The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)

The Walking Horse Winner
Directed by Anthony Pellisier
Written by Anthony Pellisier from a story by D.H. Lawrence
1949/UK
Two Cities Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Bassett: You won’t never see the end of it, ma’am, nor will I. As long as ever we’ll live, we’ll remember, and we’ll know just what it is was done.

This psychological fantasy is a nice allegory for the frantic need of children to “fix” their dysfunctional homes.

The Grahames have a problem.  The mother, Hester (Valerie Hobson), feels entitled to a certain standard of living and believes that the money should be made to fit the standard rather than the reverse.  Mr. Grahame has no hope of making enough money from his current job and is an unlucky gambler to boot.  Hester has a small trust fund but her uncle Oscar (Ronald Squire), the trustee, is getting tired of making loans from the principal which is, at any rate, running out.  Mr. and Mrs. Grahame spend most of their time arguing about money.  Their eldest son, Paul (John Howard Davies), seems to spend most of his time overhearing these fights and worrying.

Into this unhappy life comes Basset (John Miles) who served as Oscar’s batman during the war, and has been hired as a sort of driver/gardener. Basset soon befriends Paul who is fascinated with his stories of his life when he was a jockey.  When Paul gets a rocking horse for Christmas, Basset shows Paul how to ride it as if it were a real horse.

Things go from bad to worse and Paul begins to hear the house talking to him.  “We must have more money” it whispers.  He has a talk with his mother who is complaining about how his father is unlucky and decides to convince her that he is lucky and can take care of them. Bassett likes to play the ponies and Paul convinces him to lay down a small bet.  The first bet loses.  Then Paul finds that if he can ride his rocking horse to the “lucky place” he will know to a certainty which horse will win a race.  Paul and Bassett become partners and secretly lay up a large amount of money.  Later Oscar joins the enterprise.  Finally, Paul can secretly provide for his mother’s extravagances.

At the same time, Paul is driven to ride his horse more and more furiously to get where he needs to go, frightening his siblings and nanny and taking a toll on his health.

Everything from the acting to the cinematography is first rate.  It’s an unusual and troubling story which I enjoyed very much.  Recommended.

Clip – spoiler