National Velvet

National Velvet Photos

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Cast & Crew

Mickey Rooney
Mi Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor
Velvet Brown

Donald Crisp
Mr. Brown

Anne Revere
Mrs. Brown

Angela Lansbury
Edwina Brown

Reginald Owen
Farmer Ede

Norma Varden
Miss Sims

Jackie "Butch" Jenkins
Donald Brown

Terry Kilburn
Ted

Clarence Brown
Director

Pandro S. Berman
Producer

Herbert Stothart
Original Music

Leonard Smith
Cinematography

Robert Kern
Film Editing

Cedric Gibbons
Art Director

Urie McCleary
Art Director

Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration

Joseph Boyle
Assistant Director

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Audience Reviews for National Velvet

• Jan 16, 2014

  There is a curiosity in seeing Liz Taylor as a child actor and Mickey Rooney is always a delight but this film is pure kids' play. Nothing terribly memorable.
  

  John B Super Reviewer
• Aug 08, 2010

  A giant cup full of feel good. Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor, two of the greatest child actors to grace the silver screen, are put together to make one of the more beautiful of trainer-athlete pairings on screen. Anne Revere as the incomparable Mrs. Brown gained an Oscar for her role, and rightly so. Watch with family, because that's what thje movie's about. That and the Pie.
  Spencer S Super Reviewer
• Jul 27, 2010

  A warm and fuzzy family film about a young girl's love of her horse and her pursuit of a win at the Grand Nationals horse race. This stars an incredibly beautiful 12-year old Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, and Donald Crisp as the curmudgeonly but lovable father, Mr. Brown. There are some scenes that are TOO coincidental, such as how Velvet (Taylor) acquires the horse to begin with, and how the results of the race are decided. Why take the long way around? We know she's going to win the horse or we'd have no movie. Why tiptoe around the obvious? The race itself, consisting of jumps over hedges and ditches, is breathtaking. A number of horses don't complete the jumps, jockeys are thrown or fall from their horses, and the recording of this event makes you feel you're actually there. Kind of a Ben-Hur feel to it in some ways. Mickey Rooney was a hugely talented actor as a child, and he doesn't disappoint here. He is by turns sweet or bossy or calculating or afraid. He has a wonderful series of scenes with character actor Arthur Treacher as they watch the race progress. I've always found Elizabeth Taylor's early performances a little too saccharine for my tastes, but she has a glow in her face and her voice that you can't help but be drawn to. Small children, especially horse-obsessed little girls, will like this, and it's good enough that adults won't be pulling their hair out while watching it. The main theme at the time was probably about going after your dreams, and it is that. But Velvet's talk with her mother (Anne Revere) about those dreams also holds a feminist message -- that women can do anything men can do. What better message could there be for little girls?
  Cindy I Super Reviewer
• Jul 25, 2009

  This was one of the first colour films. Liz Taylor as the girl in one of she?s first films. Good ethics of Velvet's parents, particularly her mother is something to take into account. Velvet loves the horses and racing them so Mi Taylor (Rooney) brought her to an international horse racing competition in England, where at the end the young Velvet won, but was disqualified because of being female.
  Constanza B Super Reviewer

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