Alien (1979)

Scenes in red appear only in the 2003 Director's Cut. Scenes in blue appear only in the 1979 Theatrical Edition.
The opening credits appear in front of a large planet with rings. Cut to the far reaches of deep space: the Nostromo, a commercial towing space vehicle, carrying a refinery with twenty million tons of mineral ore, is en route to Earth with a crew of seven. Inside, the ship appears eerily quiet, but suddenly, the onboard computer is activated. Lights inside the ship are activated, and a room with 7 biobeds is illuminated. The canopies open to wake the crew. Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt) is the first to get out. They congregate in the mess hall, where they cheerfully enjoy a meal. Chief Engineer Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Engineering Technician Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) take the opportunity to discuss the bonus system, which they find unfair, as they get paid less than the officers. Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) is called away by Mother, the ship's computer, before they can have a meaningful conversation. Dallas enters the Mother console room, and tries to assess the situation, as the rest of the crew gets in the cockpit of the ship to determine their location. They quickly deduce that they are not home yet. Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright) finds out that they are at Zeta II Reticuli, and the ship is still quite far from Earth. When Parker and Brett return from their round of the lower deck, complaining about their colleagues' attitude and the bonus system, Dallas briefs the crew: the ship is not even halfway home, and has altered course because it has picked up an unknown signal, which repeats every 12 seconds. The crew has been awoken from cryosleep to investigate. Parker protests, arguing that they're not a rescue team and that they should be compensated for the extra work, but Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm) stipulates that per Company contract, the crew is obliged to investigate every signal from an intelligent source; non-compliance will result in loss of pay, which quickly gets Parker in a cooperative mood.
The crew assembles in the cockpit to listen to the signal. It sounds very strange and unearthly, perhaps like a voice. Lambert homes in on it and finds that it comes from a planetoid, 1200 km in diameter, with a 2 hour rotation and some gravity.
The Nostromo approaches the planet, which is close to one enormous ringed planet and two smaller ones. The ship separates from the refinery, and sets course to the planet's surface. It descends toward the planet, but the landing is rough, causing damage that will take some time for Parker and Brett to fix (although they allot themselves copious amounts of time). The planet is windy, and visibility is low. As the source of the signal is 2000 meters away and the sun is coming up, Dallas and Kane decide to investigate on foot. A reluctant Lambert is ordered to join. Ash takes place behind an outer window with a communication console, as the team puts on the space suits and leaves the ship to investigate the signal on the planet's windy surface. In the meanwhile, Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has gone to the lower deck to inspect the repairs. Parker and Brett ask if there will be a bonus for any discovery which is made on the surface; Ripley assures them that the law guarantees them a share, before returning upstairs, as they keep teasing her. Outside, the team walks between the rocks, through the planetoid's inhabitable atmosphere. Inside the ship, Ash tells Ripley that Mother has not yet deciphered the signal; she volunteers to give it a try. Ripley accesses a console and starts working on the strange signal.
Outside, the sun is up and they wind has laid down. The team clears the rock formation, and makes a fascinating discovery. Near the horizon, they see a derelict spacecraft of unknown origin. It is lying against the rocks, vaguely shaped like a horseshoe. Despite Lambert's hesitation, they approach it, losing contact with the Nostromo upon entering the massive ship through an opening at the side. Inside, they find hallways with walls textured like bones. At the end is an elevated platform. It carries the remains of an enormous alien creature in a large chair, now fossilized. Upon initial examination, there is evidence of some unknown trauma to its chest: its ribs are bent outward, as if it exploded from the inside. Lambert wants to leave. Kane then draws the others' attention to a large hole in the floor.
Meanwhile, analysis of the unidentified transmission suggests that it is not an SOS, but a warning. Ripley wants to go after the search party, but Ash talks her out of it, reasoning that by the time she gets there, the search team will probably know what the signal means.
Kane is lowered into the hole by means of a winch. He finds an enormous tube-like hallway down below, divided into sections and basins. He nears one basin, discovering thousands of leathery objects that resemble large eggs. He also discovers a strange light and mist covering the eggs that reacts when broken. He trips and falls into the pit, but is okay and moves in to investigate further. Kane touches one of the eggs, which seems to give a shriek. He illuminates the egg from behind with a flashlight and discovers movement inside. He grabs a pistol: a strange, spider-like organism is the resident. The egg has flaps on top, which open, revealing its insides. As Kane moves into for a better look, the strange life form inside suddenly leaps out, attaching itself to Kane's helmet.
