TimR

I saw this for the first time last week, and would say that it is one of the most under-rated outstanding films I have seen.

There are many things I have always enjoyed about British films that I do not find elsewhere - either in American films or in any other. One is the genre of what I would call low-key quality character-dramas. What I mean by that is: a drama where the subtlety and the nuance are as important as the action and the dialogue. What happens between the lines is even more impotrant than what is stated. There is a restrained intensity that I enjoy very much. There are so many layers in a film of that type when it really works, and The Rocking Horse Winner works very well.

A film of this dependent even more than most on an excellent cast, in the lead as well as the minor roles. I had seen Valerie Hobson in other films, and I thought she was talented and good-looking, but a little too cool and removed. I couldn't see how Jeans Simmons turned into her in the excellent David Lean Great Expectations.

Here, she gives a complex performance that uses that coolness to great effect. She is greedy and spoiled, but she is not remotely aware of her destructiveness. She is affectionate and kind with her children, although selfish and lacking in awareness. There is a marvelous scene towards the end when she connects with her son as he has been connecting with her. He is no longer a mystety to her, and she starts to understand.

I liked the straightforward tone of the film. Although the boy is clearly the hero and is portrayed in a sympathetic light, he is also obviously very unusual in his intuitive understanding of the atmosphere around him and it is too much to expect that others would automatically understand. It is not romanticized. The suggestion of a supernatural connection in his knowledge of the winners is never blatant, but only suggested. There are no sentimental scenes.

His uncle's friendship is genuine, but also self-centered. Ronald Squire brings relief to the intensity as the cheerfully materialistic uncle.

I was fascinated to read that John Mills was the producer and has a disappointingly small role. He is one of my favorite actors and keeps surprising me. However, his role as an actor here is so small that it almost disapears.

The performance of John Howard Davies is the peak of the film. His performance is so compelling that it seems impossible that he will keep it up through the entire film, but he does. Paul is an introverted, perceptive boy whose inner life dominates the story. That is captured on film. It is remarkable.

Anthony Pelissier's direction allows the house itself to become a living character, a somewhat sinister character like the rocking horse. That has to happen for the film to make sense, and it does.

My favorite scene: Paul looks out at the windy night sky and for a split second, the moving clouds seem to take the form of racing horses.

David Brent

A very good film indeed with a top class cast.

It seems to have an underlining darkness about it though that stops it being one of my favourites.

Dave.

TimR

Yes, it certainly does have that darkness. It is a genuinely haunting film. The house itself is haunted, or at least it is suggested. It is never entirely clear how much is in Paul's mind and how much is supernatural.

DB7

Their are quite a few interpretations about Paul including that it's a story of greed and capitalism, or even sexual connotations, but I think he's just a young boy that wishes to please his elders.

Quite brave of them not to give it a genuine sober ending; apart from Paul riding the horse the other image that sticks with me is it burning away as the Valerie Hobson and John Mills discuss what to do with the winnings.

TimR

Yes, agreed - it is an exceptionally straightforward and unsentimental film.

I like the moment at the end, in the scene you mention, where John Mills disagrees with Valerie Hobson's insistence that the money be burned. It's good money - why burn it?

He doesn't say it with emotion or intensity. He just says it in a matter-of-fact way. There is some impersonal coldness in both him and the uncle - and far more in the father, who seems to be completely removed, not only from his family but from everything.

It's intriguing: the focus is on the mother, but the father is barely aware of other people at all. The uncle is just as greedy as his sister. He is simply more pragmatic and shrewd.

Gary D.

John Howard Davies was among the best of child actors of this era--the most convincing Oliver Twist as well.

Colonel Blimp

I really like this film, I bought it almost on a whim despite less than encouraging comments in eg Halliwell.

I love 'discovering' films that turn out to be infinitely better than I ever expected - another example being The Harder They Fall with Humphrey Bogart, a truly great film about the wretchedness of the boxing world which never gets the acclaim it deserves.

stevie boy

Ronald Squire always seems to play the same type of character, but he does it awfully well.