THE HORSE’S MOUTH [1958 / 2002] [The Criterion Collection] [DVD] [USA Release]
Sir Alec Guinness Gives an Oscar Performance as Gulley Jimson!
In Ronald Neame’s film of Joyce Cary’s classic novel and Sir Alec Guinness transforms himself into one of cinema’s most indelible comic figures: the lovably scruffy painter Gulley Jimson. As the ill-behaved THE HORSE’S MOUTH film Gulley Jimson searches for a perfect canvas, he determines to let nothing come between himself and the realization of his exalted vision. A perceptive examination of the struggle of artistic creation, ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ is also Ronald Neame’s comic masterpiece.
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FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1958 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Best Supporting Actress Kay Walsh. Win: NBR Award for Top Foreign Films. 1958 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: Best Actor Sir Alec Guinness. 1958 Venice Film Festival: Win: New Cinema Award for Best Actor Sir Alec Guinness. Win: Volpi Cup for Best Actor Sir Alec Guinness. Nominated: Golden Lion for Ronald Neame. 1959 Academy Awards®: Nominated: Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium for Sir Alec Guinness. 1959 Laurel Awards: Nominated: Top Male Comedy Performance Sir Alec Guinness. 1960 BAFTA Awards: Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for Best British Actress Kay Walsh. Nominated: BAFTA Film Award Best British Screenplay Sir Alec Guinness.
FILM FACT No.2: ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ film with the Academy Award® nominated screenplay, was written by Sir Alec Guinness, generally follows the book upon which it was based. The screenplay focuses mainly on Gulley Jimson's character and the life of an artist rather than on the social and political themes that the book explores. It also deviates from the book's ending, in which Gulley Jimson suffers a stroke and is no longer able to paint. The expressionistic paintings featured in the film are actually the work of John Bratby, a member of the English provincial realist artist group known as the kitchen sink school. To prepare for the film, Sir Alec Guinness observed John Bratby at work in his home studio. Mike Morgan fell ill with meningitis shortly before filming ended and died before its completion. As a result, another actor dubbed many of Gulley Morgan's lines. Director Ronald Neame visited author Joyce Cary, who was dying from bone cancer. Joyce Cary requested that her son Tristram Cary, who had previously scored Sir Alec Guinness’s film ‘The Ladykillers,’ be contracted to write the film's score. Ronald Neame conveyed to Tristram Cary that he wanted “something jaunty and cocky” in the manner of Sergei Prokoviev's Lieutenant Kijé. The score was arranged by Kenneth V. Jones. The film, which received rave reviews in the UK after its Royal Command Performance, has been named by one critic as “quite probably the best film ever made about a painter.” Scott Weinberg of the Apollo Guide described Sir Alec Guinness’s performance as “a devilishly enjoyable character study,” that “ranges from 'mildly dishevelled to tragically exhausted” and also praised Ronald Neame’s direction. The contemporary Film Quarterly review by Henry Goodman identified the film's predominant theme of the artist as destroyer and praised the Gulley Jimson character as “a fine realization of the absurdities as well as the idealisms of the creative life.”
Cast: Sir Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Renee Houston, Mike Morgan, Robert Coote, Arthur Macrae, Veronica Turleigh, Michael Gough, Reginald Beckwith, Ernest Thesiger, Gillian Vaughan, John Adams (uncredited), Chris Adcock (uncredited), Andy Alston (uncredited), Timothy Bateson (uncredited), Jim Brady (uncredited), Victor Brooks (uncredited), Peter Bull (uncredited), Richard Caldicot (uncredited), Terry Cashfield (uncredited), Jack Chissick (uncredited), Mary Davies (uncredited), Fred Griffiths (uncredited), May Hallatt (uncredited), Joan Hickson (uncredited), Rose Howlett (uncredited), Jeremy Judge (uncredited), John Kidd (uncredited), Rosalind Knight (uncredited), Hugh Latimer (uncredited), Richard Leech (uncredited), Garry Leeman (uncredited), John Lynn (uncredited), Jackie Martin (uncredited), Sally Muggeridge (uncredited), John Norman (uncredited), Elton Ollivierre (uncredited), Clive Revill (uncredited), Ernie Rice (uncredited), David Robinson (uncredited) and Tony Spears (uncredited)
Director: Ronald Neame
Producers: Albert Fennell, John Bryan and Ronald Neame
Screenplay: Joyce Cary (novel) and Sir Alec Guinness (screenplay)
Composer: Kenneth V. Jones
Costume Design: Julia Squire and Gowns: Monica Turleigh
Cinematography: Arthur Ibbetson, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080i (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Anamorphic)
Audio: English: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 95 minutes
Region: NTSC
Number of discs: 1
Studio: UNITED ARTISTS / JANUS FILMS / The Criterion Collection
Andrew’s DVD Review: In the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ [1958] we find Gulley Jimson [Sir Alec Guinness] is broke, has bad manners, is ill behaved, and is not above using underhanded tactics, but above all else, he is an artist. But even his finest works have left him cold, as the finished projects simply do not match up to the visions inside his head, much to his dissatisfaction. Gulley Jimson does not take the blame however; as he insists that his skills are not the cause of the problems, but that his canvas is. His claim is that his vision can only be supported by the perfect canvas, which means of course, Gulley Jimson needs to find this almost mythical substance. Sir Alec Guinness not only stars in what amounts to a one-man show as an aging, struggling London painter Gulley Jimson, and on top of all that, Sir Alec Guinness also wrote the screenplay. But funny enough, Sir Alec Guinness got an Oscar nomination for the writing, and not for the acting.
