Nonureva Really Surprised!

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

horrorfilmx I first saw this movie as part of a late-night Alec Guiness film festival when I was a teen. I was totally blown away by it. Among other things it inspired in me a love of Prokofiev and it also impelled me to seek out the book on which THE HORSE'S MOUTH was based. Sad to say once I got into Joyce Cary's novel my opinion of the movie went down several notches. The movie is very good but the book is brilliant. In fact it's only Guiness' deviations from the original novel that hurt his screenplay. There are depths to Cary's work that are rarely approached here and the addition of broad slapstick humor and the slightly cop-out ending are not improvements.Having said that, a book is a book and a movie is a movie and this movie is still very good. In addition to the excellent score we're given a fine cast. Guiness himself is so good that I can't read the book without picturing him as Gulley Jimson, and horror film fans will enjoy seeing Michael (HORROR OF Dracula, etc.) Gough as a rival artist and Ernest (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN)Thesiger as Jimson's one-time patron driven past his limit by the eccentric artist.Enjoy the movie (but check out the source).

bkoganbing A year after winning the Oscar for Best Actor in The Bridge on the River Kwai, Alec Guinness was back to doing comedy, but with a lot bigger budgets than he was used to. His classic parts in Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lavendar Hill Mob were done without color for instance, which was a much bigger premium for films in the United Kingdom.Guinness has not played such a disreputable character as Cully Jimson since playing Fagin in Oliver Twist. Yet even as he's fleecing all around him including his girl friend Kay Walsh and devoted acolyte Mike Morgan, he still retains that likability. You do end up rooting for him even as he pulls some outrageous scams.Kay Walsh who as David Lean's ex-wife was friends with Guinness and his wife Merula. Lean of course was responsible for Guinness's breakout roles in Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. Guinness got her cast in the role of his long suffering girlfriend and owner of a pub.Sadly young Mike Morgan died right before shooting ended on The Horse's Mouth. Guinness had worked with him previously on Morgan's only other film credit, Barnacle Bill. He gives a nice winsome performance as the young man who just wants to bask in the glow of Guinness's talent and glosses over all the chicanery.I don't think The Horse's Mouth is as good as Kind Hearts and Coronets or The Lavendar Hill Mob. Still Guinness obviously saw the film as a labor of love and the results do show.

tedg I am a firm believer in the notion that actors are rare people. They have a set of challenges and concerns that are themselves interesting. Filmmakers have a different, often conflicting set of concerns and challenges. It is usually a disaster to put an actor in charge when all he knows is acting.My favorite example is Al Pacino's "Looking for Richard," but there are tons and tons of examples. Most are like this which consists entirely of defining and displaying an interesting character. Real movielovers will find all such projects unsatisfying.Plus, I'm not one who thinks this man is a great actor.But there is something a bit interesting. The character here is a great artist who cannot seem to pull off the big picture, to make things slide smoothly. The actor is too, in precisely the same ways we see, as if we are watching two layers at the same time.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

MartinHafer Although most Americans have little knowledge of his work other than Star Wars, Alec Guinness produced an amazing body of work--particularly in the 1940s-1950s--ranging from dramas to quirky comedies. I particularly love his comedies, as they are so well-done and seem so natural and real on the screen--far different from the usual fare from Hollywood.I first saw this movie when I was about 13 or so, and didn't appreciate it very much. Years later, when I became fascinated with Guinness' comedies, I decided to give it another chance. And boy am I glad I did!! The movie concerns the life of an extremely edgy and rather nasty artist. Guinness really plays this up and creates one of the quirkiest and funniest characters I have ever seen. In essence, the man is a rascal that is driven to create his art regardless of what it takes to get it done! What I missed the first time I saw the film were the extremely catchy music and the amazing art created for this movie. I am not the biggest fan of modern art, but the second time i saw the movie I really liked most of the works done for the movie--it just was a darn shame that much of it was destroyed in the course of the movie! In addition to music and art, the performances throughout of all the actors was nearly perfect.Finally, the version of the movie I saw last was from the Criterion Collection. Get this version!!!! It had so much wonderful background information about the actual art, the making of the movie, and interesting background information--such as how they got the musical score WITHOUT having to pay royalties and the incredibly sad tale of a magnificent performance by a young supporting actor that did not live to see the finished product.