Rating: 
Summary: Alec Guinness is fantastic!
Review: Alec Guiness is fantastic as a sort of likeable but stubborn starving artist. It's a great character and probably my favorite performance from him(he's so much more abrasive than most of his other films). To be sought out at whatever cost(it seems to be not widely availabe right now)-find it, watch it! From the director of TUNES OF GLORY(also with Alec Gunness) and GAMBIT(soon to be remade by the Coen Brothers).
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and poignant Guinness
Review: First off, this isn't a review--it's a reminiscence. I saw this film in the '60s in Berkeley, and I loved it then partly because it spoke to me of what I believed were the issues of the day--freedom (artistic and otherwise) and the power of the individual. I am now buying the video so that I can at long last have a joyous reunion with the unforgettable characters--the artist's dishevelled, indignant and loyal girlfriend; his equally dishevelled, adoring and unquestioning young admirer, and the artist himself, the outrageous Gully Jimson (Guinness). I still see his raffish little boat on the Thames, chugging along to the regal strains of Prokofiev, just as the often obnoxious and stubborn Jimson is dignified by the strength of his commitment to art and self. (This film was based on the novel by Joyce Cary)
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Summary: Art for an artist is more than dough!
Review: Gulley Jimson (Alec Guinness), an artist, has just been released from prison and he does not waste any time to begin painting again. However, painting is not a vocation that pays the bills unless you have someone who buys your paintings. Mr. Jimson is fully aware of the monetary difficulty for an artist, but it does not concern him. After an incident with a previous buyer, he meets the Beeder's who want to buy a painting from him. Somehow the Beeder's get more than what they asked for. Horse's Mouth is a light-hearted trip into the philosophy of an artist.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Film, Exemplary DVD
Review: Gulley Jimson is an unappreciated painter, loopily passionate about his art, and defiantly inured to the rigors of poverty & the fear of giving offense."The Horse's Mouth" wears its 45 years effortlessly. We are fortunate that Alec Guinness poured his unique talents into imagining the genius of this comic character, getting it down as a screenplay, and rendering so inspired a performance. The result defies imitation. Intelligent viewers will find the comedy as delightfully quick as it must have been when it was first shown. The Criterion Collection DVD has preserved the Technicolor gorgeously. We are spared the customary tedium of "DVD filler" but given a wonderful short interview with director Ronald Neame.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Film, Exemplary DVD
Review: Gulley Jimson is an unappreciated painter, loopily passionate about his art, and defiantly inured to the rigors of poverty & the fear of giving offense. "The Horse's Mouth" wears its 45 years effortlessly. We are fortunate that Alec Guinness poured his unique talents into imagining the genius of this comic character, getting it down as a screenplay, and rendering so inspired a performance. The result defies imitation. Intelligent viewers will find the comedy as delightfully quick as it must have been when it was first shown. The Criterion Collection DVD has preserved the Technicolor gorgeously. We are spared the customary tedium of "DVD filler" but given a wonderful short interview with director Ronald Neame.
Rating:
Summary: should be available!
Review: I guess I missed a chance to buy this wonderful movie, but with the passing of the great Sir Alec, maybe it will be reissued. I watched this on a foreign flick channel in Milwaukee when I was in 7th or 8th grade--every night for 5 nights! I do believe the effects were permanent and profound-- from my middle class reality I saw another way of looking at the world that was closer to mine than my classmates and family. I learned the music, played it for my orchestra teacher who identified it and became a Prokofiev devotee to boot! Read the book in HS. See It! The public participation mural part is great!