So Gulley Jimson sets his mind to finding this elusive perfect canvas and of course, nothing can stand between him and his goal, no matter what it might be. Gulley Jimson soon manipulates his way inside the home of a rich couple and once they’ve left for vacation, Jimson makes some renovations. Gulley Jimson pawns off their belongings to fund his project and leaves them with a massive mural, as well as some other assorted surprises. But can Gulley Jimson ever find his perfect canvas and even if he does, can even that hold his vision as he sees it inside his mind?
I’ve seen a number of films about artists and their inner workings, but few have been as effective as director Ronald Neame’s ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH,’ and offers a comedic techniques instead of traditional dramatic means. In fact, this movie is sheer lunacy at times and often involved madcap situations, all of which result in ample laughs and a very, very entertaining overall experience. You might think that such an outrageous comic film couldn’t get across any kind of message about an artist, but when the artist is Gulley Jimson, you need to have that sort of chaos and insanity, without question.
The film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH,’ is triumphant in its presentation of the bright and dark sides of Gulley Jimson’s creative obsession. He is brilliant, but his brilliance manifests itself in ways that irritate even his admirers, which are The Beeders’s married couple who are interested in his art and results in Gulley Jimson destroying their home as he leaves “The Raising of Lazarus” painting on their wall; and Joan Hickson, the patron who leaves Gulley Jimson’s paintings to the British Museum, nevertheless is driven to obtain a police order of protection from Gulley Jimson; and after finally completing “The Last Judgement” painting with the help of his eager young devotees, and of course Gulley Jimson himself destroys it before the authorities take over. Gulley Jimson’s feelings about his own admirers are rightly ambivalent, since they respect him for his early works that he no longer takes seriously, while rejecting his newest work, which has a special focus on people’s feet.
In addition to being Sir Alec Guinness’s funniest film, ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH,’ is the most personal, and touching, of all Sir Alec Guinness’s movies. Apart from starring as the brilliant but bedraggled artist Gulley Jimson, Sir Alec Guinness also adapted the Oscar-nominated screenplay from Joyce Cary’s book, and initiated the entire project, recruiting producer John Bryan and director Ronald Neame.
As interesting as this film is, I think without the presence of Sir Alec Guinness, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective in most aspects. But then again, since Sir Alec Guinness also wrote the film’s screenplay, I doubt anyone else was even considered in this case. It would seem to be one of those times where an actor took such an interest in a character that he took it upon himself to make it happen, as Sir Alec Guinness gives a totally remarkable performance in this film.
Part of the success of ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ lay in the impact of its wonderfully witty, madly paced music. Although Sergei O. Prokofieff’s music was actually written for an entirely different movie, that being Alexander Feinzimmer’s Lieutenant Kije, about the mad Czar Paul I, the music score is recycled here as a perfect accompaniment to Gulley Jimson’s obsessive need to paint and the ensuing chaos. Indeed, ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ is a about obsession and the greatness that it can yield. That it works so well, with hardly a wasted shot or word in its depiction of a chaotic life, is a tribute to both director Ronald Neame and Sir Alec Guinness.
