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Actors: Alec Guiness, Michael Gough, Kay Walsh, Ernest Thesiger, Mike Morgan
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Horse's Mouth |
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Written by Alec Guinness and directed by Ronald Neame, THE HORSE'S MOUTH is a british movie released in 1958. Alec Guinness's screenplay was nominated for the academy award.
London. A few weeks in the life of Gulley Jimson, a painter trying to paint his visions on any white walls he encounters. When this wall happens to be in the Beeder's living room, trouble begins for Gulley and for the people around him. But Gulley doesn't care, his artistic commitment is more important than the little problems created by his eccentric behaviour.
--Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar
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Gulley Jimson -- broke, cagey, sly -- is fresh out of prison and looking for new opportunities to pursue his art. He's a painter, a driven man, and not too particular about how he secures money or places to work. He lives on a houseboat on the Thames; that is, when he doesn't manage to cadge much nicer quarters from simple-minded or overgenerous patrons. When the Beeders go out of town on vacation, Gulley moves into their sumptuous apartment and begins selling off the contents while he creates a masterwork on one wall. Unfortunately, a worshipful kid keeps pestering him to be his protege; then another artist, a sculptor, moves in too with a gigantic block of marble which crashes through the floor. The year after winning the best actor Oscar for "The Bridge on the River Kwai," Guinness wrote the screenplay (based on the Joyce Cary novel) as well as starred in this oddball 1958 film that depicts the utter singleminded selfishness of artists. He attacks the role with a gravelly voice (you worry about what he's doing to it) and slovenliness that makes him look a decade or more older than the 44 he was when he made this cult classic.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Horse's Mouth |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1930's-1950's
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Struggle with
- eccentricity
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- artist
Strong "rags to riches" component?
Yes
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- artist
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- obsessed
- wild
Hair color?
- white
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
- (man) short/standard wavey
Body type
- (man) very skinny
Events of movie makes character more...
- irritated
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn straight
How much in movie?
- 40%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Water?
Yes
Water:
- river
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Misc setting
- bar
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- very happy
- full of laughter
Non-American film?
Yes
What language?
- English
Subtitles?
- No
Any profanity?
- None
If soundtrack VERY NOTICEABLE...
- Orchestra/classical
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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