The Rocking Horse Winner ***½ (1949, John Mills, Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, Ronald Squire, Hugh Sinclair) – Classic Movie Review 5138

The  1949 fantasy film The Rocking Horse Winner adapts a D H Lawrence short story about a young boy who can accurately pick winners in horse races. It stars John Mills, who also produces, Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies and Ronald Squire. 

Writer-director Anthony Pelissier bases his quietly pleasant, well acted, nicely done 1949 parable tale on a D H Lawrence short story about a young lad called Paul Grahame (John Howard Davies) who names winning horses as he rides on his Christmas present rocking-horse, imaging himself to be a real-life jockey.

But the boy cannot predict the bad things that will happen as a result of his talent. His ambitious, spendthrift mother Hester (Valerie Hobson) is devastated when her husband loses his job. But the kid starts stacking up a fortune after the family’s groom Bassett (John Mills) inspires him.

Perhaps against the odds, the film is intelligent and involving –  and highly watchable, thanks to Pelissier’s writing and direction, faithfully and lovingly adapting the story for the screen, and to the intense, attractive playing of the bright cast. This is a significant success, and a most unlikely one considering the premise and shortage of plot for a full-length feature.

The Rocking Horse Winner is a little winner.

Also in the cast are Ronald Squire, Hugh Sinclair, Cyril Smith, Charles Goldner, Susan Richards, Anthony Holles, Michael Ripper, Melanie Mackenzie, Johnnie Schofield and Caroline Steer.

The Rocking Horse Winner runs 91 minutes, is made by Two Cities Films, is distributed by General Film Distributors, and is scored by William Alwyn. It was shot in black and white at Denham Studios by cinematographer Desmond Dickinson, with sets designed by the art director Carmen Dillon.

It was released on 30 November 1949 (UK) and 8 June 1950 (US).

Child star John Howard Davies made just four films, also including 1948’s Oliver Twist (in which he was Oliver Twist), 1951’s Tom Brown’s Schooldays (in which he was Tom Brown) and The Magic Box (1951).

Davies became an influential TV director and producer, specialising in comedy. He produced and directed the first four episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969), the first two seasons of The Goodies (1970–72), and the first series of Fawlty Towers (1975), casting Prunella Scales as Sybil Fawlty after the original actress turned down the part. He produced all four series of the BBC sitcom The Good Life. And he ended Benny Hill’s TV career in the late 1980s, firing him after 20 years on ITV.

The Rocking-Horse Winner is a 1926 short story by D H Lawrence which first appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, the American monthly women’s fashion magazine.

The cast are Valerie Hobson as Hester Grahame, John Howard Davies as Paul Grahame, Ronald Squire as Oscar Cresswell, John Mills as Bassett, Hugh Sinclair as Richard Grahame, Charles Goldner as Mr. Tsaldouris, Susan Richards as the nanny, Cyril Smith as the bailiff, Anthony Holles as Bowler Hat, Michael Ripper as 2nd Chauffeur, Johnnie Schofield as 1st Chauffeur, Caroline Steer as Joan Grahame, and Melanie Mackenzie as Matilda Grahame.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,138

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