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)
Review of Dorian Gray
