In this episode of Window Dressing’s Gothic Romance series, I talk about the 1945 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey, published in 1890. The story is as classic as a fairy tale or fable. The film features Angela Lansbury in her second film role, following her debut in the topic of the last episode in this series, Gaslight. She plays Sybil Vain in Dorian Gray—a kind of snow white type minus the aid of woodland creatures. She is remarkable in this movie and becomes the most memorable part of the film, except for the special effects that use color in an otherwise black-and-white film to depict the horrific changes to Dorian Gray’s soul. Donna Reed plays Gladys Hallard, another Snow White type, but of the more advantaged variety, one with the grace of a family name and the incorruptible innocence afforded to societally valued women. The fewer options a woman has, the more likely she is to choose survival over socially decreed morality. She is also more susceptible to becoming prey for the sport of those more optioned gentlemen who come a calling.
