The Rocking Horse Winner

In writer/director Anthony Pelissier's 1950 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's classic short story, Paul Grahame (John Howard Davies), a young sensitive lad, overhears his mother Hester (Valerie Hobson) telling his father that they need more money, a refrain that becomes so powerful and resonant that Paul begins to imagine the house--which contains two girls, one boy, a nanny, and various other servants--is whispering "we need more money." After receiving a rocking horse for Christmas, Paul discovers that if he rides the horse violently and at great length, he is able to correctly predict the winner of the next week's horse race, a lucrative psychic gift that attracts the attention of the Grahames' handyman Bassett (John Mills), who secretly teams up with Paul to make some serious financial gains, which Paul then "anonymously" donates through a lawyer to his mother. However, in the vicious cycle of more money begetting more wants, the story moves steadily and inexorably towards its tragic conclusion. Still powerful some 50 years later, The Rocking Horse Winner is presented here with digitally remastered image and sound (and while there are some specks on the black and white picture, the image is surprisingly good), as well as a handful of unusual extras: a 23-minute Pixelvision-shot adaptation of The Rocking Horse Winner by Michael Almereyda (Hamlet), starring Eric Stoltz; a radio broadcast of the short story, and a trio of audio excerpts from a two-act chamber opera based on Lawrence's tale (with libretto and the full-text of the short story included in a 24-page booklet). Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)