Directed by Alexander Korda
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Criterion Eclipse)
The sad life of Rembrandt van Rijn as portrayed by Charles Laughton. Unwilling to portray the Dutch nobility in a flattering light in his portraits, he is unable to pay his debts and is relentlessly pursued by creditors. After the death of his first wife, he starts a relationship with his overbearing maid, played by Gertrude Stein. They lose their house and belongings to bankruptcy, even his paintings are no longer his own, since they must be handed over to pay off debt as soon as they are finished. He eventually finds a little bit of happiness in his later years with a peasant girl half his age, though she too meets an untimely death. Laughton is a bit much in a role that probably should have been played with subtlety and affection, as a result his Rembrandt can be aloof and slightly eccentric, but then again perhaps that was the intention.
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