Gran premio

Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor) lives in the small town of Sewels in Sussex, England with her parents, two sisters and a little brother. She's horse obsessed. She befriends poor drifter Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney) who has come to town after finding Mrs. Brown's address among his late father's belongings. They run across an escaped horse and Velvet names him Pie. Mrs. Brown takes Mi in and gets him a job. His father coached Mrs. Brown for her English Channel swim but she doesn't tell him at first. Mi was once a jockey but he hates horses now after an incident. He notices the height that Pie can jump. After yet another escape attempt, Mr. Edes is forced to pay and puts up Pie for raffle. Velvet wins and ends up riding him. This is a fun sentimental family movie. Liz Taylor is wide-eyed, plucky and adorable. Mickey Rooney is compelling. The horse race is exciting and action-packed even though it is an obvious double on the horse. It's such an old-fashioned heart-warming thrilling underdog movie.

I watched National Velvet ages ago, before Elizabeth Taylor ( who plays the jockey) befriended Michael Jackson. Anyway, I remembered this movie because of Rachael Blackmore's historic achievement in 2021 to be the first woman to win the Grand National. Art and life and all that, well done to everyone.

"National Velvet" tells the story of Velvet Brown, a young English girl with dreams of entering her beloved horse into competition at the prestigious Grand National horse race. The film follows her as she trains her horse with the aid of a former jockey and the support of her parents.

While "National Velvet" is a family film that fact shouldn't deter anyone who typically views such films with derision. The film is indeed one that will appeal to the entire family, not just attention-addled youngsters. It even managed to land five Oscar nominations, hardly a sign of slacking off for a general audience.

Anne Revere, in the part of Velvet's mother, actually won an Oscar for her performance. She was indeed excellent in the role but it is 12-year old Elizabeth Taylor who steals the show. She is a charming presence and exhibits a talent beyond her years. Also on board is Oscar-winner Donald Crisp as Velvet's father, Mickey Rooney as former jockey Mi Taylor and Angela Lansbury (in one of her earliest film roles) as Velvet's older sister.

The film's lustrous Technicolor makes for an attractive viewing experience while the editing secured the second of the film's two Oscars. Additionally, the film was nominated for its direction (by Clarence Brown), cinematography & art direction. The score by ten-time Oscar nominee Herbert Stothart is also worth mentioning, though it went unnominated.

All in all, "National Velvet" is a wonderful family film that deserves a higher rating. I realize that the prospect of watching a film about a girl and her horse isn't exactly going to thrill some people but this one is worth taking a chance on.

There's a family that enjoys the life it lives (on the south coast on England, late 1920s), that takes in a wayward traveller to give, sustenance and shelter, he becomes the father's helper (delivery boy), and it soon turns out he has much more to give; as he makes a friend of Velvet who desires, and together they combine, devise, conspire, to acquire a race horse (steeplechaser), there's some luck involved of course, although the father is displeased and shows some ire (not for too long though); the said horse is called The Pie and he can fly, jumping obstacles of scale he does not shy, gets a chance to race Grand National, jockey change leads to fantastical, in a beauty of a film, might make you cry.

A sentimental, heart-tugging family film set in England of the 1920s. A young Elizabeth Taylor wins a horse in a raffle and decides to enter him in the Grand National; fortunately, ex-jockey Mickey Rooney is around to give Liz some help. Director Clarence Brown displays some remarkable control with material that could've been excessively maudlin in someone else's hands. He and screenwriters Helen Deutsch and Theodore Reeves take great care in establishing genuine characterizations and developing the story naturally. True, there are one or two scenes that seem a bit forced, but overall it's quite affecting, and gorgeously filmed in Technicolor. The race itself is quite thrilling, and like so many great classics, there's a marvelous, three-hankie fade-out at the end. Liz proves that she was a real trooper right from the start, and Rooney--who I usually find rather annoying--is surprisingly subdued and really very good. Donald Crisp is terrif as Liz's gruff father and Angela Lansbury is a delight as her older, boy-crazy sister. Most of the acting kudos, however, belong to Anne Revere, who won a richly deserved Supporting Actress Oscar playing Liz's wise and caring mother.