Search - National Velvet on DVD

Up and Coming Stars Galore!!

Movie Mania | Southern Calfornia | 01/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We first meet the Brown sisters, Edwina (Angela Lansbury), Mellie and Velvet (Elizabeth Taylor) on the last day of the school term. This is going to be a big day for Velvet. On her way home she meets Mike Taylor (Mickey Rooney) and sees a horse which she names the Pi (short for the Pirate).

Mrs. Brown (Anne Revere) was a famous channel swimmer. Mike's father was her coach. Mr. Brown (Donald Crisp) is the town butcher and hires Mike to work for him.

When the Pi escapes and runs rampant through town, his owner decides to raffle him off. Velvet gets the notion that she will win the horse; she's arranged it with God. When she loses the raffle, she is heart broken. She is so heart broken that she sees the whole town bringing her the Pi. But it's true. The number drawn hadn't been sold and the next number was Velvet's.

Then Velvet gets the idea to enter the Pi into the Grand National Steeplechase. And finally, she decides to race the horse herself.

This was Liz's second starring role - fourth film. You could see from this her true charisma was showing early on. This was also an early role for Angela Lansbury. This film she played a girl about her own age, a rarity for Lansbury. Rooney was the veteran. This was his 50th film. But this was Mickey in transition. He wanted to get away of being Andy Hardy, Judy Garland's boyfriend or the younger brother of the star of a film. All proved they had the talent to go far.

The rest of the cast included many of MGM's greatest character actors. But it was Anne Revere as the center rock of the Brown family that won the Oscar. She gave a great performance that would be the standard and copied to this day.

The production values are the best of MGM's toughest standards. You cannot fault any of the production values.

This is a perfect escapist family fare.

DVD EXTRAS: None - They should get Liz, Angela and Mickey together to do a commentary track!
"

Excellent Movie - Poor Condition

J. W. Clarkson | Los Angeles, CA | 10/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"National Velvet is a true classic. The problem is with the existing condition of the movie. It is in desperate need of restoration. The out-of-focus look of the film is due to the 3-strip Technicolor transfer. One or more of the 3 strips has aged to the point where they have literally shrunk. So when this version was printed the colors no longer lined up properly. This is a common problem with Technicolor films. It almost happened to "Gone With The Wind". Whoever owns the rights to the film needs to start a full restoration project. This movie is more than deserving the cost and effort."