Ash is looking towards the planet's surface, when he sees Dallas and Lambert carrying the unconscious Kane back to the Nostromo. They enter the airlock and ask Ripley to let them in, while Ash waits at the inner airlock door to open it. They inform Ripley that an organism has attached itself to Kane's face. Ripley hesitates, citing quarantine protocol: for the safety of the crew, Kane should first be decontaminated for 24 hours before being brought on board. Dallas fears for Kane's life and orders her to open the door, but she refuses, despite Dallas trying to pull rank. However, Ash disregards Ripley's decision and lets them in.
In the infirmary, Dallas and Ash cut Kane's helmet open: they find that a spider-like creature has attached itself to Kane's face, with eight fingers, and a long tail tightly wrapped around his neck. Despite his mouth being blocked, Kane is breathing heavily. Parker, Brett and Lambert observe through a window. Ripley joins them, and is angrily slapped by a furious Lambert for not allowing them to re-enter the ship; the men break the women apart. Dallas berates Ripley for disobeying a direct order, but Ripley furiously replies that she was just following the rules. Ash attempts to remove the creature from Kane's face with a pair of pliers, but it merely tightens its grip, and is holding on so tight that it will tear Kane's skin off with it. Kane is examined with a sophisticated medical scanner, which shows that the creature has inserted a tube into Kane's throat and is feeding him oxygen. Ash deduces that since Kane is comatose and the parasite is feeding him oxygen, removing the creature may kill Kane. However, Dallas is willing to take the risk.
Ash tries to cut off one of its legs with a scalpel, but a yellowish fluid pours out of the wound and begins to eat through the floor. Out of concern that the acidic fluid will breach the hull, the crew runs several floors downstairs, and find that the stuff's corrosive effects is neutralized after burning through several decks. Dallas says the substance resembles molecular acid, and Brett comments the creature must be using it for blood. 'Wonderful defense mechanism - you don't dare kill it', growls Parker. Dallas orders everyone back to their posts, as Kane is left in his coma to be tended by Ash.
Parker and Brett resume their repairs, commenting that they should never have landed on the planet. As Kane's situation remains unchanged, Ash is collecting data on the creature. He is startled by the sudden presence of Ripley in the infirmary. She wants to know what he has found out yet. Ash can only confirm that the creature's skin is made up of polysaccharides, which it is slowly replacing with silicon to toughen itself up. Ripley then confronts him with his decision to let it aboard, ignoring the quarantine law; Ash defends himself by stating that he did it out of concern for Kane's life, and that he temporarily forgot the fact that Ripley is the officer in charge when Dallas and Kane are away. Ripley replies that by allowing this, he has put all of their lives at risk, which is not appropriate behavior for a science officer. Ash coldly lets her know that he is perfectly capable to make that decision, and she should stick to her own job. Ripley leaves.
Dallas is sitting in the Nostromo's escape shuttle, the Narcissus, listening to music, when he is called to the infirmary by Ash, because something has happened to Kane. The creature has detached from Kane's face on its own, and has disappeared. Dallas, Ripley and Ash search the infirmary, and find it when it suddenly drops from an overhead compartment on an unsuspecting Ripley; it appears to be dead, only showing basic reflexes. They take a closer look at it, and confirm it is dead. Ripley wants to get rid of it, fearing that it may become even more harmful when dead; Ash strongly disagrees, given the uniqueness of the specimen. He wants to take it back to Earth for more tests, as it is harmless now. Dallas shares Ripley's sentiment, but leaves the decision to Ash, to Ripley's amazement.
Ripley tries to talk some sense into Dallas, who is unwilling to listen to her arguments, replying that he only runs the ship, and the science officer has the final word on all things scientific. Apparently, this is standard procedure nowadays, as per the almighty Company's regulations. Ripley asks if Dallas has ever worked with Ash before. Dallas mentions that he did five tours with the same science officer, but this person was suddenly replaced two days before the Nostromo left Thedus dock. Ripley admits she doesn't trust Ash, but Dallas responds that he doesn't trust anybody. He asks about the status of repairs, which are still underway, but appear completed enough to take the ship off. Even though Ripley does not recommend it, Dallas prefers to leave as soon as possible.
