Role: Allen Campbell
Film Presence: Small
Role Type: Serious, Broody, and Sexually Ambiguous
Film Information and Summary: IMDb, TCM, Wikipedia
Release Date: March 1, 1945
Douglas Walton's role as Allen Campbell
The handsome and corrupted Dorian Gray (played by Hurd Hatfield) murdered his artist friend Basil Hallward (played by Lowell Gilmore) in a fit of rage. Almost immediately he regretted his actions but needed to rid the evidence from his house. He sent an urgent message to his old former friend (and possibly lover) chemist Allen Campbell (Douglas Walton) for help.
When the broody Allen arrived, Dorian was laying on a couch and greeted him in a coy manner. Allen stared at Dorian for a few seconds, and then his eyes shifted downward. Dorian stood up and read a verse by Omar Khayyam, mostly to warm up to his old friend. Allen responded coldly, obviously not wanting to be there in the first place. Dorian cut to the chase of what must be done. He too glanced at Allen, and then his eyes shifted elsewhere. He went over to his desk with a paper and pen.
As he was writing, Dorian told an unamused Allen that there is a dead body up in the attic. Knowing about his former friend's scientific knowledge, Dorian wanted him to dispose the corpse and to leave no traces of it. He told Allen not to question who the body belongs to or how it got there. Being a man of morals, Allen refused to do the dirty work. Dorian said it was a suicide. Allen didn't believe it. Dorian paused from writing his letter and admitted that he murdered the person upstairs. He said he would be hanged if Allen doesn't help, speaking to him as if they're still friends. An unfazed Allen said that Dorian deserved what he got for being a vile person. As he resumed to write his letter, Dorian tried to convince Allen to do the favor, albeit in a cold and oddly seductive manner. Allen resisted and would not budge. At this point, Dorian must use his last resort on Allen. Blackmail.
Dorian revealed the written letter to his former chemist friend. Allen no longer unyielding as dread came upon his face. As he sat down on a chair, he realized that his secret will be out and "it would kill her" if she were to know. Feeling torn and helpless, he still did not want to do the immoral task. Dorian said that he has no choice but to send the letter out if Allen doesn't agree to do it. Because he didn't want any scandals involved, he begrudgingly agreed to do the evil deed. He was crushed on what he had done. Much later it was revealed that Allen Campbell committed suicide. Dorian felt bad for pushing him to carry such a burden.
Watch this scene below :
The film and the book never mentioned what the letter was about. Considering that the source material was written by Oscar Wilde, the letter may allude to Allen Campbell's homosexual life. The dialogue between him and Dorian Gray indicated as such, especially in the novel.
The first time I watched this film, I automatically noticed the homoerotic tension between the two characters. Douglas Walton's Allen Campbell was mostly stoic. Hurd Hatfield's Dorian Gray had a subtle sensuality when carrying out this scene. It's almost as if he was flirting his way through while Allen resisted. For the 1940's, this is quite impressive. Although not blatant, the homo eroticism was crystal clear. It was even discussed between film historian Steve Haberman and Angela Lansbury (who played as Sibyl Vane) in the DVD/Blu-ray commentary. A fun fact from Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury by Martin Gottfried, both Hurd Hatfield and George Sanders (who played as Henry Wotton) knew about the homosexual implications of the film when reading their scripts!
For the record, this was my first exposure in seeing Douglas Walton in a film, which was back in the summer of 2014. With full honesty, I didn't think much of him at the time--I was fully invested in researching about Hurd Hatfield and his works, which I should also make a proper blog for him with the amount of information I've accumulated. Many years later I decided to look up on Douglas Walton and didn’t realize that he used to be a cutie back then. In this movie, all I saw was a middle-aged guy with a creepstache (I'M SO SORRY DOUGLAS!!!). There you have it, I'm a shallow person. But in all seriousness, what made me want to research on Walton in the first place was to discover his greatest performances. Yes, many of them were small and unknown, but some were brilliant as well. Also I have uncovered and analyzed so much information about his life that no other sites have ever done. Hence that is why I write this blog to tell his story.
