An adaptation of a D. H. Lawrence short story, it occurred to me that this might have worked better as a one-hour TV feature in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. But even Hitchcock might have found the ending here to be a little too dark for a general audience.
Like in one of Hitchcock's TV episodes, the main characters are greedy and dissolute. Hester (Valerie Hobson) and Richard (Hugh Sinclair) Grahame both live above their means in an upper middle class English home. Hester is a spendthrift and Richard with an ugly gambling problem.
Hester's brother, "Uncle" Oscar (Ronald Squire) has been bailing Hester out for many years, but their financial situation has become so dire he makes it clear that's he at an end saving them from financial collapse.
The main character is 10-year-old Paul (John Howard Davies), the oldest of the Grahame's three children. He develops a bond with Bassett (John Mills), the handyman and former jockey/stable boy who resides in a shed on the Grahame property and likes to play the ponies.
Paul wants to help his mother who he perceives is in poor financial straits (a bailiff even shows up one day demanding 40-pound payment for an item Hester paid for on credit-she even ends up hocking some of her clothes so she can pay off the debt).
The main plot hinges on Paul's newfound psychic abilities to pick racing horse winners (whenever he feels totally "sure" of his picks) after furiously riding each time on a rocking horse his parents purchased for the children as a gift.
It's a little bit of a stretch to see a 10-year-old enamored riding a rocking horse (more suited for a 3- or 4-year-old) but that's when he begins getting those messages about picking winners at the racetrack.
A secret pact between Paul and Bassett ensues as the handyman begins accumulating a large amount of money following Paul's instructions. Soon Uncle Oscar joins the group, and they make so much money that they agree to give some of it to Hester through the ruse of an inheritance from a long lost relative.
I was a little disappointed that Hester and Richard's reaction is not shown as the restoration of the family's financial standing is an important plot point. Instead, a montage is shown with Hester simply going back to her profligate ways like before.
In addition, it's fast becoming apparent that little Paul is beginning to decompensate and none of the adults are concerned enough to mount some kind of third-party intervention.
The "house" even begins to whisper to the unhinged Paul with the word "money" continually repeated. This is meant to be symbolic of the greed of the parents and adults in the child's orbit who contribute to the tragedy soon to unfold.
Story wise, things are not helped when Richard disappears for a good part of the second half of the film. Does he have no input into what's going on in the household?
What appears to be a charming fantasy about a child with psychic abilities turns into a full-blown tragedy after Paul expires once he comes up with the Darby winner.
One wonders why the parents don't bring the child to the hospital immediately and wait so long until the family doctor arrives.
Hester's reaction to Paul's death seems rather muted considering that's her beloved son.
Hester's demand to burn the rocking horse is perhaps an implicit acknowledgment that it was in part her greed that contributed to her son's death. She is so ashamed that she orders Bassett to burn the race winnings too.
The down to earth working-class Bassett reasonably decides not to destroy the money and promises to give it to a lawyer in the hope that it will be distributed to help others less fortunate.
Personally, I would have liked to see Paul near death but revived at the end. That would have been more in keeping with the charming aspect of the story instead of what transpires-an upsetting tragedy!
There is no reason why D. H. Lawrence or the filmmakers who made Rocking Horse Winner should have felt compelled to end things with such a downbeat denouement. The message of the film should have been that ordinary people who make mistakes should be allowed an opportunity for redemption. There is no redemption here when the poor 10 year-old-old is killed off. It's an "above the fray" attitude which peg all the scenarists involved as promulgators of a decided "holier than thou" perspective.
All the performers here are quite good. Davies the child actor went on to have a successful career as a British TV producer but sadly (like his fictional character) succumbed to an illness at a relatively early age.
Like in one of Hitchcock's TV episodes, the main characters are greedy and dissolute. Hester (Valerie Hobson) and Richard (Hugh Sinclair) Grahame both live above their means in an upper middle class English home. Hester is a spendthrift and Richard with an ugly gambling problem.
Hester's brother, "Uncle" Oscar (Ronald Squire) has been bailing Hester out for many years, but their financial situation has become so dire he makes it clear that's he at an end saving them from financial collapse.
The main character is 10-year-old Paul (John Howard Davies), the oldest of the Grahame's three children. He develops a bond with Bassett (John Mills), the handyman and former jockey/stable boy who resides in a shed on the Grahame property and likes to play the ponies.
Paul wants to help his mother who he perceives is in poor financial straits (a bailiff even shows up one day demanding 40-pound payment for an item Hester paid for on credit-she even ends up hocking some of her clothes so she can pay off the debt).
The main plot hinges on Paul's newfound psychic abilities to pick racing horse winners (whenever he feels totally "sure" of his picks) after furiously riding each time on a rocking horse his parents purchased for the children as a gift.
It's a little bit of a stretch to see a 10-year-old enamored riding a rocking horse (more suited for a 3- or 4-year-old) but that's when he begins getting those messages about picking winners at the racetrack.
A secret pact between Paul and Bassett ensues as the handyman begins accumulating a large amount of money following Paul's instructions. Soon Uncle Oscar joins the group, and they make so much money that they agree to give some of it to Hester through the ruse of an inheritance from a long lost relative.
I was a little disappointed that Hester and Richard's reaction is not shown as the restoration of the family's financial standing is an important plot point. Instead, a montage is shown with Hester simply going back to her profligate ways like before.
In addition, it's fast becoming apparent that little Paul is beginning to decompensate and none of the adults are concerned enough to mount some kind of third-party intervention.
The "house" even begins to whisper to the unhinged Paul with the word "money" continually repeated. This is meant to be symbolic of the greed of the parents and adults in the child's orbit who contribute to the tragedy soon to unfold.
Story wise, things are not helped when Richard disappears for a good part of the second half of the film. Does he have no input into what's going on in the household?
What appears to be a charming fantasy about a child with psychic abilities turns into a full-blown tragedy after Paul expires once he comes up with the Darby winner.
One wonders why the parents don't bring the child to the hospital immediately and wait so long until the family doctor arrives.
Hester's reaction to Paul's death seems rather muted considering that's her beloved son.
Hester's demand to burn the rocking horse is perhaps an implicit acknowledgment that it was in part her greed that contributed to her son's death. She is so ashamed that she orders Bassett to burn the race winnings too.
The down to earth working-class Bassett reasonably decides not to destroy the money and promises to give it to a lawyer in the hope that it will be distributed to help others less fortunate.
Personally, I would have liked to see Paul near death but revived at the end. That would have been more in keeping with the charming aspect of the story instead of what transpires-an upsetting tragedy!
There is no reason why D. H. Lawrence or the filmmakers who made Rocking Horse Winner should have felt compelled to end things with such a downbeat denouement. The message of the film should have been that ordinary people who make mistakes should be allowed an opportunity for redemption. There is no redemption here when the poor 10 year-old-old is killed off. It's an "above the fray" attitude which peg all the scenarists involved as promulgators of a decided "holier than thou" perspective.
All the performers here are quite good. Davies the child actor went on to have a successful career as a British TV producer but sadly (like his fictional character) succumbed to an illness at a relatively early age.