After a successful take-off and despite some minor technical errors, the ship docks with the refinery and cargo in orbit. The Nostromo then resumes its course for Earth.
The crew is back in the mess hall, bickering again about what to do with Kane. Dallas decides they will all get back into cryosleep. Lambert has calculated that it will take another 10 months to get back to Earth, which spoils their moods even further. Ash suddenly calls Dallas to the infirmary. Kane has awoken, still groggy but seemingly unharmed. He remembers very little of the event, but is starved and wants to eat. The crew decides to have one last meal before they re-enter cryosleep. During the meal, the crew is finally having a good time again, joking and enjoying the food. Kane is eating like he hasn't got food in ages, sharply observed by Ash. Suddenly, Kane begins to choke. After initially thinking he has swallowed something bad, the mood suddenly changes when Kane starts to groan and convulse violently. While he lies writhing and screaming on the table, the crew tries to aid and stabilize him, but his chest suddenly bursts, and a small snake-like alien creature erupts from his insides. It silently observes its surroundings. Parker moves in to kill it with a knife, but he is stopped by Ash. The creature screeches, then scurries away quickly, leaving the crew stunned and horrified.
A quick search through the deck yields no results whatsoever. After a short funeral for Kane, where his body is jettisoned into space, the crew members split up into two teams to capture the small creature. Brett assembles a weapon similar to a cattle prod, while Ash rigs together a tracking device. Parker, Brett, and Ripley investigate one of the lower decks, finding that the power has been disrupted despite repairs having been finished. Picking up a signal, they think they have the creature cornered in a cupboard. They prepare to catch it in a net, only to be startled by the discovery that it is the crew's cat, Jones, who had found a quiet place inside the cupboard, and runs away. Realizing they might pick up the cat on the tracker again later, Parker sends Brett off to catch Jones. As Brett is searching for Jones, he finds a mysterious object resembling a shedded snake skin on the floor. He continues on to a hold housing one of the ship's landing struts, eventually catching up with Jones. A strange creature is hanging in the chains above him, seemingly observing him. As Brett tries to coax Jones out, the cat hisses when a huge shape drops down behind him. It is the creature, however now with four limbs, an elongated head, fully grown and towering over Brett. Brett turns around, and is mesmerized while looking at the creature opening its mouth, revealing a second set of teeth which quickly extends from the mouth, biting Brett in the head, and dragging him, bloodied and screaming, above into an air shaft. Ripley and Parker hear him and arrive just in time to catch a glimpse of the monster as Brett disappears and blood drips down.
Parker and Ripley can only confirm the creature is big and escaped through the air ducts. Brett is assumed dead. The crew debates their next move. They all agree that the alien is using the air shafts to move around, so if they could drive it from the ducts into an airlock, they might be able to blow it out into space. Ripley asks Ash if he can offer some helpful information as a scientist; Ash suggests the alien may be afraid of fire, as most animals are. Fortunately, there are several flamethrowers on board. Ripley volunteers to enter the air shafts, but Dallas overrules her by volunteering himself.
Dallas enters the Mother console once more. He tries to get the Mother computer to evaluate their procedure to get rid of the alien, but Mother simply cannot provide an answer, due to lack of input. He tries to get Mother to offer suggestions, but again, the computer cannot compute, due to lack of available data. Finally, Dallas types " What are my chances?" The computer replies that it cannot compute.
The main airlock is prepared by Ripley and Ash for the decompression procedure, while Parker and Lambert position themselves where they can measure movement inside the ducts. The main duct is opened and Dallas enters the network of air shafts with a flamethrower, allowing the crew to remote-close valves behind him as he proceeds. Lambert uses a motion tracker to get his location, when she suddenly catches another signal going towards him. Assuming it is the alien, Dallas uses the flamethrower to make sure that one of the ducts leading down is safe. He ascends a ladder to the lower duct, but the alien's signal is lost in the meanwhile. He finds a puddle of slime on the floor. Lambert assures him that the alien cannot be far, so he uses the flame thrower around him to scare it out of hiding; nothing is there. Dallas is disoriented in the cramped space and starts to panic, when the other signal starts moving again, at higher speed to his location. Lambert desperately urges him to move away. He descends another ladder, turning around, his light illuminating the shrieking creature stretching its arms towards him. Static and feedback interrupt the line, and then there is only silence.
