Watch National Velvet For Free

Excellent but underrated film

best movie i've ever seen.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

After Elizabeth Taylor showed her beautiful face in 1943's Lassie Come Home, MGM put her in another animal movie, but this time gave her the lead role and let her shine. Usually, when casting children's roles, Hollywood tends to cast older actors, but in National Velvet, young Elizabeth was twelve when she played a twelve-year-old character. It's truly remarkable to see young children with great acting chops.In the film, Elizabeth plays Velvet, an English girl attached to her horse. Mickey Rooney drifts into town and is hired by Donald Crisp to work in his stables. As the family gets to know the newcomer better, they learn he used to be a jockey. As he bonds with the endearing little girl, she convinces him to train her horse for the races.National Velvet is so much better than The Story of Seabiscuit, just in case you saw that 1939 flop and assumed all old horse movies were that terrible. Both young leads have an enthusiastic energy that carries the story, and the iconic footage of Elizabeth Taylor on horseback is darling. This is a must-see for fans who want to see her first leading role.

Careful, make contain a SPOILER.This is one of those rare classic Hollywood films that never pretends to be anything than what it is. It has a glorious host of grand character actors at the very top of their game. Along with some young folks who would go on to become AMAZING performers, like Elizabeth Taylor and Angela Lansbury. I love this film. It is genuine, honest, and beautiful. I am ready for it every time, but regardless, when Velvet falls from the Pie, my eyes fill with tears, and my heart leaps into my throat. The description of this film is somewhat accurate based upon the quite excellent book it is based on. However, Mickey Rooney, played his part with much greater aplomb. He wasn't "jaded," not at all. He was a young man who life had tested too early, and he was fortunate enough, brave enough, and creative enough, to recognize an opportunity to find his redemption, and to find it by helping others to achieve their dreams. Mickey Rooney's performance is singular, nuanced, and glorious. Finally, I am a fan of film, and this one contains, without a doubt, the most amazing film rendition of a horse race EVER.

A jaded former jockey (Mickey Rooney) helps a young girl (Elizabeth Taylor) prepare a wild but gifted horse for England's Grand National Sweepstakes.An 18-year-old Gene Tierney, who was then appearing on Broadway, was offered the role of Velvet Brown in 1939. Production was delayed, however, so Tierney returned to Broadway. Much of the film was shot in Pebble Beach, California, with the most-scenic views on the Pebble Beach Golf Links (with golf holes visible in the background).Elizabeth Taylor was cast in Tierney's place, and it is interesting to note in retrospect that Taylor is by far the bigger star (with all due respect to Tierney). Allegedly, Taylor was given "The Pie" as a birthday gift after filming was over. Good for her. Her spirit and optimism really made this film. Although not necessarily my kind of movie, she played her role perfectly.

Perhaps being over sold as the film which made Elizabeth Taylor makes the impact of seeing this again for the first time in years a subtle disappointment. Certainly, it is gorgeous to look at and Ms. Taylor, even as a pre-teen, shows every element of becoming a great star. She isn't over-glamorized like the already established Lana Turner and the rising Ava Gardner were, but even if she isn't pounded with tons of Max Factor, her loveliness stands out, and her personality shines.She's a young girl who loves horses and takes on the responsibility of raising a race horse, posing as a boy to ride in one of the prestigious British races. Trained by the admitted horse-hater Mickey Rooney, Taylor is all aglow every time she is around the gentle giants, and is supported from the beginning to end by her devoted mother (the Oscar Winning Anne Revere). Rooney, as usual, hams it up a bit, particularly in a drunken sequence straight out of his earlier horse racing drama, "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry", which paired him with another juvenile, Judy Garland. That had the benefit of being a "B" film, and with Garland singing, rose the film to satisfactory.But "National Velvet" is a prestigious "A" film, filmed in beautiful Technicolor which enhances the look, yet does nothing to rid the film of occasional boredom and sometimes too much talk. Amusing sequences surrounding Taylor's family (which includes Papa Donald Crisp, funny in a sequence where he disciplines Rooney for feeding the family dog at the table but unaware that his own wife is doing the same thing; the very young Angela Lansbury as the man-crazy older sister; and freckle-faced "Butch" Jenkins as the prankster-prone younger brother) help liven things up, but it becomes very clear early on that the film is slightly overlong.I can't help but recommend it, however, for its look back at an earlier time, a view of a very sexist society (Taylor's character faces disqualification because of her deceit), and the love between animals and children. It also ranks high in the credits of the masterful Clarence Brown who always took extra care to make every detail just right in his films. He would succeed again with a similar theme when he brought a deer into the lives of a struggling family, creating the 1946 masterpiece "The Yearling".