Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

ma-cortes This awesome and vivid picture concerns life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh . He was a Post-Impressionist painter of Dutch origin whose work—notable for its rough beauty , emotional honesty, and bold color—had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. The picture has an opening credits prologue: Without museums help and that of private collectors the world over, this motion picture about a great painter could not have been made . Van Gogh life is a disaster , he fails at being a preacher to coal miners , he fails in his relationships with parents (Henry Daniell as Theodorus Van Gogh and wife Madge Kennedy) and women (Pamela Brown) . At the same time the movie deals with other Impressionist painters who appear across footage such as Gauguin (Anthony Quinn won well-deserved Academy Award as painter/friend) , Camille Pissarro (David Leonard) , George Seurat , Millet , Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec ; furthermore, his relationships to known characters such as his brother Theo Van Gogh (James Donald) and Dr. Gachet (Everett Sloane). After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness he commits himself suicide . Magnificent rendition of Irving Stone's biography of known painter , being finely portrayed , especially his anguishes , unrewarding friendships , poorness , pains and many other things . This splendid film packs emotion , top-drawer interpretation , adequate production design , enjoyable soundtrack and exquisite color in CinemaScope . Interesting and thought-provoking screenplay by Norman Corwin . Terrific acting by the great Kirk Douglas who even had his hair cut specially in the style of the artist and had it dyed to a similar reddish tint . Over-the-top performance by Anthony Quinn as Gauguin but he does not get along with Van Gogh , his playing actually lasts 22 minutes and 40 seconds , he won his Best ing Actor Oscar . Evocative as well as sensitive musical score by classical composer Miklos Rozsa . Rousing and glittering cinematography by Russell Harlan and Freddie Young . The color process used for the film -Ansco color, but labeled in the credits as Metrocolor- is supposedly unsuitable for long term color preservation . As a result, many prints have lost the extraordinary brightness of the movie's images . Being shot on location , as many of the locations used for filming were the actual locations Vincent van Gogh visited in his life ; parts of the film were shot in Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent van Gogh lived and died . This motion picture perfectly produced by actor/producer John Houseman was stunningly directed by Vincente Minnelli who even had a portion of a field spray-painted yellow to closer resemble Vincent van Gogh's painting. The flick is well based on actual events , these are the followings : Van Gogh spent his early adulthood working for a firm of art dealers, traveling between The Hague, London, and Paris, after which he taught for a time in England at Isleworth and Ramsgate. One of his early aspirations was to become a pastor, and from 1879 he worked as a missionary in a mining region in Belgium, where he began to sketch people from the local community. In 1885, he painted his first major work, entitled The Potato Eaters. His palette at the time consisted mainly of somber earth tones and showed no sign of the vivid coloration that distinguished his later work. In March 1886, he moved to Paris and discovered the French Impressionists. Later, he moved to the south of and was influenced by the strong sunlight he found there. His work grew brighter in color, and he developed the unique and highly recognizable style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in 1888. The extent to which his mental health affected his painting has been a subject of speculation since his death. Despite a widespread tendency to romanticize his ill health, modern critics see an artist deeply frustrated by the inactivity and incoherence brought about by his bouts of illness. Van Gogh's late works show an artist at the height of his ability, completely in control and "longing for concision and grace". He died aged 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted although no gun was ever found .

braddugg Kirk Douglas becomes Vincent Gogh and is terrific in this film. Just watch it for the portrayal.Vincent Gogh lived a very complicated film, as shown in the film perhaps. But to adapt to the complications and portray them without any compromise would have been the most challenging part. Kirk Douglas, the fine actor he is has done this effortlessly. Kudos to the great man for his acting itself.Expectedly, the art direction is wonderful, as this is a film about painter, his paintings in itself would make the shots beautiful. The cinematography was adequate if not great. The lines were good and the editing was fine. But mind you, this is a biopic so it would take some liberties in of length in showing few important aspects of the life of Vincent Gogh.Vincent Minnelli was one of the most celebrated directors of his time and he did this film with a great grand vision as his earlier films. But, he somewhere lost his vision in the making. He made a clichéd biopic that is definitely good but must not great. I suppose that the script did little justice to the emotions which Kirk Douglas portrayed and also what Vincent Gogh could have gone through emotionally. This is good for a one time watch just for acting. A 3/5 for a good film and of these, 2 stars only to Kirk Douglas and the remaining star for the film overall. It's a good film but tests our patience at times.

jamescallumburton The life of Van Gogh in glamorous Metro-color. The film is quite simply magnificent. Everything is fantastic , from the performances to the cinematography. Kirk Douglas' performance is what carries the film , his charisma and brilliant use of physical acting help convey the conflicting and tormenting emotions and desires felt by Van Gogh. The colour scheme for the film is very clever since it almost parallels the colours and shades in Van Gogh's paintings. The rest of the cast produce great acting that matches the dramatic tones and beauty of the film. A classic from Hollywood and one of the most beautiful and thought provoking films ever made.

James McGovern When I first heard Hollywood had made a film about a great artist and Kirk Douglas(although a fine actor) was the lead I thought automatically of how poor it would be. But i was very wrong, I really consider this, if not a great film then certainly a very very good one. It pleasantly surprised me with its use of Van Gogh's artistry as somewhat the main character. Its a solid cast also, James Donald is quite interesting in the part of Theo(Vincents brother), Anthony Quinn as Paul Gauguin is very good(he won the Oscar for ing actor)although his part is very small, and Kirk Douglas gives probably the best performance I've seen him give in a film. The soundtrack is also very powerful and Vicente Minnelli certainly puts in a good shift in this thoroughly enjoyable film.