Rating:
Summary: "Burning bright" indeed
Review: I recently purchased this film from Amazon as well as "The Alec Guinness Collection" which includes Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) plus four others: The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Captain's Paradise (1953), and The Ladykillers (1955). Frankly, I was amazed how well each of the six films has held up since I first saw it. This film is based on a novel by Joyce Carey, The Horse's Mouth. Guinness wrote the screenplay which was nominated for an Academy Award. The director was Ronald Neame who also produced it. Special credit should also be given to the cinematographer, Arthur Ibbetson, who brilliantly captures the beauty of London while sustaining the viewer's focus on both the splendor and squalor of Gulley Jimson's passions. For me, Guinness' portrayal of that aging and impoverished but obsessed painter gives a whole new meaning to the word "eccentric." As in the novel, the spirit of William Blake is very evident. Art is Jimson's religion for which he is not only willing but eager to make whatever sacrifice may be necessary, his or another's. There are both lambs and tigers in Blake's world. As portrayed by Guinness, Jimson seems to combine their dominant characteristics in his own personality and behavior. Members of the supporting cast are outstanding, notably Mike Morgan (Nosey) and Kay Walsh (Coker) who remain devoted to Jimson throughout his constant use and abuse of them. I hasten to add that, after recently watching this bittersweet film again, I found its several comic moments hilarious. The best of Guinness' comic films always include special "touches" which enrich their appeal. Whether it was his idea or Neame's (or theirs together), clever use is made of Sergei Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije" suite throughout the film. I am unable to explain why so few people who claim to be "film buffs" know about this classic...nor why even fewer people have seen it.
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Summary: One of the finest films ever overlooked
Review: I saw this film when it first came out, and I've seen it about 20 times since, and it never wears thin. Other reviewers have covered the details, and I'll not repeat them. Guiness has made a character quite different from Cary's original, and in many ways, more interesting. For me, this is one of the great films, something not often said of a small comedy. It illuminates as much of the human spirit as "Seven Samurai" or "Citizen Kane". It's as near perfect as one could wish for - Guiness is completely mature and at the height of his acting and writing powers, and the supporting cast is perfect. I don't give such praise casually - this IS a great film, and worth your time and money.
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Summary: A Must see for will-be artists or art lovers in general.
Review: I saw this movie with Spanish subtitles for the first time in 1964 as I turned ten years old. It was shown in a public channel in Puerto Rico. That was my first contact with Art in general.
As I watched the movie I realized that I identified strongly with the artist character played by Alec Guiness. Eveything seemed so cool about him.
I also loved the image of the sculptor wearing the long scarf and creating an abstract image as he worked inspired by a nude female model.
My whole life was tranformed at the end of this movie. I was only ten years old but I was decided to be myself like the artists in the movie. Sure enough I became an artist painter!
I travelled the world and lived in Paris for ten years.
After all those years I still trace the root of my artistic life to that wonderful and providential film.
It amazes me how powerful and influential
the art of Cinema could be.
Rating:
Summary: How To Out Bluff A Film Buff
Review: If a film buff askes you to name a classic film you realy like you can do no worse than to answer "The Horse's Mouth". Try to suppress a smile as the buff looks at first puzzled and then cautiously admits that they have never heard of let alone seen that movie so can it be that good? Well actually yes it is explain to them then casually mention that it is the only film that Alec Guinness ever wrote a screenplay for and that he gained an Academy Award nomination for his trouble and that in his "Parkinson" interview in 1977 he almost (but not quite) admitted that it was his favourite film in his long career. Then you can go on to tell that it is one of the few films from the 1950's that shows London in colour and the music adapted from Sergei Prokofieff's "Lieutenant Kije" gives the film a touch of class and a unique sense of style not to be found in other films of the period. You may then mention that the acting is superb; as well as Guinness' faultless study of an obsessive and slightly desturbed artist Gulley Jimson. Kay Walsh(Mrs. David Lean)adds humour and pathos as Miss Coker the comugenly woman who none the less has a soft spot for Jimson and music hall turn Renee Houston as Sara Munday (Gulley's ex-wife) adds a bit of bawdy fun to the proceedings. Young actor Mike Morgan gives an energetic perfomance all the more sad because he died before the film's release. As the discussion continues you may point out that there are a few technical problems; the original three strip Technicolour camaras were so heavy, with their sound blimps, that the camera doesn't move that much during dialoge shots but that makes the actors move more especially when Gulley and Coker are escaping from the police . Also because the film was assembled onto one roll of negative (a common practice in British films until the 1960's )the dissolves are a bit klunky. But any discerning viewer will forgive such imperfections like the bullet holes in a Jimson painting. You can then round off your discourse by stating that the end of the film, when Jimson sets sail in his wreck of a boat (a metaphor for his own body?), to find something new to paint is sublime. Then if the film buff is still a bit bemused you can tell them that there is an excellent DVD of the film including an interview with director Ronald Neame and a D.A. Pennebacker Short that accompanied the film on it's original release from Criterion and that no serious DVD collection should be with out it and that comes, as they say, from the horse's mouth.
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