“Picture of Dorian Gray” in Two New Formats

DS viewers will recall that the idea of the portrait of Quentin Collins was borrowed from Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The various film versions (including Dan Curtis’ 1977 TV version, which featured John Karlen) have been discussed here in the past, with many positive impressions of the original MGM film from 1945 with Hurd Hatfield and Angela Lansbury. The movie has just been released on DVD and the picture quality is excellent – very sharp and clear, much better than the airings on TCM (at least via my cable service). The DVD is also very affordable where discounted. Angela Lansbury provides running commentary in a conversation with a film critic.

For those who are interested in a much more faithful rendering of Wilde’s morality tale, though, I highly recommend a brand-new graphic illustrated version from Marvel. I’ve never had much interest in graphic novels (except for the Classics Illustrated from childhood) but I’ve made a major exception in this case (and one other, not DS related).

The characters, plot, and themes are all here, unlike the movie version. And the artwork is excellent, providing a visual guide that accorded well with my own visualization of the characters and scenes. (Note that the cover art work, which is adequate, was done by a different artist than that illustrating the actual text.)

Those who have seen the Dan Curtis version of this classic will immediately recognize that the portrait of Dorian as depicted here is a direct homage to the one in the DC TV version.

Maddeningly, this illustrated adaptation doesn’t come up in an amazon search, so I’ll post the exact form of the title listed, which may help: 

Marvel Illustrated: Picture Of Dorian Gray Premiere HC (Marvel Illustrated) (Hardcover)

The title is discounted, and it’s too bad amazon can’t figure out that this should come up under a search for “Picture of Dorian Gray,” but it doesn’t.