Starring: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown, Everett Sloane Directed By: George Cukor, Vincente Minnelli Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Feature: Vibrant orange sunflowers. Rippling yelow grain. Trees bursting with white bloom. "The pictures come to me as in a dream," Vincent Van Gogh said. A dream that too often turned to life-shattering nightmare.Winner of Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Best Actor Awards, Kirk Douglas gives a fierce portrayal as the artist torn between the joyous inspiration of his genius and the dark desperation Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: January 31, 2006 Running Time: 122 minutes Studio: Warner Home Video Theatrical Release Date: 1956
Features:
Vibrant orange sunflowers. Rippling yelow grain. Trees bursting with white bloom. "The pictures come to me as in a dream," Vincent Van Gogh said. A dream that too often turned to life-shattering nightmare.Winner of Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Best Actor Awards, Kirk Douglas gives a fierce portrayal as the artist torn between the joyous inspiration of his genius and the dark desperation
Product Description: A dramatization of the life of the tormented, nineteenth century Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Genre: Feature Film-Drama Rating: NR Release Date: 31-JAN-2006 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com essential video: Lust for Life is appropriately titled, for mere passion seems inadequate when describing this superb fictionalized biography (based on Irving Stone's popular novel) of Vincent Van Gogh. In a deservedly Oscar®- nominated performance, Kirk Douglas is physically and emotionally perfect as the tormented Dutch painter, whose life is chronicled from his ill-fated stint as a preacher to Belgian miners in 1878, to his Impressionist-inspired artistic awakening and psychological descent to suicide in 1890. Having triumphed with 1952's The Bad and the Beautiful, Douglas, producer John Houseman, and director Vincente Minnelli brought vigor and vitality to this blessed project, which centers on Van Gogh's stormy friendship with fellow artist Gaugin (Oscar-winner Anthony Quinn). Minnelli used an outmoded color film process and innovative camera techniques to vividly recreate Van Gogh's paintings, and he filmed on the actual Dutch and French locations where Van Gogh's mastery flourished. The artist's lust for life also fed his madness, and this film deeply understands the fine line in between. --Jeff Shannon
Dramatic depiction of the artist's life ^ Please note that I saw this movie on TV so I can't comment on the quality of the video transfer.
Van Gogh's troubled life is dramatically brought to the screen in one of Douglas's greatest roles. Douglas and Quinn are superb in this movie as the two ill-fated artist friends, and also James Donald is great as van Gogh's devoted brother. The movie follows van Gogh from his departure from divinity school and his ministerial work with the miners to his ultimate suicide. Van Gogh is shown as a man who is passionate about everything in his life--his religion, his art, and his women--often to the point of being out of control. But that's why van Gogh's story is still well known today, because he lived life on the edge in otherwise conservative, dreary, repressive Victorian society.
But although we're supposed to feel sorry for and empathize with the tragic van Gogh, interestingly he doesn't always make a very sympathetic character in this movie. For example, Gauguin praises van Gogh's paintings when no one else would, but in return van Gogh criticizes Gauguin's, setting the stage for another of their blow-ups. And when the woman he loves rejects him he refuses to accept it and tries to force his attentions on her.
Unfortunately, the two friends are direct opposites, so their friendship is doomed from the start. Gauguin can be arrogant and abrasive even with his friends, and so the volatile and sensitive van Gogh is soon at odds with his fellow roommate, but they are thrown together by circumstances and by their rejection of the uninspired French Academy art of the day.
Rejected by the art society of his day and often neglected even by his friends, fortunately van Gogh knew a few good people who helped him over the years. Pere Tanguy and Dr. Gachet were two of his admirers who were supportive, and of course his brother, who offered encouragement and supported him financially throughout his troubled life. And he is helped initially by his relative Mauve, an artist himself, who gives him materials to work with and some advice on how to proceed. The contrast between the successful and prosperous-looking Mauve's studio and van Gogh's poverty couldn't be more striking.
