The Rocking Horse Winner

11/14/2013

You have a runaway talent for spending money and that's all. The Rocking Horse Winner is directed by Anthony Pelissier, who also adapts the screenplay from the D. H. Lawrence short story of the same name. It stars Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, Ronald Squire, John Mills, Hugh Sinclair and Susan Richards. Music is by William Alwyn and cinematography by Desmond Dickinson. Dreadful, Evil Money. There's a handful of British films from the 1940s that deserve to be far better known, films that blended haunted themes with film noir traits and visual smarts. The Night Has Eyes, Uncle Silas, Corridor Of Mirrors and the magnificent Queen Of Spades readily come to mind. Now it has an official DVD release, we can add Anthony Pelissier's brilliant The Rocking Horse Winner to the obscur

2/18/2024

Fresh from his success in David Lean's "Oliver Twist", John Howard Davies skilfully takes on a rather different role in this engaging dark fantasy. He ("Paul") lives with his wastrel parents and debt is never far away. She, (Valerie Hobson), is a compulsive shopper and he (Hugh Sinclair) a compulsive gambler - neither are very good at their chosen profession! Luckily, it's usually kind uncle "Oscar" (Ronald Squire) who picks up the pieces, but even he is tiring of constantly bailing them out. Things start to look up after the they engage "Bassett" (John Mills) who befriends then provides his young master with a rocking horse in the attic. Mysteriously, when riding this wooden beast the youngster sees the future. He can tell which horse is going to win. He only tells his new friend who is i