The Secret of Dorian Gray

Co-produced by regular Jesus Franco producer Harry Alan Towers, the man behind the series of 'Fu Manchu' films based on the books of Sax Rohmer and starring Christopher Lee, 'The Secret of Dorian Gray' was an Anglo, American, Italian, German attempt at relocating Wilde's novel into the world of late 1960s London in what they describe on screen "A modern allegory based.on the work of Oscar Wilde".

European movie heart-throb Helmut Berger makes for a suitably callous and narcissistic lead ever youthful and rampaging across Europe in a hedonistic, orgiastic, spree as, back home, hidden away in the attic his portrait degenerates. Supporting him are two screen stalwarts in Richard Todd (Asylum, House of Long Shadows) as the artist 'Basil Hallward' and Herbert Lom (The Pink Panther) as corrupting influence 'Henry Wotton' both of whom help distract from the sometimes clumsy acting and dubbing of various members of the cast.

Admittedly I'm stretching my own rules here as this is barely a British movie but to my tastes it's mix of 60s Italian eroticism and the permissiveness of fashionable, swinging London with Wilde's fin de siècle classic makes for the perfect amalgam. And, combined with some fabulous set and costume design, the cinematographers eye of director Massimo Dallamano (who had worked with Sergio Leone on both 'A Fistful of Dollars' and 'For A Few Dollars More') and an amazing soundtrack from Peppino de Luca & Carlo Pes - played by I Marc 4 - this is a real favourite around here.

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