Several times people comment about how van Gogh and Gauguin started late and so the odds are against them just because of that. Interestingly, van Gogh, who had no formal art training, ended up developing a style that has more in common with the expressionism of forty years later than the Impressionists of his own time, with whom he is usually lumped. Considering how late they started, it's amazing van Gogh and Gauguin accomplished as much as they did.
The movie does a fine job of showing many of van Gogh's paintings. I'm assuming museum-quality reproductions were obtained for the filming, but I don't know for sure. I notice that one of the professional reviews says Minelli used an obsolete color process for the movie. I'd like to know more about that and how it affected the color.
Overall, a fine movie based on the Irving Stone novel. I'd also like to know what Stone thought of the movie, but I suspect he was pleased with how it turned out.
Dramatic depiction of the artist's life ^ Van Gogh's troubled life is dramatically brought to the screen in in one of Douglas's greatest roles. Douglas and Quinn are superb in this movie as the two ill-fated artist friends, and also James Donald is great as van Gogh's devoted brother. The movie follows van Gogh from his departure from divinity school and his ministerial work with the miners to his ultimate suicide. Van Gogh is shown as a man who is passionate about everything in his life--his religion, his art, and his women--often to the point of being out of control. But that's why van Gogh's story is still well known today, because he lived life on the edge in otherwise conservative, dreary, repressive Victorian society.
We're supposed to feel sorry for and empathize with the tragic van Gogh, but he doesn't always make a very sympathetic character. Gauguin praises van Gogh's paintings when no one else would, but in return van Gogh criticizes Gauguin's, setting the stage for another of their blow-ups. And when the woman he loves rejects him he refuses to accept it and tries to force his attentions on her.
Unfortunately, the two friends are direct opposites, so their friendship is doomed from the start. Gauguin can be arrogant and abrasive even with his friends, and so van Gogh as a friend and roommate isn't exactly the best choice of a buddy, but they are thrown together by circumstances and by their rejection of the uninspired French Academy art of the day.
Van Gogh is depicted as a man who gets rejected and kicked around by just about everyone and everything in his life, with a few exceptions. Pere Tanguy and Dr. Gachet were two of his admirers who were supportive, and of course his brother, who supported him throughout his troubled life. And his is helped initially by his relative Mauve, who gives him materials to work with and some advice on how to proceed. Mention is made several times in the movie about how van Gogh and Gauguin started late and so the odds are against them just because of that.
The movie does a great job of showing many of van Gogh's paintings. I'm assuming museum-quality reproductions were obtained for the filming, but I don't know for sure. I notice that one of the professional reviews says Minelli used an obsolete color process for the movie. I'd like to know more about that and how it affected the color.
Overall, a fine movie based on the Irving Stone novel. I'd also like to know what Stone thought of the movie, but I suspect he was pleased with how it turned out.
One Of Kirk's Best - Good Art Lessons ^ Kirk and Anthony Quinn are excellent! Some think Quinn stole the film.
Well worth the viewing. Also a good art lesson for teens in the family.
Buy new or used.
while he was alive he sold one painting for 400 franks ^ This movie is the 4th movie about a 20th century great artist that I have seen. In all of them there was some claim for their insanity: Picasso, Pollack, Klee, and van Gogh. The film makers and biographers have no mercy on the dead. Three of these were relatively successful while they were alive and the last wasn't. What is clear in all these cases is that these artists were not restricted by convention in the way they painted or saw the world. The best most believable part of this movie was the love of van Gogh's brother for him, the paintings showed and his efforts to try to find a place in the world. I've read in a news article that the pathology of van Gogh's brain disorder caused his strange and wonderful use of color... This movie was probably good for the selling price of the canvas in investors hands, but I really think that van Gogh deserved more while he was alive.
A Must ! ^ If one is a fan of the arts, and or Van Gogh, this is a must CD. I believe that Kirk Douglas does a great portrayal of the tormented artist. The store line is fairly accurate, a rarity in film. I would highly recommend this movie.
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