Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by rico (A) on December 30, 2006 at 12:34:12

I had never seen this and bought it recently in a three disc package along with "The Story of Seabiscuit" and "Black Beauty". "National Velvet" of course stars a young Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney. Rooney is a former jockey emotionally scarred from a riding accident in a steeplechase race years before. A bit of an opportunist, he comes to Taylor's family's horse ranch and he and Liz (Velvet) train a horse Taylor wins in a town lottery. They get the horse to the Grand National steeplechase race and by circumstance Taylor ends up riding the horse in the race, posing as a male jockey. This story was originally owned by RKO, who planned it for Katherine Hepburn, until she was labled "Box Office Poison" (along with Fred Astaire, Joan Crawford, and other notables) because of a string of flops and her contentious realtionship with both press and public--ironic because she currently holds the record for most Academy nomonations (12) for Best Actress and wins (4). MGM bought the property and cast Taylor, although at the beginning of casting she was considered too "flat" for the role, a circumastnce nature solved over time (obviously). Never having seen the film, I was surprised to learn that it is in color (albeit not Technicolor). Anyway, predictable but enjoyable wholesome family fare.