National Velvet

Set in the English countryside, National Velvet centres on Velvet Brown, the youngest daughter of a quiet village family, whose love of horses leads her to win a lively steed named Pie in a local lottery. A young drifter and former jockey, Mi Taylor, happens to arrive at the Brown household, and the family comes to believe the horse could be entered in the Grand National, the country's most demanding steeplechase. Preparing for such a race tests the family's resources and resolve, and the question of who will ride Pie becomes central to the story.

Clarence Brown directed the film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, working from a screenplay by Theodore Reeves and Helen Deutsch, with Pandro S. Berman producing alongside him. It was Brown's ninth film in the sequence of his work that runs from The Eagle in 1925 to Angels in the Outfield in 1951. Mickey Rooney plays Mi Taylor, while Elizabeth Taylor, still a child, takes the part of Velvet; Donald Crisp and Anne Revere play her parents, with Angela Lansbury as her sister Edwina and Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins as her brother Donald. Twenty-four performers are credited.

Released in January 1945, the film runs 123 minutes. Made for about three million dollars, it returned roughly six million worldwide, a solid result that reflects its broad appeal as family entertainment. On IMDb it holds a 7.3 rating from around 8,800 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.2 from a much smaller base of 127 votes. A critics' rating of 7.9 from 60 reviews places it somewhat above the audience scores.