. No not all were perfect with exquisite editing or immaculate soundtrack and how all the modern critics insist a picture must be perfect or you may not like it. Wrong. It is art and a story is told and some B-grade films enjoy tremendous adoration. I like how this showed the guy as basically decadent and wanting to have his fun and all the props are contemporary so the film is a wonderful time capsule. The target audience would seem to be men IMHO. I recommend you watch it, should it ever come on TV where you live, but I doubt it will ever be released to DVD.

The film is an easy, relaxed film, enjoyable to watch, and captures the essence of the idea well -- the question is whether you will ever be able to see it. These old gems are hard to find.

Do I make you horny, baby?

[ptb-8 · 7/10 · 26 February 2010]

Somewhere between EEK! and chic, this swinging London version of Dorian Gray, made in 1969 and starring the very handsome Helmet Berger (two slices of bread and a motorbike) is one of the great new century cinema fiasco movies. You will really love this gloriously awful film in all it's orange and white arty farty glory. Richard Todd paints the picture of the story and hairy Herbert Lom ponces about (even under the shower in one scream inducing shot) as a gay fwend.... with various unknown actresses with twee names like Sybil and Gwendoline all of whom get shafted and then tossed off. Imagine an Austin Powers remake today? Well this is the real thing except for the startling beauty of a well cast Helmet (so to speak). DORIAN GRAY 1970 is a fantastic experience for your friends to get slightly tipsy and watch together. My favorite bit is the shag in the field where the camera pans to show Mr Berger's bum with a massive bug sitting on it. Other hilarious moments show Dorian cruising the marina for a tug, some old dame at the races getting serviced in a stable and gasping for astonished air, and of course the horrible painting that looks like a green and purple vomit with eyes. Warm up the cheap champagne, prep the DVD player, call the friends over, serve cheese and pineapple chunks and whack on DORIAN GRAY. Your friends will never forgive or forget.

Classic yet sexy

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 16 October 2023]

Massimo Dallamano - as Jack Dalmas - was the cinematographer for For a Few Dollars More and A Fistful of Dollars and also wrote and directed A Black Veil for Lisa, What Have You Done to Solange?, What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Colt 38 Special Squad and many more. He also co-wrote this movie along with Marcello Coscia (The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue), Günter Ebert and Renato Romano.

Dorian Gray (Helmut Berger) once had his portrait painted by Basil Hallward (Richard Todd). The modeling session is interrupted by Henry Wotton (Herbert Lom) and his sister Alice (Maria Rohm), which sends Dorian into the evening, settling on a theater where he quickly mates with actress Sybil Vane (Marie Liljedahl) before abandoning her, which causes her to kill herself. Dorian won't be young and vital forever, so why settle for anything?

He wishes that the painting could age for him and somehow, incredibly, it does. While the rest of his friends settle down, he's still devoted to a lifestyle of excess in 1960s and 1970s London with all of the wild fashions that you need to make this movie incredible. Throw in a guitar score by Giuseppe De Luca and you have a freakout version of a classic novel made sleazy.

Is it any surprise that Harry Alan Towers produced this?