NFR Project: 'National Velvet' (1944)

 

NFR Project: “National Velvet”

Dir: Clarence Brown

Scr: Helen Deutsch

Pho: Leonard Smith

Ed: Robert J. Kern

Premiere: Dec. 14, 1944

123 min.

It’s quite simply a well-made movie. Based on the 1935 Enid Bagnold novel, it’s the story of 12-year-old English girl Velvet Brown, who wins a racehorse named The Pie and trains him to compete in the Grand National steeplechase.

It stars Elizabeth Taylor in her first big role, and she absolutely nails it. Her Velvet Brown is crazy about horses, and when she gets the chance to train and ride one, her spirit soars into a kind of mystical ecstasy. When young drifter Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney) visits her family’s home, he is given a job in her father’s butcher shop and helps her train the Pie. (It turns out that the near-larcenous Mi was a jockey who quit when his actions led to the death of another jockey.)

Velvet insists on entering The Pie in the big race, and her mother (Anne Revere, in an Oscar-winning performance) gives her the entry fee – it’s the prize money she saved that she won when she swam the English Channel (it turns out that Mi’s father was her trainer). Mi almost absconds with it, but stays true to Velvet and enters the horse.

The problem is that the only jockey available to ride The Pie is a cynical fellow, and Mi and Velvet reject him. Mi volunteers to overcome his reluctance and ride The Pie himself, but Velvet has an even more radical idea – she will ride The Pie. Cutting off her hair and pretending to be boy, Velvet rides her horse to victory! However, she faints soon after, and when she is examined, her deception is uncovered and she is disqualified.

Still happy that she won the race, Velvet returns home and casts aside all thoughts of exploiting her victory to make money. This befuddles her father (the dependable Donald Crisp), but he goes along with her wishes. Mi leaves the Browns, but the last shot of the film shows Velvet overtaking him on the road and, perhaps, convincing him to stay.

Leonard Smith’s color cinematography is excellent, and the story flows smoothly to its conclusion. Look for other stalwarts such as Angela Lansbury, Arthur Treacher, and Arthur Shields. This is the very model of a family film.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: The Negro Soldier.