'The Picture of Dorian Gray' painted by Meyerhold. (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kovalova, Anna
• Is Part Of: Studies in Russian and Soviet cinema. Volume 13:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 59
• Page End: 90
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: The Picture of Dorian Gray (film) -- Vsevolod Meyerhold -- Oscar Wilde -- lost films -- pre-Revolutionary Russian cinema -- screen adaptation; Motion pictures -- Soviet Union -- Periodicals; Motion pictures -- Russia (Federation) -- Periodicals; Motion pictures; Russia (Federation); Soviet Union; Periodicals; 791.430947
• DOI: 10.1080/17503132.2019.1556429
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-3140

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The article introduces the publication of the libretto, list of titles and literary scenario of Vsevolod Meyerhold's lost film The Picture of Dorian Gray (1915), based on Oscar Wilde's novel of the same title. The film was the first adaptation of a foreign literary work for the Russian screen, but failed with audiences. Drawing on a range of sources, such as screen shots, press reviews of the time, the list of the film's intertitles and the literary scenario from the archives as well as memoirs, the article presents first a detailed overview of existing interpretations of and research on the film before analysing the historical and artistic context. Here, sources such as literature, art and book graphics that Meyerhold may have used for his film are investigated, as well as the different translations available for the adaptation. An analysis of the film's three-part structure, with particular attention to its key scenes singled out in reviews and by the director, leads to an attempt at a new interpretation of Meyerhold's The Picture of Dorian Gray .