Parker puts Dallas' flamethrower on the table, saying it was just laying in the duct: no blood, no Dallas. Lambert looks as if she is near a nervous breakdown, while Ripley is desperately trying to hide her apprehension. She suggests that in absence of a better idea, they should continue with the old plan. Lambert says it is madness, and suggests abandoning the ship with the shuttle; however, the shuttle cannot sustain four people. Parker also opposes the idea, and wants to kill the creature; even if this means entering the entire duct system again, and blowing the alien out of the airlock. He leaves to re-fill the flamethrower. Ripley once again tries to get helpful information from Ash, but he says he is still analyzing. She scoffs at him for being so little help, and decides to go and try Mother for answers, since she now has access in light of Dallas' absence.
Ripley enters the Mother console, and queries Mother for answers as to why they are unable to neutralize the alien. Mother responds that she cannot clarify. Ripley asks Mother to explain that. Mother replies that she cannot, referring to 'Special Order 937' , which is only meant to be read by the science officer. Ripley uses a command override to force Mother to explain what Special Order 937 entails. Mother displays the following shocking text: 'Nostromo rerouted to new coordinates. Investigate life form. Gather specimen. Priority one: insure return of organism for analysis. All other considerations secondary. Crew expendable.' As she contemplates the cold, hard words, she suddenly finds Ash sitting next to her, saying there is an explanation for this. Furiously, she grabs and yells at him, sobbing uncontrollably. She leaves the console, trying to contact Parker and Lambert, but she finds that Ash is closing all doors leaving the mess hall, preventing her from leaving. She demands that he open the doors, but Ash simply stares at her. She notices a drop of white liquid running down his face, and he starts to have facial twitches. Unnerved, she tries to run away, but he suddenly grabs her hair; Ripley breaks free, pulling out a lock of hair, and tries to run. Ash quickly catches up and throws her against a few walls. While she is barely conscious, Ash uses a rolled-up magazine in order to choke her. She starts to struggle fiercely as Ash starts to twitch and make incoherent noises. Suddenly, Parker and Lambert arrive, both trying to drag Ash away from Ripley. Parker howls in pain as Ash grabs a piece of skin on his chest, forcing him to let go. Parker quickly grabs a fire extinguisher and hits Ash with it in the back. Ash starts to convulse and shriek violently, making very inhuman sounds while spitting out white liquid. Parker gives him another blow with the extinguisher, dislodging Ash's head, revealing Ash is an android. He keeps ponding Ash until he is on the floor, white liquid gushing from its insides. Ash' movements start to decrease and Parker settles down, but suddenly, the decapitated body grabs him and forces him onto a table; Lambert finally grabs the electric prod and screams as she stabs Ash in the back with it, finally rendering the android lifeless.
With Ash disabled, Ripley theorizes that the Company sent him along to bring an alien back for their weapons division, as Ash was always very protective of the creature. They reconnect his disembodied head to see if he can give them any advice on how to deal with the creature. Ash confirms that his order was to bring back the life-form, even if it meant sacrificing the crew. Ripley asks how they can kill the creature. He tells them they have no chance against it, as it is "the perfect organism". He has a silent admiration for it, "a survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse and delusions of morality". When he mocks their chances of survival, Ripley disconnects him again. The three survivors decide to follow Lambert's earlier suggestion; set the Nostromo to self-destruct and escape in the shuttle, leaving the Alien to die on the main ship. As they leave the room, Parker turns the flamethrower on Ash's corpse, melting his remains. Ripley will prep the shuttle for launch, while Parker and Lambert go to gather coolant for the shuttle's life-support system.
