It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I realize this is a famous movie, so if you're a Kirk Douglas fan, you're going to end up watching it, but I just didn't like it. For starters, it's a Vincent van Gogh biopic, and I'm not particularly interested in his life. After I watched the movie, I found myself even less interested in his life.Yes, we all know his paintings, but Vincent van Gogh was far from a model citizen. He was moody, mentally ill, mean, and obsessive. Why does treating women badly, yelling at your friends, and caring about nothing but your art mean that Vincente Minnelli should direct a film about your life? I didn't see the point, and even though the fantastic actors Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn played van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, respectively, the movie is far from interesting.If van Gogh is your favorite artist, yes, you'll want to see this one. But for those of you just looking for a good Kirk performance, rent The Bad and the Beautiful. Anthony Quinn won an Oscar for Lust for Life, but if you're a fan on the lookout for a great performance, he's much better as an emotionally tortured husband in Hot Spell.

One of my top 10 favorite films from the mid-20th century era. Star Kirk Douglas had previously ("Young Man with a Horn") played a character obsessed with playing improvised jazz on the trumpet, based on the self- destructive life of the jazz enthusiast Bix Beiderbecke. Many details of the life of Bix or in the novel that the film was based upon were fictionalized. Now, Douglas played another doomed tortured artist in Vincent Van Gogh. Unlike Bix, Vincent is well recognized by the general public. Unlike the film relating to Bix, this film is about as true to the historical details as can be expected for a film, especially since it is based upon an Irving Stone novel of the same title published in 1934. Douglas makes a very convincing Vincent, both in his physical appearance and in his acting. Tony Quinn was also an excellent choice for Vincent's sometimes roommate: Paul Gauguin. Besides acting, Quinn had a longstanding interest in making paintings and sculpture. James Donald is good as Vincent's brother Theo, who made Vincent's career as an artist possible with his monthly allowance to the destitute Vincent. Not included in the film is mention of Theo's death, which occurred a mere 6 months after Vincent's death, due to cerebral syphilis. We can usefully divided the film into 5 segments. The first covers his problems trying to become an ordained minister or a missionary, including his time spent as a missionary in a very poor coal town, where he had trouble relating to the people until he took to spending some time digging coal and digging through a huge pile of rejected rock that included some coal, like the women did while their husbands were down below. Covered with coal dust at times, and living in a primitive shack, the church elders were not pleased when they came to check on him. He called them hypocrites and claimed he was more Christ-like than they were. At home, he said that he didn't believe in the God of the clergymen; he believed in a God of love. That was the end of his shaky ministerial career. The second segment of the film covers the period when he has taken up art work, but only produces black and white drawings. During this period, his cousin Kay rejects his marriage proposal, which sends him into a psychological tailspin for a period. He takes up with a laundress/prostitute for a period, but she eventually leaves. The third segment covers his discovery and development of color painting, before inviting Paul Gauguin to come live and work with him.The 4th segment covers his association with Gauguin. Mostly, they quarrel about painting styles and keeping the place reasonably neat. Vincent runs after Gauguin with a razor, as Gauguin is leaving. Vincent then cuts his ear off with a knife and is laid up for a while.The final segment is his post-Gauguin life. This includes his stay at the St. Remy asylum, then with Dr. Gachet. He has periodic seizures. At St. Remy, initially, he's not allowed to paint. Later, he is allowed to paint in moderation, as painting seems to be necessary to promote his sanity. But, this does not cure his loneliness. He can't seem to relate to non-artists, and his work is a solitary one.Tony Quinn received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his relatively brief screen time. I think Douglas was more deserving of the Best Actor Oscar.In contrast to Vincent, Gauguin had achieved financial success in his 20s, from stock brokering and art dealing. Then, the stock market crashed and the market for artwork mostly dried up. Thus, he abandoned his family, and took up producing artwork, along with other odd jobs,often just barely surviving Today, his paintings, sell for $ millions, like Vincent's. Gauguin would eventually move to Tahiti and other islands administered by France, thus distancing himself from western society. Many of his most famous paintings were done on these islands. The novel "The Way to Paradise" is based on this period in Gauguin's life and that of his grandmother, who also had big issues with conventional society.The film lost $2,000,000.upon initial release. Perhaps its 2 hour length was too long for many, and its cost too great?Some of Vincent's best known paintings are shown periodically in the second half.Director Vincent Minnelli had previously directed Douglas in the acclaimed "The Bad and the Beautiful", about Hollywood politics. Parts of the present film were filmed in several locations that Vincent lived in.

Very engrossing a really made with millions of sweat ,toil and hard work ,I watched lived and gone into trance beautifully crafted,I take hats off for great director crew and cameraman ,I want keep this in my film library.How they created the scenes on actual grounds where the two greatest artiste lived ,the paintings and then taking viewers to actual scenes is something unusual,the chat with lady who saw this painter in her childhood who as i know died recently,something unbelievable,Great work.Hopefully all art lovers will keep this in their film library ,a commendable work ,a Oscar to be given every year to it.

The brightness of the sunflowers, a masterpiece by Van Gogh. Unfortunately, his life wasn't anywhere as bright. Emotionally conflicted in a life where he felt he could not achieve, Van Gogh was certainly doomed as a man of tragedy.Such is the material that Kirk Douglas had to work with in portraying this master painter. Douglas turned in a riveting, memorable, totally brilliant performance and in this writer's estimation, he was totally robbed of the Academy Award for best actor in 1956. Yul Brynner's win for "The King and I," was shocking to say the least. It was bad enough that Heston and Brynner were denied best actor nominations for "The 10 Commandments" that year, but Douglas losing brought a bitter taste to a film goer's mouth.On the other hand, Anthony Quinn was the surprising winner for best supporting actor in his brief stint as the selfish Paul Gaugin.(Robert Stack-"Written on the Wind!")You feel the pain that Douglas portrayed in this film. It will be etched in our memories for ever. A crowning achievement of epic proportions. They don't get much better than this.