Lust for Life (1956)

Reportedly, John Wayne was irritated that Kirk Douglas had played Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life. Not that Wayne had wanted the role for himself. In fact, he felt that the role was unfit for any actor associated with 'tough guy' roles. To Wayne, Van Gogh was a whiner and a pansy who was unable or unwilling to hold a real job.

Fortunately, Douglas had no such reservations. It helped that he physically resembled the famous Dutch painter, especially after the addition of a beard and red hair dye. True, Douglas-the-actor inevitably emerged while portraying Van Gogh's fits of pathos. But the performance was convincing enough, at least for American audiences, for Douglas to receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Vincent Van Gogh is generally considered to be the second greatest Dutch painter, after Rembrandt. But when Van Gogh's paintings are on the auction block, he has no equals. Several of his paintings have been auctioned for tens of millions of dollars. His fame is perhaps surpassed only by Leonardo Da Vinci.

After Van Gogh cut off his ear, it was unlikely that it made him a better painter. But the bizarre act has probably added two digits to the value of his paintings. We want to believe that anyone who was that crazy must have been a genius, as a divine compensation for his madness.

An excellent online resource for Van Gogh is vangoghgallery.com, which has high quality images of all of his surviving paintings. The complete translated text of his many letters to his brother Theo can also be found there.

Theo, a successful art dealer, is played in Lust for Life by the unmemorable James Donald. An otherwise practical man, his patience and steady financial support of Vincent resulted in his receiving the treasure trove of his paintings.

It is often said that Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime. But in a way, he sold all of his works to his brother, in return for a living wage. Theo survived Vincent by only six months, unable to take advantage of a gallery now worth over a billion dollars.

Lust for Life was produced by John Houseman, who late in life would achieve fame as a stern character actor (The Paper Chase). The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli, who is better known for big budget MGM musicals (Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris).

Surprisingly, Anthony Quinn won the Best Supporting Actor for his small role as bohemian painter Paul Gauguin. Gruff and growling, Quinn seems to be playing himself as much as Gauguin, but he at least presents a strong contrast to Douglas' more introspective character.

The film's third Oscar nomination was for Best Adapted Screenplay. It went to little-known Norman Corwin, whose other big film was Moby Dick, also from 1956. Corwin had adapted the screenplay from the best-selling Irving Stone novel. The story omitted key events in Van Gogh's life that lacked drama, such as his formal training at art academies. His final painting was not the ominous "Wheat Field with Crows", which in the film is finished just minutes before he is.

Also changed was the infamous ear incident. In real life, Van Gogh had carried the bloodied cartilage to a bordello, with the intention of giving it as a present to one of his favorites. Of course, depicting the event in this manner would reduce the necessary audience sympathy for Van Gogh.

But the presented biography is at least plausible, especially for those (such as myself) who are not experts on Van Gogh's life. Vincent's desperate need to find himself, and his guilt over being a burden to his family, clearly come across.

However, Douglas' energetic performance sometimes borders on the unintentionally comic, especially during a scene when he is tormented by mocking villagers. Also, Vincent's letters to his brother are narrated by a nameless British actor, when it would have been more consistent for Douglas to provide the voiceover. (67/100)

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