While prepping the shuttle, Ripley hears the cat meowing on the ship's open intercom system, and realizes Jones is still left behind. Lambert and Parker are in the hold gathering equipment. They proceed to a small room where the coolant is stored. Ripley ventures out alone, into the hallways of the Nostromo to find Jones the cat. Expecting the alien at every turn, Ripley finally locates the cat in the cockpit, where he startles her as he suddenly jumps into view. She puts him into his traveling container. In the meanwhile, Parker and Lambert are working so feverishly on the supplies, that neither of them pays attention to a large shadow that has appeared inside the room. It is the alien, and it closes in on Lambert. Ripley can hear Parker over the open intercom, shouting to Lambert to get out of the way, but the alien has cornered her against the wall. Parker is unable to get a clear shot at it with the flamethrower without risking harm to Lambert, as it is hulking over her. Finally, he charges at the creature, but it rapidly spins, whipping the flamethrower out of his hands with its long tail, and grabbing him with its large claws. Despite his struggle, the creature holds a tight grip, opens its mouth, and its bizarre inner jaws pierce Parker's head, instantly killing him. As Ripley rushes towards their position, she is powerless to prevent the creature from turning back to Lambert. It curls its tail around her, and the final thing that Ripley can hear from the intercom are the sounds of Lambert, crying, sobbing, gagging and screaming. Ripley finds their blodied and lifeless bodies in the storage room where they had been working in, with no sign of the alien.
In terrible shock, Ripley dashes towards the emergency room without stopping. Between the sobs, she locates the ship's self-destruct mechanism and quickly completes the entire procedure to activate it. The voice of Mother now announces that the self-destruct mechanism has been activated, and the ship will detonate in 10 minutes; however, the self-destruct can still be canceled during the first five minutes.
Ripley takes a ladder to the lower deck, where she hears a soft groan. She inspects the hold, and finds a strange organic structure adhering to the walls and machinery. Shocked, she finds Dallas stuck within the adhesive, barely alive. On the opposite wall, she notices a shape which vaguely resembles Brett; he seems to be dissolving, transforming into an object like the eggs seen in the derelict ship. Dallas very weakly begs Ripley to kill him. After some hesitation, she grants his dying request: she burns them both with the flamethrower and rushes out of the chamber.
Ripley crawls up a ladder, and runs towards the shuttle with Jones in the container. She briefly rests against a wall, when she suddenly hears the alien stirring around the corner. Terrified, she drops the cat carrier and carefully retraces her steps along the wall, as the alien slowly comes into view around the corner. It shows interest in Jones. The alien slams the container against a wall. Ripley races back to the self-destruct mechanism and tries to override the procedure; however, she is too late, as the mechanism is already starting to activate. She restarts the cooling unit, but Mother announces that it is too late to stop the countdown, and the Nostromo will explode in 5 minutes, much to Ripley's frustrated anger. With sirens blaring and steam releasing from the vents, Ripley runs back to the shuttle loading area, ready to make her best attempt to fight off the alien and get into the lifeboat. However, the alien is nowhere to be seen, only the cat container lying on its side. As fires start to erupt, she picks up Jones and boards the shuttle with only one minute to abandon ship. She quickly runs through the launch sequence, and the shuttle lowers to launch position as Mother starts counting down the last 30 seconds of the Nostromo's life. The shuttle's engines ignite and the ship races away from the Nostromo, which grows smaller by the second. A series of mighty explosions follow as the Nostromo vanishes in fire, destroying the refinery and ore it had been carrying. Ripley is relieved it destroyed the alien along with it.
Ripley gives Jones an hug and prepares one of the biobeds for cryosleep, putting Jones in it. As she makes final preparations for the ship, a hand suddenly reaches out to her from a wall; she shrieks, and in horror, she sees the alien lying in an alcove. It had, in fact, stowed away aboard the shuttle, its external physicality making it blend in with the ship's machinery. She flees into a locker with space suits inside, and notices the alien is not following her; it remains lying in the alcove, seemingly unable to do something. Ripley gets an idea, and dons one of the spacesuits. She arms herself with a harpoon gun, then straps herself into a chair while singing 'You are my lucky star' to calm her nerves. Opening a series of air vents above the alien's head, Ripley tests them one at a time, and then finds one that directly blasts high-pressure steam onto the alien, driving it screaming from its hiding spot. As she is activating several buttons, she doesn't notice the monster creeping up to her from the side, until it is standing next to her to its full, menacing 2-meter height, ready to attack with its inner jaw. Screaming, she opens the shuttle's airlock door. Everything not secured, including the alien, blasts towards the door. The alien, however, grabs the edges of the doorway to prevent itself from being sucked outside. Ripley quickly fires her harpoon before the creature is able to haul itself in; it pierces the screaming alien, which lets go of the doorway and blasts outside, the wire connecting the gun to the harpoon pulling the gun out of Ripley's hands. However, the door slams shut, jamming the wire under it. Still tethered to the door by the wire, the alien undauntedly attempts to re-enter the ship by climbing inside one of the heat thrusters. Ripley, however, sees the opportunity and fires the engines, incinerating the alien, and sending it drifting into space.