The inspired nature of Sir Alec Guinness’s effort here reveals his personal interest in the material, as Sir Alec Guinness turns in one of his greatest performances, a true compliment since he had so many powerful turns. In the end, this is yet another testament to the skills of Sir Alec Guinness and if you’re a fan of his work, you cannot and must no miss ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH.’
The movie ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ is as much about the different ways that art and its disorderly creation touch the people around the artist Gulley Jimson as it is about the artist caught up in that impulse.
Here, unusually, the paintings really do matter. They’re not copies of well-known classics, as in most artists’ biopics – they were executed by John Bratby, a leading member of the group of English provincial realists who came to be known as the “Kitchen Sink” school.
THE HORSE’S MOUTH MUSIC TRACK LIST
LIEUTENANT KIJE (Composer: Sergei O. Prokofieff) (Arrangement: Kenneth V. Jones) (Conductor: Muir Mathieson)
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DVD Image Quality – UNITED ARTISTS, JANUS FILMS and The Criterion Collection presents us the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ with a 1080i image and shown in the 1.66:1 anamorphic aspect ratio. Although the image here is quite acceptable, it doesn’t seem as though Criterion used their usual restoration methods, as the print looks on the worn side. The defects are not too serious, but you’ll see more grain, nicks, and debris than usual, which is a let-down, since this is such a visual film that needs a top notch presentation. But this is a solid overall effort, as the print isn’t in too bad of condition and the rest of the elements seem in good form also. The Technicolor image is brighter than expected, though still faded a little by time and contrast is smooth and well balanced. Some restoration work would have been preferred, but this is still an acceptable visual effort. We are also informed that this DVD would not have been possible without the generous participation of director Ronal Neame.
DVD Audio Quality – UNITED ARTISTS, JANUS FILMS and The Criterion Collection brings us the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ with 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio experience and is nice and clean and crisp throughout, thanks to some clean-up work by The Criterion Collection to remove various imperfections. I did notice some muffled moments, but they were very minor and aside from that, no age related issues have arisom. I heard no hiss or pops, while harshness is minimal and never much of a distraction. The dialogue is sharp and easy to understand on the whole, while the music & sound effects, while limited due to mono’s nature, come through as well as can be expected.
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DVD Special Features and Extras:
New high-definition digital transfer and supervised by director Ronald Neame and enhanced for the widescreen television.
Special Feature: Theatrical Trailer [1958] [480i] [1.66:1] [1:44] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH.’ Unfortunately the quality of this trailer is totally atrocious.
Special Feature: Ronald Neame on ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ [2002] [1080i] [1.78:1] [17:39] With this featurette, we get to view an interview with director Ronald Neame and informs us that the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ is based on the Joyce Cary’s classic novel “The Horse’s Mouth” and Ronald Neame thought Joyce Cary was a wonderful novelist and very very underestimated, and Joyce Cary wrote several novels about the same type of artist and Gulley Jimson, and Ronald Neame was thinking of making a sequel to the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ and was going to be entitled ‘Herself Surprised’ and wanted it to star Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, but due to circumstances it fell at the first hurdle and the project had to abandoned. Ronald Neame thought the Joyce Cary’s classic novel “The Horse’s Mouth” was one of the best and the director Ronald Neame went to visit the author Joyce Cary to talk about making the film of his novel, but sadly when he arrived at his home to talk to Joyce Cary and was informed that Joyce Cary was very seriously ill with cancer and only had a few weeks to live and of course observed that Joyce Cary was extremely ill and extremely very frail, but at the same time Joyce Cary was very enthusiastic that his novel was going to be made into a film and equally excited that Sir Alec Guinness was going to play the leading character Gulley Jimson, but about week after the interview, Ronald Neame heard that Joyce Cary had sadly passed away just before they started filming ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH,’ and after filming finished, wondered what Joyce Cary would make of the finished film. Ronald Neame informs us that they could only use part of the novel, as if they had filmed the whole novel it would have been impossible to be filmed, as it would have been horrendously far too long, but if they did contemplate filming the whole novel, it would of probably be made into two films in total. When Ronald Neame originally got a copy of the novel, he found it far too long and too difficult