National Velvet (1944)

National Velvet
Directed by Clarence Brown
Written by Theodore Reeves and Helen Deutsch from a novel by Enid Bagnold
1944/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Mrs. Brown: We’re alike. I, too, believe that everyone should have a chance at a breathtaking piece of folly once in his life. I was twenty when they said a woman couldn’t swim the Channel. You’re twelve; you think a horse of yours can win the Grand National. Your dream has come early; but remember, Velvet, it will have to last you all the rest of your life.[/box]

A quite enjoyable family entertainment about a girl who loves horses and a boy who helps make her dreams come true.  Even a brace on her teeth could not mar the 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor’s classic beauty.

Velvet Brown (Taylor) is the youngest daughter in an English farm family.  Her father (Donald Crisp) is a butcher with a gruff manner but a soft heart.  Her mother (Anne Revere) quietly wears the pants in the household however.  Velvet is crazy about horses.  She spots a spirited one and names him Pie.  At about the same time, she meets Mi Taylor who seems to know a lot about horses but is now on the open road, the only inheritance left him by his father.  Coincidentally, he is also in possession of his father’s address book which has the name of Velvet’s mother inside.  Velvet brings him home for a meal and the father, while not quite trusting Mi, gives him a job as an assistant and a place to sleep.

Pie’s owner is unable to control the horse, which frequently escapes, leaping over any obstacles in his way.  The owner raffles Pie off and after some suspense Velvet wins.  She gets her heart set on entering Pie in the Grand National steeplechase race.  Velvet’s mother, who swam the English Channel in her youth, encourages Velvet’s dreams.  Mi helps Velvet to train Pie for the race.  When they cannot find a jockey, Velvet takes matters in her own hands.  With Angela Lansbury as Velvet’s boy-crazy older sister.

MGM makes a family movie with almost no schmalz!  This is quite a down to earth bunch and the parents aren’t too prone to issuing forth homilies to their off-spring.  Mickey Rooney is also at his best in a dramatic and conflicted part.  Anne Revere is great as the mother that has more in common with her fanciful daughter than anyone would guess. Also, the ending is more interesting what one ordinarily would expect out of MGM.  I had fond memories of when I saw it long ago on my family’s black-and-white TV set.  It’s beautiful in color as well.

Anne Revere won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in National Velvet, which also won for Best Film Editing.  The film was nominated in the categories of Best Director; Best Cinematography Color; and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color.

Trailer