National Velvet

Academy Award-winner Elizabeth Taylor (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) made her starring debut in this classic family film about Velvet Brown, a young English girl who wins a horse in a village lottery and becomes determined to train it to compete in the Grand National Steeplechase. Oscar-winner Mickey Rooney (Babes in Arms, The Black Stallion, Boys Town) plays a compassionate jockey who coaches Velvet. Anne Revere (Gentleman's Agreement) won an Oscar for her role as Velvet's caring mother. With Oscar-winner Donald Crisp (How Green Was My Valley, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and Oscar-nominee Angela Lansbury (TV's Murder, She Wrote, Gaslight). Directed by Oscar-nominee Clarence Brown (The Yearling, Anna Christie) and adapted for the screen by Oscar-nominee Helen Deutsch (King Solomon's Mines, Lili, The Unsinkable Molly Brown). Nominated for five Academy Awards. One of the most likable movies of all time. - Pauline Kael.