and decided it would have been impossible to film, but one day Sir Alec Guinness called to see him and also gave Ronald Neame a copy of the novel and said he wanted to make the film and again Ronald Neame said to the actor it would be impossible to make the film, so Sir Alec Guinness was still enthusiastic and said could he go away on his own and do his write his own screenplay, so Ronald Neame gave him the green light to go away and do his own screenplay, so eventually Sir Alec Guinness presented his screenplay to Ronald Neame and was totally overjoyed in the screenplay and so decided to go ahead and make the film, and of course to have Sir Alec Guinness in the starring role of Gulley Jimson, and Ronald Neame thought Sir Alec Guinness played the part of Gulley Jimson perfectly. But of course they had to search for the perfect artist to do the actual paintings for the film, so they went to the Royal Academy to check out the paintings to see who would be suitable, and Sir Kenneth Clark was the curator at the time and asked him to suggest an artist and said there is only one man who would be suitable, and that was John Randall Bratby RA (19 July, 1928 – 20 July, 1992) was an English painter who founded the “kitchen sink” realism style of art that was influential in the late 1950’s. John Randall Bratby RA made portraits of his family and celebrities. His works were seen in television and film. John Randall Bratby RA was also a writer and felt he had the biggest personality like Sir Alec Guinness, and John Randall Bratby RA didn’t use artist’s brushes, but loved squeezing the tune of paint straight onto the surface of the canvas and by the time he had finished the painting, the paint was about half an inch thick with paint and on the floor ended up massive amounts of empty tubes of paint and a fortune was spent on tubes of paint, but the results director Ronald Neame felt was truly wonderful, but he also felt the paintings looked spectacular in the film and when you put the lighting on the paintings at a certain angle, the paintings really stood out and again felt John Randall Bratby RA was totally perfect, and the church wall that was painted at the end of the film and took six weeks to complete, which was in fact on the backlot of Shepperton Studios, which located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, and John Randall Bratby RA was really upset that the massive wall painting was going to be completely destroyed in the film, so John Randall Bratby RA did not stay around, but went home. But of course the actual scene in the film where the wall is destroyed and to be planned 100% perfectly as they could not do it again, as it would have taken another six weeks to paint another wall, so director Ronald Neame used five cameras to capture the momentous event for that one scene, and the centre of the wall had no mortar, so it would split perfectly and come down easily and felt it was a perfect shoot, and felt it was a perfect shot, and a perfect end to that part in the film. Director Ronald Neame feels the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ is also very serious, not just for the comedy angle of the film and especially what Gulley Jimson sums up his massive wall painting in the London Mayfair apartment, where he says, “Why doesn’t it work,” and felt the close-up of Sir Alec Guinness was perfect in the way he expresses the way he feels and you cannot help caring for the man. The cinematography of the film was by Arthur Ibbetson, B.S.C. and director Ronald Neame says that the way he operated the camera was a beautiful experience and captured the image of the film perfectly and Arthur Ibbetson, B.S.C. like to film especially when the sun was out to give the film image a better lighting effect and just one light source and feels when you view the film you are seeing it from one source and feels the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ is just beautifully of total simplicity. On top of all that, director Ronald Neame thinks the music is very important for the film and had a very specific idea what type of music should be heard throughout the film, and especially to be very jaunty, something very perky, something very cheerful, and something very cocky. Director Ronald Neame really loved the music “LIEUTENANT KIJE” by Composer Sergei O. Prokofieff used in the film and he also thought it was a very appropriate music running throughout the film. Director Ronald Neame also likes when possible to use the same actors in his other films, especially a stable Repertoire Company of actors and again just likes these type of actors again and again in his films, because of their acting performances. Director Ronald Neame talks in-depth about the run down boat used by Sir Alec Guinness in the film that was moored on the Thames and felt it was perfect for Sir Alec Guinness to play the character of Gulley Jimson and was perfectly playing that character, and the boat used by Sir Alec Guinness who cost you a small fortune today and as much as a house, but most of all, director Ronald Neame says of course the boat would have to be in a 100% perfect condition, compared what it was like in the film sailing down the River Thames at the end of the film, and they got special permission to have Tower Bridge raised for the boat to pass under it. So all in all, this special feature is well worth viewing.
