Unsatisfying film which does have a great premise: a young boy finds he can predict winning racehorses by riding (and meditating upon) the toy rocking horse in his bedroom. Handsome British production adapted from a D.H. Lawrence story unfortunately never quite lifts off. The cast (including John Mills and Valerie Hobson) is first-rate, but the results are dour and glum. Of course the plot doesn't necessitate the proceedings to be either scary or haunting, but it does require some intrigue in the principal set-up, and even this is handled without intensity or particular insight. It's just another melodrama, and one with a dispiriting conclusion. ** from ****
Review of The Rocking Horse Winner
