NATIONAL VELVET
1945
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Children, Obsession, Adolescents, Wagers, Self-confidence, Male impersonation, Horses, England, London (England), Steeplechasing
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor [ More ]
Director: Clarence Brown
Writers:Theodore Reeves, Helen Deutsch
Producer:Pandro S. Berman
Cinematographer:Leonard Smith
Editor: Robert J. Kern
Production Designers:Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. (Loew’s Inc.)
Robert Osborne introduces NATIONAL VELVET (1945) as Elizabeth Taylor breakout role, although the twelve-year-old had been cast in four features films already. Despite Taylor’s titular performance and her life-long experience riding horses, Mickey Rooney received top billing. During production, twenty-three-year old Rooney was preparing for service in WWII. Angela Lansbury, who was nineteen at the time, made her second film performance in NATIONAL VELVET
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