Charles Laughton is "Rembrandt" in this 1936 film he made for Alexander Korda, one of three films he made in England during this time.

The story takes us through Rembrandt's sad life, and manages at the same time to leave out a lot of sadness. The film shows his son Titus, but there were several other children who did not survive. The great tragedy of Rembrandt's life was the death of his wife Saskia, whom he painted often. Rembrandt was also known for asking Jews to pose for his Old Testament paintings, which are informed by his knowledge of the Bible.

There were two other women in Rembrandt's life: his common-law wife Hendrickje Stoffels (Elsa Lanchester) and his housekeeper, Geertje Dirx (Gertrude Lawrence) who evidently became his lover. She later sued Rembrandt for breach of promise, and he had to pay her 200 guilders a month. For years he tried to get her committed.

Rembrandt is shown falling into poverty here. When his fortunes dimmed as an artist, he continued to work as a teacher. Bad investments were the main cause of his problems. In truth, his paintings remained popular throughout his lifetime, and the one for which he is chastised in the film actually was a huge hit.

Laughton portrays Rembrandt as a man of tremendous artistic integrity, a learned man with soul, heart, and a great feeling for language. Indeed, Laughton's monologues are absolutely beautiful; had he read the phone book, I would have been just as enraptured. Elsa Lanchester is very young here, all eyes, and gives a very sweet performance as the frail Hendrickje. Gertrude Lawrence is an absolute spitfire as Geertje.

Wonderful film. Don't miss this breathtaking Laughton performance.

Rembrandt really intrigued me, I like art and I like Charles Laughton. While rather slow in spots and rather sketchy in the script, this is quite a good film. The re-creations of the paintings are truly excellent, especially the self-portrait that does convince you that Laughton and Rembrandt are one and the same. The production values are terrific, as is the music, while the story was interesting. In terms of acting, Charles Laughton is remarkably affecting as the Dutch master, while Elsa Lanchester and Gertrude Lawrence are good respectively in their roles.

In conclusion, this was good on the whole, worth seeing for the paintings and Laughton. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This biography of the painter, Rembrandt, is nice to look at because the costumes appear appropriate and the film appears to have been filmed in or around 17th century Holland. However, according to IMDb, the film was made in England--not Holland. If this is true, Alexander Korda oversaw a wonderful recreation of the place--complete with houses that look like those you'd see in Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, while the film looked very good, the script seemed very sketchy and episodic. Instead of telling a coherent story, it only showed portions of his life. Instead of focusing on his early years, the film finds him at mid-life--already a success. It also finds him in financial difficulties. However, all his financial successes are pretty much ignored--focusing on his long downfall--which wasn't exactly like his life really was. Sure, he had lots of financial problems due to reckless spending, but at the same time he was very prolific as well as popular--something you'd never suspect if you watch this film! It's entertaining in many places, but confusing and shallow as well.

Overall, interesting to watch but not a film I'd recommend to anyone who really wants to learn about the great artist.