National Velvet (1944) {Warner Archive Blu-ray Review}

Reviewed by Jason Lockard

Being a child actor can be a good thing, but most of the time audiences can not except that the sweet child is not a child anymore. Very rarely do child actors have careers that span their lifetime. A couple of these child actors that turned into great adult actors as well were Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney.

In 1944 MGM gave these two the reigns to an amazing story being brought to the screen in National Velvet. Now the great folks at Warner Archive are giving this heartwarming family tale an epic Blu-ray release.

Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor) is a horse-loving 12-year-old living in rural Sussex. When she wins a horse in a raffle, she decides to train it for England's Grand National Steeplecase with the help of former jockey Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney). As the big day approaches her horse "The Pie" is ready for the big day, but Velvet looses faith in Mi as the rider. So she come-up with a less than legal replacement. Velvet who dreams of winning the Grand National race, will ride posing as a boy!

Clarence Brown did a masterful job in directing this film. Mickey Rooney still in his twenties is a veteran and Elizabeth Taylor at the ripe age of 12 is in her first starring role. Now you might think there would be some apprehension, but she is so at home in front of the camera even at this young age, you just know she was bound for great things. These two were surrounded by a great supporting cast including Angela Lansbury, Donald Crisp, Anne Revere, Arthur Treacher and fellow child actor Jackie Jenkins.

While National Velvet is not a completely faithful adaption of the original novel it is a dramatic and inspiring tell! The word masterpiece is thrown around a lot when it comes to films and very few of them deserve it! But in National Velvet's case, I think it is appropriate to say this is a masterpiece of cinema.

Warner Archive has transferred this classic in 1080p in it's original full screen format and an 1.37:1 aspect ratio and in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. There is the option for English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. The transfer looks really good! The colors in this film are something out of a fairy tale. This Blu-ray not only has a pristine copy of this classic film it also has the theatrical trailer included.

When looking back at Academy Award season it's not hard to believe that National Velvet didn't win best picture. Not because it wasn't a great film it was just a tremendous year of films. You had tough competition of Anchors Aweigh, The Bells of St. Mary's, Mildred Pierce, Hitchcock's Spellbound and the ultimate winner The Lost Weekend. But National Velvet was nominated for five Oscars and won two.

Watch The Trailer Below:


Some may never have seen this film or read the book, but most will never forget Carol Burnett's sketch with Tim Conway "Natural Velvet". A loving spoof of this classic, but nothing beat the original.

If you love National Velvet as much as I do you are going to want this stunning looking copy on Blu-ray from Warner Archive. Head over to Amazon.com and get your copy today.


Out of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) The Warner Archive Blu-ray of National Velvet receives.....