Before she and Jones enter hypersleep for the trip home, Ripley records a final log entry, stating that Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and captain Dallas are dead. Cargo and ship are destroyed. She expects to reach the frontier in six weeks, and to be picked up by the network. She signs off as Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, and gets into hypersleep.
End credits.

Dorian Gray (2009)

When a naïve young Dorian Gray arrives in a train to Victorian London, to inherit an estate left to him by his abusive Grandfather, he is swept into a social whirlwind by the charismatic Lord Henry Wotton, who introduces Gray to the hedonistic pleasures of the city. Lord Henry's friend, society artist Basil Hallward, paints a portrait of Gray to capture the full power of his youthful beauty. When the portrait is unveiled, Gray makes a flippant pledge: he would give anything to stay as he is in the pictureeven his soul.
Gray meets and falls in love with young budding actress Sibyl Vane. After a few weeks, he proposes marriage to her, but after Lord Henry tells Gray that having children is "the beginning of the end", he takes Gray to a brothel. This breaks Sibyl's heart as Gray leaves her, and she drowns herself soon after. Gray learns of this next day from her brother James ("Jim"), who tells Gray that Sybil was pregnant. Jim then tries to kill Gray before being restrained and carried off by the authorities. Gray's initial grief disappears as Lord Henry persuades him that all events are mere experiences and without consequence, and his hedonistic lifestyle worsens, distancing him from a concerned Hallward.
Gray goes home to find the portrait of himself warped and twisted and realises that his pledge has come true; while the portrait ages, its owner's sins are shown as physical defects on the canvas. The chaos of the portrait of Gray starts, leading him to brutally kill Hallward after telling him his secret, dumping the body in the River Thames.
Having left London to travel for many years, Gray returns to London and during the welcome-back party the guests are surprised to see that he has not aged at all. He becomes close to Lord Henry's daughter, Emily, a member of the UK suffragette movement, despite Lord Henry's distaste for such a relationship due to Gray's lifestyle and unnatural appearance, Emily having provided Lord Henry with a greater moral focus.
Although Gray appears genuinely interested in changing his ways as he spends time with Emily, matters are complicated when he is confronted by Jim, still seeking revenge for his sister's death. Despite Gray's attempts to pretend to be someone else by pointing out his apparent age, Jim nevertheless deduces Gray's true identity, only to be killed by a train while pursuing Gray in the London Underground. As Gray makes arrangements to leave London with Emily, Lord Henry's study of old photographs makes him remember the time when he teased Gray to deal with the devil for eternal youth and beauty at the cost of his soul.
Breaking into Gray's house as Gray and Emily are making plans to leave together, Lord Henry discovers the concealed portrait, but is interrupted by Gray before he can uncover it. Although Gray attempts to convince Lord Henry that he still cherishes his friendship and genuinely loves his daughter, Lord Henry discovers a stained scarf of Basil's in a box, prompting Gray to angrily declare that he is what Lord Henry has made him, the personification of the life he preached but never dared practise. Full of anger and grief, Gray attempts to strangle Lord Henry, but is distracted by Emily's call long enough for Lord Henry to knock him aside and expose the portrait.
Disgusted and horrified at the twisted sight on the canvas, Lord Henry throws a lit lamp at the portrait, causing it to catch fire, subsequently locking the gate of the attic, to ensure Gray and the painting are destroyed, before his daughter sees the ruckus as she pleads with Gray for the key. Gray, after seeing her and realising that he really loves her, turns his back as Lord Henry drags his daughter out of the house, his last words being to assure Emily that she has his whole heart. Resolving to end it all, Gray stabs the painting with a poker, causing his body to age the years that it has never suffered, Gray charging at the portrait to fully impale it as his years catch up to him before the attic is consumed by an explosion.
