Jim explained it is a little seen film but that I was in for a pleasant surprise. Thanks to the atmospheric direction and a strong performance by Mister Laughton. And damn, he was right. The story of Rembrandt's social decline, the riches to rags tale of an artist struggling with demons that allowed him no respite, of a genius at the mercy of pudding heads, made for an emotional ride. There is no trace of self pity in Mister Laughton's performance, he owns his "mistakes". There is a manly lunacy to his tics and turns, a clumping clumsy Dutchness that also projects great empathy for this gifted man. A man who escaped from a hard, grinding, merciless working class background, to immense success and wealth and then down into a spiral of poverty, social and economic.
The film is shot and framed in a way that brings to mind other Dutch painters. Vermeer is projected large here, with sets bordering on expressionist. It made me think of James Whale and the huge sets he had his cast play out on.
A lovely film that deserves to be remembered with affection and respect.
