ObscureHollywood.net’s review published on Letterboxd:
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) is surely one of the most elegantly produced films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The attention to authenticity, ambience, and detail is remarkable, no doubt due to the efforts of producer/writer/director Albert Lewin, a true auteur. Lewin (1894 - 1968), with an M.A. in English from Harvard, nonetheless decided on a career in movies after seeing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in 1920. His big break came in 1924 when he joined MGM as a writer, becoming head of the script department in 1929 and , eventually, assistant to Head of Production Irving Thalberg. Lewin was producer or associate producer on several of MGM’s major films of the 1930s, such as Smilin' Through (1932), China Seas (1935), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935).
Lewin’s first opportunity to direct came in 1942 with The Moon and Sixpence. Of the six films he is credited with as director the second was The Picture of Dorian Gray; it is probably his best effort and certainly his best known work. The casting is inspired. Top-billed George Sanders plays Lord Henry Wotton, who speaks almost entirely in epigrams which sound suspiciously like they were written by, of all people, Oscar Wilde, such as: “You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit”, and "experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”
Angela Lansbury is excellent in an uncharacteristically sympathetic role. Best of all is Hurd Hatfield, whose cold, piscine handsomeness makes him perfect for the title role.
An interesting feature of this film is the actual painting of Dorian Gray, which, of course, ages while the title character remains ever young. Every time we see the picture the films changes from black and white to color. This gimmick works well, but I must object to the final version of the picture. Isn’t it enough that Dorian’s youthful good looks have decayed into those of a syphilitic old man with receding hairline and gnarly arthritic hands? His clothes seem to also have transmogrified. It looks like he got them at the local Goodwill or borrowed them from Freddie the Freeloader. Certainly a case of overkill!