A few months later, scarred from the explosion and after attempting to reconcile with Emily through Agatha over the phone, Lord Henry heads to his attic where he keeps the now-youthful portrait of Gray, grimly noting that nobody will look at it now. As Lord Henry leaves, the portrait's eyes glow, suggesting that Gray's soul may still be within the portrait even after his death.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray (Hurd Hatfield) is a young man living in late-19th century London. While wealthy, charming, generally intelligent and very handsome, he is naive and easily manipulated. These faults lead to his spiral into sin and, ultimately, misery.
While posing for a painting by his artist friend Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore), Dorian meets Basil's friend Lord Henry Wotton (George Sanders). Wotton is enchantingly cynical and witty, and tells Dorian that the only life worth living is one dedicated entirely to pleasure. After Wotton convinces Dorian that youth and beauty will bring him everything he desires, Dorian openly wishes that his portrait could age in his place, and that he could keep his youthful good looks forever. He makes this statement in the presence of a certain Egyptian statue, which supposedly has the power to grant wishes. When the portrait of Dorian is complete, Lord Henry hails it as a masterpiece and is surprised when Basil announces he will never exhibit it because he feels he put "too much of himself" into it. Basil is also concerned about Lord Henry's influence on the impressionable Dorian, who Basil considers a dear friend and an artistic muse. Basil gives the painting to Dorian, who proudly hangs it in his opulent home.
One fateful night, Dorian visits a lower-class tavern, The Two Turtles, where he is given a prime seat for the night's entertainment. He is instantly charmed by the tavern owners' daughter, Sibyl Vane (Angela Lansbury), who performs a sweet singing routine during the lineup. Dorian is invited backstage after the show to meet Sibyl, and plays the piano for her in the empty tavern. Sibyl is flattered by the attention of such a handsome gentleman, and her mother (Lydia Bilbrook) encourages the relationship because of Dorian's wealth, but Sibyl's brother James (Richard Fraser) is suspicious. James tells his enamored sister in private that if this young man, whom Sibyl nicknamed "Sir Tristan" after a virtuous knight in Arthurian mythology, ever harms her, he will kill him. James is then deployed to Australia on a sailing mission.
Dorian excitedly tells Basil and Lord Henry that he is engaged to the beautiful Sibyl Vane, and invites them to come with him to the tavern to hear her sing. Despite having heard Lord Henry's disdainful views on marriage, Dorian is so genuinely happy that Lord Henry's words no longer influence him. Basil sees this as a positive development, and after seeing Sibyl perform and making her acquaintance, encourages the engagement for the sake of Dorian's moral purity. Lord Henry, on the other hand, cannot resist exploiting his innate ability to influence his friends, and suggests that Dorian test Sibyl's worth with an "experiment." Dorian invites Sibyl to his house that night and, when she prepares to go home, asks her to stay. Torn between love and honor, Sibyl nearly leaves, but cannot resist Dorian's charm. This meant that she had failed Lord Henry's test, and Dorian sends her an incredibly hurtful letter, accusing her of "killing his love," and that she can have no part in his life henceforth. He sends her a sum of money for compensation, but Sibyl is emotionally destroyed.
When Dorian returns home after abandoning Sibyl, he notices a slight change in the portrait Basil had painted of him. The mouth looks somehow crueler, and a cold unkindness is present in the face that had not been there before. When he wakes the next morning, the change is still visible. He feels immense guilt over how badly he had treated Sibyl, and hastily composes an apology letter in an attempt to redeem himself. Before he can deliver it, Lord Henry arrives with the news that Sibyl Vane had killed herself the night before. Dorian is initially devastated, but Lord Henry convinces him to not blame himself for the tragedy and invites him to the opera. Abandoning his grief, Dorian falls deeper into Lord Henry's teachings of "new hedonism", and goes to the opera with him that very night. Basil is surprised and worried when he witnesses Dorian's uncaring behavior in regard to Sibyl's death, and Dorian plans to dedicate his life solely to his own pleasure. Because the change in the portrait still disturbed him, Dorian has it covered with a screen and locked in his old school room at the top of the house, to which he keeps the only key.
