Cheap National Velvet (Video) (Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor) (Clarence Brown) Price

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Customer Reviews of National Velvet

The plot line involving Mike (Mickey Rooney) starts off as somewhat melodramatic, the standard story (literarly in this case) of the guy who has to get back on the horse. The twist is that when he does our young heroine has decided she is the only one who can ride the Pie to victory. The twist is the Rooney achieves his victory without winning (anticipating "Rocky" in that regard when you stop and think about it).

The focus of the film is on Taylor and Rooney, but the heart and soul of the film is the relationship between Velvet and her mother. Anne Reeve won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the mother, and while her scenes with husband Donald Crip are small gems scattered throughout the film (they call each other "Mr. Brown" and "Mrs. Brown" and you can tell how much they love each other every time they do it), it is the scenes with her daughter that bring home the film.

Mrs. Brown uses the money from her swimming the channel to fund Velvet's dream of racing the pie in the Grand National. But for Velvet the payoff is not when she wins the race and becames a front page story, but when she arrives home and immediately runs to her mother and says, "We won, Mother. We won." Her mother already knows. All of England knows. But all that mattered was telling her mother. It is a neat scene and an ellegant payoff to the film, more so than her running off to fetch make Mike.

This 1944 film was directed by Clarence Brown and is based on the novel by Enid Bagnold. Final Warning: And if after you have watched and enjoyed this classic film with your children and you screen the sequel "International Velvet" which only leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you have only yourself to blame.

Young Liz Shines
It's not hard to see how Elizabeth Taylor became such a big star when you see her as Velvet Brown in National Velvet, her first important role. Besides already being very pretty, she is endearing as the young girl who dreams of her horse winning the Grand National Steeplechase, discovering that she herself may have to be the jockey. The rest of the cast are terrific, with special praise for the understated performance by Anne Revere as Velvet's wise and understanding mother. The sequences at the race are well filmed, the Technicolor beautiful, and the story hits all the right notes. Children, especially young girls who love horses, will enjoy the film a lot.

Poor treatment of a classic
"National Velvet" is a wonderful movie, for all ages. Frankly, I'd consider it one of the best "sports" movies ever made.

Sadly, Warner Brothers DVD release leaves a lot to be desired. The picture frequently goes out of focus, and the disc is bare-bones....not even the trailer [promised on the DVD jacket] is included.

With Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney still around, you would have thought they'd have either interviewed them, or gotten a commentary track from them for this classic. It would be worth the price to get a "special edition" release.

Until then, I guess we're stuck with this sorry disk.