Paintings in Films

[cornershop15]

The last thread I created, 'Scene-Stealing Animals in Films', began with Tinker, the dog who was killed by his owner in the Hammer picture Straight on Till Morning. Nowhere near as traumatic, but, ironically, the first subject here is a painting of two dogs who are about to rubbed out', in a sense, as one of the (unidentified) handlers is about to paint 'SOLD' right across them.

This is from the auction scene in The Magic Christian (1969), where American couple James
Dyrenforth and Stella Tanner have outbid millionaire Peter Sellers with £18,500 at Sotheby's:


The real painting is by Sir Edwin Landseer and is called Dignity and Impudence (1839):


It resides at the Tate Gallery and their website reveals it was "bequeathed by Jacob Bell in 1859".

Dignity and Impudence is characteristic of Landseer’s tendency to give human attributes to animals. Landseer contrasts the large, dignified bloodhound with the small, mischievous terrier. These dogs, ‘Grafton’ and ‘Scratch’ were both owned by Landseer’s friend, Jacob Bell, who commissioned the painting.

(From the display caption September 2004)

I have thought about adding Paintings to the list of interesting finds in movies and television programmes for some time. The others so far include Animals, Books, Magazines and Posters. Threads for Sets and Locations are more demanding but show that I'm interested in every aspect of film, despite my limited knowledge.

As well as paintings that are renowned and displayed all over the world, there must be a great many that were specially created for films, such as Portrait of Jennie (one of my favourites), Laura, and Hitchcock's Vertigo. The Picture that comes to life in Three Cases of Murder, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, and black magician Adrian Marcato in Rosemary's Baby are others that easily come to mind.

I also want to include some 'unknown' paintings (to me anyway), like the ones briefly seen next to Auctioneer Patrick Cargill in the above scene from The Magic Christian. I'll find the better images for my next post. In the meantime, I would like to know what other Paintings in Films have caught the attention. A companion 'Paintings in TV Shows' will hopefully appear sooner rather than later.

*More of the fellow animal lover's work here:

Sir Edwin Henry LANDSEER (1802-1873)

[Steve Crook]

What about the painting of Hyde's wife in The League of Gentlemen (1960)?



That's really Deborah Kerr and was first seen in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)



The painting is an important plot point in both films. They must have found it in an old store room when they made League

Steve

[GRAEME]

That dog picture is absolutely horrible! Pity they didn't rub out the real one!

[GRAEME]

What's the b/w portmanteau film where the stories are linked by paintings or sections of a single painting. Not sure if it was a horror or not.

Similar to the TV show The Night Gallery - there's a website somewhere that has collected the rather lurid paintings they used for that.

[Mr Sloane]

Can't find the one from a Brit version - but the plot of this film turns on the portrait.

[Mr Sloane]

What's the b/w portmanteau film where the stories are linked by paintings or sections of a single painting. Not sure if it was a horror or not.

Similar to the TV show The Night Gallery - there's a website somewhere that has collected the rather lurid paintings they used for that.

There is the pilot of Night Gallery which revolves round three paintings. The one re the Nazi has always stuck in my memory.

[RogerThornhill]

Quite a famous movie moment here, from The Picture of Dorian Gray.

[jaycad]

then there is the painting in the opening story of 'three cases of murder'.

[RogerThornhill]

This is the painting of Carlotta Valdes from Vertigo. Also Madeleine, Kim Novak, gazing at the portrait.

[will.15]

Horror movies/episodes and paintings go hand in hand. From one of the best Boris Karloff Thriller episodes, William Shatner gets his fingers bloody touching the painting of The Grim Reaper.

[Rick C]

Does the painting have to be a real one, from a previous literary or cinema/tv medium, or will a painting made for the purpose of narrative do? In which case:



Kim Novak in Robert Aldrich's "Legend of Lylah Clare".

[HUGHJAMPTON]

What about the painting of Hyde's wife in The League of Gentlemen (1960)?

That's really Deborah Kerr and was first seen in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

The painting is an important plot point in both films. They must have found it in an old store room when they made League

Steve

Any ideas as to it's whereabouts, now, Steve?

[Steve Crook]

Any ideas as to it's whereabouts, now, Steve?

I haven't got it

If it was just left in an old storeroom after they made Blimp then it was probably put back in there after they made League of Gentlemen. Blimp was made at Denham but when that closed down much of the material was moved to Pinewood, which is where League of Gentlemen was made. Maybe it's still there.

I don't even know who painted it. It could well have been the designer of Blimp, Alfred Jungs, or one of his crew.

Steve

P.S. I've added screen grabs from both films to my original post

[HUGHJAMPTON]

I haven't got it

Steve

You're slipping, mate

[Moor Larkin]

What I would do to have this on my wall...............


Flickr: Please wait...

Here's the model from Alcatraz

[TimR]

The paintings of Gene Tierney and Jennifer Jones are central to Laura and Portrait of Jennie, respectively.

[Mr Sloane]

The paintings of Gene Tierney and Jennifer Jones are central to Laura and Portrait of Jennie, respectively.

[TimR]

Thanks and yes, Harvey too.

[RogerThornhill]

Vera Miles, Hitchcock's original choice for Madeleine, seen here in a costume test for the part, posed for an earlier portrait of Carlotta, seen in a detail below.

That's interesting, I hadn't seen that before. I wonder what Vera Miles thought of that portrait? It doesn't look very flattering to me.

[narabdela]

Tony Hancock's "Aphrodite at the Waterhole" in 'The Rebel'.