Eighteen years later, Dorian is nearing his fortieth birthday, but has not visibly changed since age twenty-two. His friends and neighbors are awestruck at his youthful appearance, but unsavory rumors constantly circulate about his strange behavior and acquaintances. Having taken Lord Henry's ideas to heart, Dorian's life consists largely of scandals with women, opium dens, and influencing other wealthy young men to adopt his hedonistic way of living. Over time, many of his friends lost their good standing in society, and women were shamed to be in his company. Dorian meets Basil again, who is preparing to catch a train to Paris, and invites him to his house. Basil expresses his concern about Dorian's behavior, and admits that in order to truly know what kind of man Dorian is, he would have to see his soul itself. Dorian grimly leads Basil up to the old school room to look upon his handiwork for the first time in eighteen years. Dorian removes the coverings from the hidden portrait, and Basil is horrified to see that the man in the painting has warped into a hideous, demon-like creature to reflect Dorian's multitude of sins. Basil begs Dorian to repent and change his ways, but Dorian feels a surge of anger toward Basil, blaming him for his miserable life because the painting was his own work. Dorian stabs Basil to death and locks his body in the school room with the horrible painting, in which blood has appeared on the hands of the twisted painted Dorian.
The next morning, Dorian summons a former friend, Allen Campbell (Douglas Walton), whose reputation had since been ruined by his associations with Dorian. Campbell is a scientist specializing in anatomy and chemistry, and Dorian blackmails the highly reluctant man into disposing of Basil's body. The nature of the blackmailing subject is not revealed, but Campbell agrees to disintegrate Basil's body, and departs afterward looking shaken and disturbed.
Basil's disappearance is talked about in London society for some time, but Dorian is never suspected. Among the few who have remained his loyal friends are Lord Henry and Gladys (Donna Reed), Basil's niece, who was a little girl when the portrait was painted. Dorian enters a romance with Gladys, though he is apprehensive about the effect he appears to have on the lives of those he becomes close to. He visits a seedy inn one evening and finds a former friend, Adrian Singleton (Morton Lowry), a wealthy young man who had been ruined by following Dorian's influence. Adrian is now a disheveled opium addict, but he knows of Dorian's sordid past and mockingly addresses him as "Sir Tristan" as Dorian departs the inn. The nickname is overheard by James Vane, Sibyl's brother, who happened to be at the inn and had spent eighteen years being hell-bent on avenging his sister. Though he did not know her cruel suitor's name and had never seen his face, the name "Sir Tristan" is enough to motivate him to follow Dorian outside and threaten him. Dorian calmly denies ever knowing a Sibyl Vane, and asserts that he is too young to have had anything to do with a death that occurred eighteen years before. James Vane admits that this man looks too young to be the suspect, and releases him. Adrian Singleton, with both amusement and resentment, explains to James that Dorian Gray was the man he sought, and that he had not looked a day older than twenty-two for the past eighteen years. Enraged, James Vane begins to track down Dorian Gray.
A few days later, Dorian attends a hunting party with several society friends. The sport is interrupted when a man, assumed to be a beater, is shot to death by accident after hiding in the bushes unseen. It is revealed to Dorian later that the dead man was not a beater, but James Vane, having followed Dorian in revenge and lost his own life in the process. Dorian feels even more guilty and cursed, but wishes to make one final stab at having a good and worthwhile life. He soon proposes marriage to Gladys, who happily accepts, much to the displeasure of her friend David Stone (Peter Lawford), who is one of the many who are suspicious of Dorian.
Despite his happiness about his upcoming marriage to Gladys, Dorian is weighted down by the deaths of Sibyl, Basil, and James, as well as the ruin of Adrian Singleton and others like him. The last straw is the news that Allen Campbell, whom Dorian ruined and then blackmailed into disposing of Basil's body, had killed himself in misery. Dorian realizes that the one noble thing he can possibly do is to spare Gladys from the certain misfortune he will bring her.
At long last, Dorian ventures up to the school room to face the painting that is the embodiment of his corrupted soul. Using the same knife with which he had murdered Basil Hallward, he stabs his painted figure through the heart. Dorian himself feels the effect of the knife, and collapses, praying for his salvation. Roused by his screams, his houseguests, including Gladys, David, and Lord Henry, rush upstairs and find Dorian Gray's dead body on the school room floor, now in the form of the hideous creature from the painting. The painting itself, with the knife still protruding from it, has reverted to its original image of the handsome, innocent youth than Dorian once was. Lord Henry, stricken, sees the horrible results of his own influence and gazes at Dorian's corpse in shocked remorse.