听 After winning Pirate, a sorrel gelding horse in the village lottery, Velvet Brown (Taylor) and Mike Taylor (Rooney), her initially cynical friend, decide to train their prize - quickly named 'Pi' - to compete in the famed Grand National Steeplechase. With Taylor as the increasingly wily trainer and Velvet as the makeshift jockey, Pi's chances of pulling off a momentous victory slowly increase.
MGM's lavish adaptation of Enid Bangold's evergreen novel is an at times winsome but nonetheless enjoyable yarn that remains a popular favourite among adults and children alike, dealing as it does with the notion of endeavour and the conviction of pursuing one's dreams. Director Clarence Brown certainly knows how to push all the right buttons, crafting a film that is knowingly manipulative and sentimental but none the worse for it and it would be churlish not to be both moved and excited by the film's gripping finale.
Both Taylor and Rooney give without doubt the best performances of their pre-adult years but there's also much pleasure to be had from a stellar supporting cast including Angela Lansbury as Velvet's older sister. A TV spin-off series followed in 1960 which had little of the film's charm, similar to a belated but starry 1978 sequel, "International Velvet". Of its kind, "National Velvet" is thoroughbred fare.
"National Velvet" is on 大象传媒2 at 3.35pm, Saturday 17th February 2001.
