Customer Reviews

The Rocking Horse Winner

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This film drips atmosphere. A creepy, gothic, moral tale of sorts, given a classic British treatment. Not only is the presentation of the film above par - it looks great - the entire package is stellar. Between the original story reprinted in its entirety, a reading by John Shea, and another film interpretation by Michael Almeryda, shot in Pixilvision, this has to be the be-all, end-all examination of a written piece and its various adaptations. Really cool. Enough said.

I agree with the other reviews here. This is an unusual but very effective little fantasy based on DH Lawrence's most famous short story. Apparently, this was a pet project of John Mills, who produced the film and appeared in a key supporting role. The child actor is suprisingly good, and the cinematography is creative and appropriately creepy.

This DVD has some of the most unique extras I've ever seen. Basically, Home Vision Entertainment has packaged it as a collection of different interpretations of Lawrence's story, and the entries are very interesting. Best of all are the Almereyda short film and a full copy of the original story in place of liner notes. HVM have teamed up with Criterion in the past, and they do not disappoint here. The transfer is fine.

The only thing that keeps me from giving this a full 5-star rating is that, unlike Criterion, HVM hasn't provided any substantial info on the feature film. This is an oversight in my opinion because this 1949 movie became a particularly strong influence on the next generation of British filmmakers who openly embraced fantasy (like Lindsay Anderson's "If..."). American audiences might not make that connection.

"The Rocking Horse Winner" is adapted from the out-of-print short story by D. H. Lawrence. An upper-middle class family in post-war Britain is strapped for cash and continually spending beyond their means. The mother is played by Valerie Hobson, who starred as Estella a few years earlier in the extraordinary adaptation of David Lean's "Great Expectations." She is impatient with her husband's relatively low wages and wishes continually for more funds, seemingly not caring about the source of the money. Her young son (John Howard Davies, who later produced "Fawlty Towers") hears her pleas and soon is betting on horse racing with the help of their gardener, Bassett (played by the peerless Sir John Mills). Surprisingly, the boy seems to be rather lucky and begins to win, but complications soon arise.

The "Rocking Horse Winner" is not particularly well-known, and it definitely deserves a larger audience. The film is highly enjoyable and unpredictable, with some unexpected eerie and sinister elements. The acting is generally good and somewhat larger than life, although Valerie Hobson portrays the mother in perhaps too unsympathetic a light. A highlight of the film is the demonic rocking horse that the boy receives for Christmas; the scenes with the boy riding it into a frenzy are frighteningly unforgettable, and perhaps more than a bit oedipal in nature. The DVD transfer is quite good, although no subtitles have been recorded - a shame considering the sometimes thick accents of some of the actors. Overall, the "Rocking Horse Winner" is a champion - an unusual, small British film that should be much better known.
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Extras: Three different versions of "Rocking Horse Winner" are included. The most interesting is a 22 minute short film by Michael Almereyda, who later directed the 2000 movie "Hamlet" starring Ethan Hawke. The short is set in the present and stars Eric Stoltz. Filmed in a grainy manner with pixelation used throughout, it's interesting but the acting is often poor and the story is disjointed. The two other versions are audio-only: a reading taken from public radio and excerpts from a libretto opera. Highly unusual extras!

The rocking horse winner is a notable adaptation from a David H. Lawrence.
This movie is practically unknown by a large audience. If you watch it very carefully , you'll be rewarded, for several reasons.
The middle class family who slowly suffers a status fall; has a very intuitive and smart child capable of predicting the winner horse in the race horses. This child has a close friend (John Mills) who suddenly sees this gift and so he wins some money.
The close atmosphere in which this boy lives, makes that he reliefs in a wood horse , his mude friend and powerful device for his predictable visions.
Soon his greddy mother (the great actress and extremely beauty Valerie Hobson) will know about his special gift and the dramatis personae will run before the eyes of the viewer inmersed in a gothical hallucination with its undeniable tragic consequences.
This film, obviously was not the accostumed market product for that moment, spècially three years after that awful Second World War, that destroyed physical and spiritually many people. That's why the film didn't get his deserved place in those years. The audience wanted a better and hopeful future and the menu cinema should offer comedies, romantic films and light drama.
That's precisely what it gives major value to that movie out of its time. Anthony Pellisier conducted his most intimate film with astonishing results.
A true cult movie of the british cinema.

