The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)

Director:

Anthony Pelissier

Writers:

D.H. Lawrence (story)
Anthony Pelissier (writer)

Release Date:

30 November 1949 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

"One of the finest portrayals of youthful distress that you are ever likely to witness." -- N.Y. TIMES

Plot:

A young boy receives a rocking horse for Christmas and soon learns that he is able to pick the winning horse at the races.

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Money | Horse Race | Christmas | Debt

Cast

Valerie Hobson	...	Hester Grahame
John Howard Davies	...	Paul Grahame
Ronald Squire	...	Oscar Cresswell
John Mills	...	Bassett
Hugh Sinclair	...	Richard Grahame
Charles Goldner	...	Mr. Tsaldouris
Susan Richards	...	Nannie
Cyril Smith	...	Bailiff

Runtime:

USA:91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Two Cities Films

Quotes:

[first lines]
Bassett: Are you looking for me?
Paul Grahame: You're Bassett, aren't you?

Movie Connections:

Version of The Rocking Horse Winner (1983)

First Lawrence Film is also the Best

It seems that this was the first time anyone had tried putting D.H. Lawrence on film; its also wonderfully well done, a great deal better than Ken Russell's overblown excess.

A large part of the credit goes to William Alwyn's creepy score, similar to the work he had done for Odd Man Out a few years before. Odd Man Out is reckoned to be one of the best British films, but this is about equal in quality.

I don't want to spoil the story for those who aren't familiar with it; but when you read that it's about a boy and his magic rocking horse, you might not be prepared for the darkness involved. The undertones of the story make it closer to Pasolini or Fassbinder than to anything we have come to expect from British cinema.

Some scenes of exposition are typical of the era, with a lot of scintillating conversation; these help to understand the story, but you can probably go to the fridge without missing too much. The essential scenes are - a) those with the rocking horse; b) those between the boy and the mother; c) all those with Alwyn's music. (Alwyn deserves a better reputation than he now enjoys).

Near the end is one shot you really should check out, where the boy sees the storm-clouds form into horses' heads.This must surely have been an influence on later movies like The Haunting (1963).