Criterion Coll: Horses Mouth

Starring: Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh Director: DA Pennebaker, Ronald Neame Dvd Release: 4th June, 2002 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: Anamorphic, Colour, NTSC, Widescreen, Region 0 Encoding Subtitled In: English

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I recently purchased this film from Amazon as well as The Alec Guinness Collection which includes Kind Hearts & Coronets plus four others: The Man in the White Suit , The Lavender Hill Mob , The Captains Paradise , & The Ladykillers . Frankly, I was amazed how well each of the six films has held up since I first saw it.

This film is based on a novel by Joyce Carey, The Horses Mouth. Guinness wrote the screenplay which was nominated for an Academy Award. The director was Ronald Neame who also produced it. Special credit should also be given to the cinematographer, Arthur Ibbetson, who brilliantly captures the beauty of London while sustaining the viewers focus on both the splendor & squalor of Gulley Jimsons passions. For me, Guinness portrayal of that aging & impoverished but obsessed painter gives a whole new meaning to the word eccentric. As in the novel, the spirit of William Blake is very evident. Art is Jimsons religion for which he is not only willing but eager to make whatever sacrifice may be necessary, his or anothers. There are both lambs & tigers in Blakes world. As portrayed by Guinness, Jimson seems to combine their dominant characteristics in his own personality & behavior.

Members of the supporting cast are outstanding, notably Mike Morgan & Kay Walsh who remain devoted to Jimson throughout his constant use & abuse of them. I hasten to add that, after recently watching this bittersweet film again, I found its several comic moments hilarious. The best of Guinness comic films always include special touches which enrich their appeal. Whether it was his idea or Neames , clever use is made of Sergei Prokofievs Lieutenant Kije suite throughout the film. I am unable to explain why so few people who claim to be film buffs know about this classic...nor why even fewer people have seen it.

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was a British actor who became one of the most versatile & best loved performers of his generation. Born in London, he first worked in advertising before making his debut at the Old Vic in 1936. He married the artist, playwright & actress Merula Salaman in 1938 & they had a son, Matthew, in 1940. Alec Guinness served in the Royal Navy throughout World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 & being commissioned the following year & commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily & Elba & later ferrying supplies to the Yugoslav partisans. During the War he appeared in Terence Rattigans West End Play for Bomber Command, Flare Path. He returned to the Old Vic in 1946. He was initially mainly associated with the Ealing comedies & particularly for playing 12 different characters in Kind Hearts & Coronets. Other films from this period included The Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers & The Man in the White Suit. In 1952, director Ronald Neame cast Guinness in his first romantic lead role, opposite Petula Clark in The Card. Posters Of Alec Guinness

Editors Choice: Kafka, Monsignor Quixote, Smileys People, Cromwell, The Quiller Memorandum, The Ladykillers, The Bridge On The River Kwai, The Lavender Hill Mob, View DVDology

Kay Walsh is an English actress. She was born Kathleen Walsh in London, England & started out in show business as a dancer in West End music halls. She made her film debut playing Mary Vivien in Get Your Man. Walsh married Film director David Lean on November 23, 1940. They divorced in 1949. She appeared in two classic Noel Coward films, playing Freda Lewis in In Which We Serve & Queenie Gibbons in This Happy Breed, which were directed by her husband, Lean. He also directed her in her role of Nancy in Oliver Twist. In 1950, she played a shrewd, scheming maid, Nellie Goode, who attempts to blackmail the character played by star Jane Wyman in Hitchcock s Stage Fright. Walshs favourite role was that of the old pub barmaid, Miss D Coker, in the 1958 comedy The Horses Mouth with Alec Guinness. Between films, she appeared regularly in plays & farces at the Strand & Aldwych Theatres, directed by Basil Dean. She was a semi-regular on the 1979 Anglo-Polish TV series Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson. She remained active in films into the early 1980s.

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Ronald Neame is a British film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter & director. He was born in London on April 23, 1911, the son of photographer Elwin Neame & actress Ivy Chase. After completing his education at the University College School & Hurstpierpoint College, he drifted into the film industry & his first professional credit was as an assistant on the Alfred Hitchcock film Blackmail. He began his career as a cinematographer with the musical comedy Happy & made his mark with such films as Major Barbara, In Which We Serve & Blithe Spirit. Posters Of The Poseidon Adventure

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