The Rocking Horse Winner

Adapted from D. H. Lawrence's short story, this English film takes place inside a household that can never climb out of debt. The small boy falls into a kind of trance while riding his rocking horse, and comes out of it knowing which horse will win. For his mother that means money; for the boy it means being noticed by her, and the whole ache of the film lies in those two things being mistaken for each other. Anthony Pelissier shoots the house almost as if it were haunted, though the source of the dread is not supernatural but a home that always wants more. John Mills plays the gardener and John Howard Davies the boy. The ending is left unspoiled here.