When thinking about Kirk Douglas, many words come to mind: rugged, lantern-jawed, hypermacho. While “haunted” isn’t among them, it’s an unexpected quality Vincente Minnelli saw in the future Spartacus star when he cast him as Vincent van Gogh for this adaptation of Irving Stone’s 1934 biographical novel of the impressionist master. Much like van Gogh himself, the film was a commercial failure. But at least the Academy and the Golden Globes voters recognized its artistic power during Douglas’ lifetime, awarding him a Best Actor nomination and win respectively for his performance of a man driven by vision and madness in equal measures. – Richard Whittaker