This 1949 British film adaptation of the D.H. Lawrence story of the same name is a great piece of filmmaking. The writer-director, Anthony Pelissier, has the tone and flavor of the story down pat and knows a thing or two about pacing and editing. The actor playing the lead character, Paul, a boy of about 10 or 11, is occasionally too stilted in his performance, but that's a minor quibble. Because this is primarily a thriller, what counts is momentum, and the subtlety employed in delivering the goods here is impressive.

Paul gets a hobby horse for a Christmas present and with some encouragement from the family handyman/gardener, rides it with force and passion. Bassett, the handyman, also shows Paul his strong interest in horse racing. And so it happens that whenever Paul rides the hobby horse, something eerie happens; he "knows" the name of the winner at the next race.

Paul's mother is so materialistic that she drives the family almost to the point of bankruptcy. The stakes are raised with expert timing here; the more she spends, the more somebody has to win at the races. But Paul's obsession with the riding the hobby horse has a dangerous side effect....

In addition to the full length feature film, the DVD also includes a superb 1997 20 minute short film directed by Michael Almereyda (Nadja, Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke) based on the same story. Shot in Pixelvision, it is just as effective as the 1949 film with a radically different style and feeling. Yet the same sense of dread and creepiness is present.

The DVD also includes, in the booklet, the entire short story by D.H. Lawrence, and a reading of the story (audio only) by actor John Shea--AND excerpts from a chamber opera based on the story as well. The reading is interesting; the chamber opera, the least interesting element. But the two films are great.

Along with Seance on A Wet Afternoon, this film stands as one of the great works of mid-20th century British supernatural suspense in the cinema. Highly recommended.

I am an English Teacher and this short story is one that my students regularly read. I had been looking for a high quality DVD or VHS version. This is great.

Based on a short story by D.H. Lawrence, Pelissier's film makes a fantastic premise feel poignant and real, as Paul's concern for his distracted mother imbues him with powers beyond his understanding. Mills (who also produced the film) excels as the boy's working-class confidant, and the stunning Hobson delivers just the right mix of haughtiness and vulnerability to elicit a measure of sympathy. A cautionary tale about greed set against unselfish love, the unnerving "Horse" wins by a tidy margin.

The Rocking Horse Winner(1950)is a flat this-out masterpiece!! Based on a short story by D.H. Lawrence, this dvd is an exceptional experience all in itself. The film is the haunting story of a young boy, played brilliantly by a young John Howard Davies, who played Oliver Twist in 1948 in David Lean's masterful adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel. The boy, who considers himself "lucky", discovers that by riding his toy rocking horse, he is able to predict the winners of future horse races. He does this by rocking furiously and reaching a trance-type state while on the rocking horse. He is driven to limits by his mother's wanton materialism, which only escalate and unfortunately lead to disaster. His mother is well played by Valerie Hobson and John Mills, who plays the family handyman and ex-jockey, is excellent. The film is directed by Anthony Pelissier, who also wrote the screenplay. I would describe the style as hauntingly gothic-noir but also stunningly beautiful. Additional features of the dvd include a 24 page booklet including the short story by D.H.Lawrence, a 20-minute short film shot in Pixelvision by Michael Almereyda from 1996, which was hailed at the 1997 PXL THIS festival as the "CITIZEN KANE" of PXL filmmaking; a radio broadcast of the short story as read by John Shea, recorded live at Peter Norton Symphony Space and broadcast on public radio and finally, excerpts from The Rocking Horse Winner: a chamber opera. The digital transfer of the film is pristine in both sound and image. With this dvd the viewer is given four seperate expressions of this classic story in the form of film, music and spoken word. As written in the booklet, "These interpretations are a tribute to the indurance of Lawrence's fantastic tale of material greed." Most highly recommended! smrz!!!

The video helped me out in my English Comp II class in college. It was my research essay. Scored a B!