Special Feature: Daybreak Express [1953 / 1958] [480i] [1.37:1] [5:18] With this featurette, we get to view the D. A. Pennebaker’s short documentary film entitled ‘Daybreak Express,’ which opened with the original New York theatrical run of the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH,’ plus we get to view a video introduction by director D. A. Pennebaker himself. With this short documentary film ‘Daybreak Express,’ it is a jazz-inflected ode to the Big Apple's elevated train system. Guided by the Duke Ellington audio music track of “Daybreak Express,” this just over five-minute documentary takes us from one end of a New York subway route to the other, providing the audience with a view of the mid-20th century metropolis. Duke Ellington composed and recorded his audio track in 1933 and when deciding to make his film in 1953, D. A. Pennebaker rifled through his collection of jazz 78″ records looking for inspiration, and came up with this audio music track. 20 years after the original recording, the music sounds as ground-breaking and dramatic as the film looks. Though most of it has since been dismantled, the elevator still exists in the outer boroughs, and it's at these urban extremes that D. A. Pennebaker's camera finds its most compelling images: grimy brownstones speed past us, empty tracks rush towards us, and the far-off view of a spectral Manhattan tempts us. The music score is by Duke Ellington, and D. A. Pennebaker has edited his reverie-inspired images to the jazz master’s improvisation beats. The entire endeavour amounts too little more than razzle-dazzle, but an accompanying interview with D. A. Pennebaker himself provide a welcome glimpse into the famed documentary filmmaker’s humble beginnings. Whilst ‘Daybreak Express’ is often noted as one of the pioneering examples of cinéma-vérité, or direct cinema, it is D. A. Pennebaker’s production history which is arguably a greater source of interest to the amateur filmmaker. For it is in director D. A. Pennebaker’s approach to making a film overall that those of us not born holding a Super-8 camera might find inspiration!
Special Feature: D. A. Pennebaker Introduction [1958] [1080i] [1.78:1] [2:42] Director D. A. Pennebaker talks about why he wanted to make the short documentary ‘Daybreak Express’ which was of course wet in New York and felt he could film it with one reel of Kodachrome film and to stop and stop the film accurately, but had some technical problems, but made the short documentary film as you view it and originally put short documentary film hid it away in a cupboard and forgot all about it for a very long time, but one day director D. A. Pennebaker found the film by chance and someone suggested he take the film to the New York Paris Theatre to give it a screening and unfortunately it was filmed on 16mm film, so they said no problem, you can send the 16mm film to California to their Technicolor facility and they will blow it up and get it put onto a 35mm film print and so director D. A. Pennebaker took the 35mm film print to the New York Paris Theatre and the owner kindly viewed it and thought it was a nice little film and bought it off director D. A. Pennebaker for $700, but turned down the offer and instead ran it with the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ for quite a long time and was a quite a good success with audiences. So check it out and see if you will enjoy the short documentary ‘Daybreak Express.’
PLUS: The cover design was by Michael Boland, and is based on the ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ theatrical poster. Michael Boland thinks that a good film poster and cover art is able to communicate that power in an honest way that honours the film as an extension of the film experience and that Michael Boland believes that a good film poster and cover art is designed more for the film than for the market.
BONUS: We are supplied with a wonderful 16 page booklet on the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH’ and includes a personal insight of Sir Alec Guinness and his portrayal of Gulley Jimson with “Alec Guinness and THE HORSE’S MOUTH.” You also get to read “Ronald Neame On THE HORSE’S MOUTH.” We also get included CAST. CREDITS. DVD PRODUCTION CREDITS. ABOUT THE TRANSFER. SPECIAL THANKS and ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We also get a couple of images relating to the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH.’
Finally, with the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH,’ we get to view the masterful performer of Sir Alec Guinness in command of such a bold character, you know the effort will memorable and it is, as Sir Alec Guinness goes, he is superb in all respects. One amazing fact I got to hear about, is the fact that I read about a wonderful discovery in a London tube station many years ago, where workers at the Notting Hill London underground station discovered a passageway that had been sealed off half a century earlier when the station had been converted from elevators to escalators. Left behind in the sealed tunnel was a time capsule of late 1950’s graphic art in the form of movie posters and advertisements left more or less intact. This is the kind of thing I dream about and the sealing of the tunnel can be roughly dated by the release dates of the four films advertised and one of them was the film poster for the film ‘THE HORSE’S MOUTH.’ I am so pleased to have this DVD, especially as it is part of The Criterion Collection that is now sadly out of print, as this is the kind of brilliant and effective picture that The Criterion Collection series prides itself on presenting. I give this film a great deal of high praise and of course, The Criterion Collection disc is a more than worthwhile purchase. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