Release Date: March 1, 1945
Douglas Walton's role as Allen Campbell
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| Douglas Walton in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945). This is kind of you, Allen. |
The handsome and corrupted Dorian Gray (played by Hurd Hatfield) murdered his artist friend Basil Hallward (played by Lowell Gilmore) in a fit of rage. Almost immediately he regretted his actions but needed to rid the evidence from his house. He sent an urgent message to his old former friend (and possibly lover) chemist Allen Campbell (Douglas Walton) for help.
When the broody Allen arrived, Dorian was laying on a couch and greeted him in a coy manner. Allen stared at Dorian for a few seconds, and then his eyes shifted downward. Dorian stood up and read a verse by Omar Khayyam, mostly to warm up to his old friend. Allen responded coldly, obviously not wanting to be there in the first place. Dorian cut to the chase of what must be done. He too glanced at Allen, and then his eyes shifted elsewhere. He went over to his desk with a paper and pen.
 |
| Hurd Hatfield reading a verse to an unamused Douglas Walton in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945). |
As he was writing, Dorian told an unamused Allen that there is a dead body up in the attic. Knowing about his former friend's scientific knowledge, Dorian wanted him to dispose the corpse and to leave no traces of it. He told Allen not to question who the body belongs to or how it got there. Being a man of morals, Allen refused to do the dirty work. Dorian said it was a suicide. Allen didn't believe it. Dorian paused from writing his letter and admitted that he murdered the person upstairs. He said he would be hanged if Allen doesn't help, speaking to him as if they're still friends. An unfazed Allen said that Dorian deserved what he got for being a vile person. As he resumed to write his letter, Dorian tried to convince Allen to do the favor, albeit in a cold and oddly seductive manner. Allen resisted and would not budge. At this point, Dorian must use his last resort on Allen. Blackmail.
 |
| Hurd Hatfield writing a letter while Douglas Walton stands in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945). |
Dorian revealed the written letter to his former chemist friend. Allen no longer unyielding as dread came upon his face. As he sat down on a chair, he realized that his secret will be out and "it would kill her" if she were to know. Feeling torn and helpless, he still did not want to do the immoral task. Dorian said that he has no choice but to send the letter out if Allen doesn't agree to do it. Because he didn't want any scandals involved, he begrudgingly agreed to do the evil deed. He was crushed on what he had done. Much later it was revealed that Allen Campbell committed suicide. Dorian felt bad for pushing him to carry such a burden.
 |
| Douglas Walton and Hurd Hatfield in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945). |
 |
| Hurd Hatfield patted Douglas Walton in the back in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945). |
 |
| Douglas Walton and Hurd Hatfield in "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945). |
Watch this scene below :
The film and the book never mentioned what the letter was about. Considering that the source material was written by Oscar Wilde, the letter may allude to Allen Campbell's homosexual life. The dialogue between him and Dorian Gray indicated as such, especially in the novel.
The first time I watched this film, I automatically noticed the homoerotic tension between the two characters. Douglas Walton's Allen Campbell was mostly stoic. Hurd Hatfield's Dorian Gray had a subtle sensuality when carrying out this scene. It's almost as if he was flirting his way through while Allen resisted. For the 1940's, this is quite impressive. Although not blatant, the homo eroticism was crystal clear. It was even discussed between film historian Steve Haberman and Angela Lansbury (who played as Sibyl Vane) in the DVD/Blu-ray commentary. A fun fact from Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury by Martin Gottfried, both Hurd Hatfield and George Sanders (who played as Henry Wotton) knew about the homosexual implications of the film when reading their scripts!
For the record, this was my first exposure in seeing Douglas Walton in a film, which was back in the summer of 2014. With full honesty, I didn't think much of him at the time--I was fully invested in researching about Hurd Hatfield and his works, which I should also make a proper blog for him with the amount of information I've accumulated. Many years later I decided to look up on Douglas Walton and didn’t realize that he used to be a cutie back then. In this movie, all I saw was a middle-aged guy with a creepstache (I'M SO SORRY DOUGLAS!!!). There you have it, I'm a shallow person. But in all seriousness, what made me want to research on Walton in the first place was to discover his greatest performances. Yes, many of them were small and unknown, but some were brilliant as well. Also I have uncovered and analyzed so much information about his life that no other sites have ever done. Hence that is why I write this blog to tell his story.
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