The Horse's Mouth - Criterion Collection (1958)

One of our all-time favorites

This film has the vision of the great novel on it's based on and is one of Alec Guiness's very best. The music, the scenes, the art, the faces of the characters as they come to their moments of personal trial--all amazingly memorable. Wiley, deep-souled Guiness and a great if little known cast. Mad, comic, glorious, sweet, and bitter-sweet. If you have and romantic leanings when it comes to artists, I think you'll love this book. If you're a fan of visionary William Blake you'll REALLY love it. It's also one of the best cameo portraits of Britain right after World War II. Take Me With You When You Go June 14, 2008

masterpiece by the old master

I bitterly regret that I completely missed seeing or even hearing about this movie until fifty years after it came out. All the movie critics and pundits I have listened to for all those years should hang their heads in shame. This movie belongs in every top twenty list and many top tens. I only found it by accident while browsing through my Netflix recommendations, but I am so glad I picked it.
I hope that Charlie Chaplin had a chance to see this movie while he was still alive because it has all the qualities that make for great slapstick. The hero bounces from one hilarious situation to another while spouting a mixture of witty sarcasm, profound wisdom, and general grumbling about the unfairness of the world. Only a great comic genius could have found a way to pack such a tremendous comic effect into the three words "let it go". This triggers the drop of a six foot cube of marble through the floor of the heroes borrowed studio (borrowed without the owners knowledge). This is quickly capped when the hero says that the people who live down there are in another country. The crazy sculptor who ordered the marble says, "That's okay then, I'll work down there.", throws his tools down the hole, grabs a ladder, and descends. He then spends the next six weeks carving the monstrous chunk of marble into a statue standing all of three feet tall. This sets us up for that wonderful effect of three people disappearing into a hole in the carpet, taking the carpet with them.
But, I think that only a comic of Chaplins caliber could have conceived the heroes final act of self-sacrifice, when to save others from guilt, he destroys his greatest masterpiece himself, then sails off down the Thames in a leaky old houseboat that is sure to sink before it reaches the sea. We are not too sad at this ending, because we know that there is no way that this crusty old curmudgeon is going to go down with the ship. He will find a way to survive and work even more havoc with the English art world.
It is interesting to know that only two people read the book and saw it as a movie. The first was Claude Raines. He showed the book to the director, who read some of it and said there was no movie in it. He later said the same thing to Alec Guiness, but Alec said, "you're absolutely wrong." and proceeded to write the screenplay. Thus we have both a master work of the comic actors trade, and a masterwork of screenwriting from the hand of the same genius, a feat worthy of the great Chaplin himself.
If you like Alec Guinness, you'll love this movie. If you love comedy, you'll love this movie. If you love Art, you'll want to watch this movie over and over. This is truly a great classic movie.
And, There's a bonus. The producers of this disc located and included the short film, Daybreak Express, which proceeded the movie in American theatres. This little piece, set to music of Duke Ellington, is a perfect little gem. Too short for a disc of its own, it's worth renting this disc in order to see it. The music alone is wonderful, but the way the director cut the film to match the music is a cinematic tour de force delightful to behold. considering the limited resources of the film maker, it's a minor miracle. January 5, 2008

Technical problem

I love this film and saw it when it first appeared in the 1950's. The DVD version (Criterion) is missing an important segment where the camera repeatedly visits the sculpture as it is chiseled away, finally down to a small scrap of marble.
The segment is important, not only for the immensity of its comedy. But also as a unique comment on the madness of the artists. January 2, 2008

Alex Guinness, the master

Poignant comedy about the struggle of an artist made classic through the genius of Alex Guinness. August 31, 2007

Guiness brews another stout character

Gully Jimson's over-the-top artistic obsession becomes endearing and disturbing in this performance by Alec Guiness, himself a masterful portrayer of larger-than-life characters. He paints Joyce Cary's artist with similarly grotesque colors of personality and behavior as in the vivid palette and bizarre imagery of Jimson's wall-size murals, so adeptly painted by the film's artists themselves. Jimson's art both destroys conventional decency and is destroyed by civil convention. Guiness himself wins another star in this crowning achievement of acting genius. May 15, 2007

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