Hitchcoc There are wonderful forces at work in this film. First of all, we have the young, fiery Elizabeth Taylor who becomes obsessed with entering a horse in the Grand Steeplechase. Of course, children and women are not supposed to be taking this on. There is Mickey Rooney, the trainer who assists her in following her dream. Then you have to have the horse that is capable of winning the thing. Throw in a society that is male dominated and unwilling to give a chance to a woman, and you have a great tale. But the main thing is that it rises above the typical horse story because the acting is very good, and the situations are very real. For some reason, young women seem to be most enamored with horses, so this take on the Enid Bagnold book was incredibly popular.

gkeith_1 Velvet so beautiful. Rest of family pretty plain. Mickey very smart. Smart father swimming coach. Mother stern, strong, loving. Father stern; heart of gold -- gruff curmudgeon. Lansbury almost overlooked. Ants got a pretty big part. 1940s movie family at dinner table. Older daughter boy-crazy. Yes! "Meet Me in St. Lewis". Copycats. Velvet movie circa late 1920s, though; St. Louis movie 1903-1904. Interesting. Fathers in both movies trying to disapprove of the children's behaviors. Butch the youngest in Velvet; ant fetish. Tootie youngest in St. Louis movie; dead dolls fetish and stupid Halloween segments. WC Fields would not like to have shared scenes with these little moppet attention-grubbers. Difference Margaret O'Brien second billing; Butch further down the list. Back to Velvet movie: The Pie so beautiful. No stereotypical English plough horse. So lithe. So daring. Jumped ever so gracefully. Or was that a stand in for the long shots? I imagine the same stand-ins for Liz and Mickey, too. Mickey loved Judy so much. I never heard him reminisce about Elizabeth Taylor. Brown's Meat Pies. Reminds one of Sweeney Todd. Father butcher for a trade...wanted Pie to be used for cat food. Horrible. Mother world class swimming champion. Looks like she hid that news forever. Elizabeth so beautiful, riding Pie alongside when Mickey was on the train. This is the scene remembered by a lot of people.Scenery looked like matte paintings, sets, etc. I know this is a way to control costs, plus the daylight. Racetrack buildings looked real.

mike-world1 I wonder why they no longer make such movies. This story had everything, humour, cast, dialogues, emotions, and above all simplicity. Truly, how faith can overcome anything! Now I know why Elizabeth Taylor was so famous. Mrs. Brown character is wonderful, if I've to remember this movie for anything, that would be her dialogues and learnings. Quite deep and old age wisdom. I thought I am a learned person, but she taught be many things. Mi Brown eventually goes, because until we leave there is no coming back! (as he says). The dialogues of the whole movie are quotable, didn't find the same with other movies. The photography is wonderful, Ireland is beautiful and the movie portrays the beauty well. "The Pie" made me start loving horses, may be one day I own one... I'll remember this movie for long...

capone666 National Velvet Owning a horse is basically comprised of feeding one end and cleaning up the other. However, the relationship between pony and person in this drama is much more involved than shoveling equine scat.After winning a lively colt in a raffle, the equally spirited Velvet (Elizabeth Taylor) begins breaking-in her beast for a national steeplechase.With a former jockey Mi (Mickey Rooney), Velvet and her steed, dubbed The Pi, perfect their steeple leaping performance.But when the jockey hired to ride The Pi at the Grand National backs out, it's up to Mi to put away his past and get back in the saddle - or is it?With Sussex, England serving as the pastoral setting of this girl-meets-horse tale, National Velvet is as much a visual treat as a narrative one.Unfortunately, when your horse can jump over fences and ditches, your corral has to be, like, 20-feet tall. (Green Light)vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca