May 30th
The Picture of Dorian Gray**     
(US 1945)                            

MGM. 110m. bw/colour

In Victorian London a beautiful young man retains his youth whilst keeping a painting locked away that reveals his human decay and corruption.
Artificial, lavish Hollywood melodrama, quite daring in its approach (and set in that favourite Jekyll & Hyde-style version of foggy London Town) with cloying narration but splendid interjections of Wildean cynicism and vivid occasional Technicolor inserts for the portrait itself, which is a memorably striking creation. One of MGM's most stately of well disguised "horror" films.

Written and Directed: Albert Lewin, based on the novel by Oscar Wilde.
Producer: Pandro S. Berman.
Starring: Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Lowell Gilmore, Richard Fraser, Douglas Walton, Morton Lowry, Miles Mander, Robert Greig, Cedric Hardwicke (narrator).
Photography: Harry Stradling.
Music: Herbert Stothart.
Paintings: Ivan de Loraine Albright, Henrique Medina.

Preceded by:
Tom and Jerry in
Quiet Please!***
(US 1945. 7m.; d: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Fred Quimby.)

Preceded by:
Stairway to Light*
(US 1945. MGM. 10m. bw; Passing Parade short telling the story of Philippe Pinel who used humane methods to release supposed maniacs under long-term sentence.; w, narr: James Nesbitt; d: Sammy Lee; s: Wolfgang Zilzer, Gene Roth.)