| National Velvet | |
|---|---|
Original film poster |
|
| Directed by | Clarence Brown |
| Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
| Screenplay by | Helen Deutsch |
| Based on | National Velvet by Enid Bagnold |
| Starring | Mickey Rooney Donald Crisp Elizabeth Taylor Anne Revere Angela Lansbury Reginald Owen Terry Kilburn |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | Leonard Smith |
| Editing by | Robert Kern |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | December 14, 1944 |
| Running time | 123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,770,000 |
| Box office | $5,840,000 |
National Velvet is a 1944 drama film, in Technicolor, based on the novel by Enid Bagnold, published in 1935. It stars Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and a young Elizabeth Taylor.[1][2]
In 2003, National Velvet was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Contents |
National Velvet is the story of a twelve-year old girl, Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor), living in Sewels, in Sussex, England, who wins a spirited gelding in a raffle and trains it for the Grand National steeplechase, aided by her father's (Donald Crisp) hired hand, a young drifter, Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney), who claims to have found Mrs. Brown's name and address among his deceased father's effects. Mi loathes horses, because while a jockey in Manchester, he caused a collision which resulted in the death of another jockey. The horse is called "The Pie", short for Pirate, the epithet given him by the previous owner due to his misbehavior. Velvet wins The Pie in a raffle and convinces Mi to train them both for the Grand National. The night before the race, Velvet senses that the Latvian jockey hired to ride The Pie doesn't believe he can win. Rather than give up the race, Mi imagines he will overcome his fears and ride in the Latvian's place. Velvet has other ideas, and in the end masquerades as the jockey herself and rides the horse to victory. Exhausted by the exertion of the five-mile race, Velvet collapses from the horse shortly after the finish, and is disqualified for not staying in the saddle until reaching the enclosure. A doctor discovers the fallen jockey is, in fact, "an adolescent female", and Velvet becomes a media sensation. Velvet declines offers of 5,000 pounds to travel to Hollywood with The Pie to be filmed, as "he wouldn't like being looked at." In the final scene of the film, Velvet rides off to reveal to a departing Mi that his father was Mrs. Brown's coach in her contest-winning swim across the English Channel as a young woman.
The film differs from the book in countless respects, from the colour of the horse and its name (in the book the horse is a piebald, named "Piebald") to the appearance of Velvet and her mother, both of whom have been glamourised into very different people. Velvet, in the book, is plain, pale and sickly; her mother weighs 16 stone. The Brown family has also been made to seem more educated and richer in the film version: Mr. Brown is a prosperous butcher while Mrs. Brown, who keeps the books, has won 100 pounds for swimming the English Channel.
An 18-year-old Gene Tierney, who was then appearing on Broadway, was offered the role of Velvet Brown in 1939. Production was delayed, however, so Tierney returned to Broadway.[3] Much of the film was shot in Pebble Beach, California, with the most scenic views on Pebble Beach Golf Links,[4] with some golf holes visible in the background.
Elizabeth Taylor was given "The Pie" as a birthday gift after filming was over.
National Velvet currently holds a 100% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5]
The film won two Oscars in 1945:[6]
In 1978, a sequel, International Velvet, was released. The film stars Tatum O'Neal, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Hopkins, and Nanette Newman, who plays Velvet Brown as an adult.
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||