The Horse's Mouth

1958 "Smart Alec ... Sheer madness and all Guinness! The man's a genius ..."
7| 1h35m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 11 November 1958 Released
Producted By: Knightsbridge Films
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Gulley Jimson is a boorish aging artist recently released from prison. A swindler in search of his next art project, he hunkers down in the penthouse of would-be patrons the Beeders while they go on an extended vacation; he paints a mural on their wall, pawns their valuables and, along with the sculptor Abel, inadvertently smashes a large hole in their floor. Jimson's next project is an even larger wall in an abandoned church.

Genre

Comedy

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Director

Ronald Neame

Production Companies

Knightsbridge Films

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The Horse's Mouth Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
raymond_chandler Rollicking, bittersweet portrayal of an indigent artist in postwar London. Alec Guinness is Gulley Jimson, curmudgeon and would-be lothario who curses his vocation with the same passion he pours into his paintings. The film follows Guinness on a madcap quest to regain some lost artwork, leading to antics worthy of the Marx Brothers. He is joined in his adventures by Kay Walsh as Dee Coker, Gulley's caustic barkeep gadfly who helps him look for the artwork in order to collect a debt. Mike Morgan is Nosey, the starstruck youth who follows Gulley everywhere to learn his painting secrets. Ernest Thesinger (Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein) is the long-time benefactor of Gulley who is harassed by crank phone calls from the artist. Renee Houston steals the movie right out from under Guinness' nose in the role of Sara Monday, Gulley's ex-wife who still is sweet on him. Screenplay adapted by Guinness from a book by Joyce Cary, directed by Ronald Neame."Why doesn't it fit...like it does in the mind?"
Neil Doyle A nice chance to see ALEC GUINNESS as a mad abstract artist with KAY WALSH as his bitterly complaining friend in THE HORSE'S MOUTH. Guinness also wrote the script which has him as a mad artist--crusty, eccentric, but sometimes lovable--who has a knack for getting into trouble whenever he decides to splash his paints on any bare wall. I must say the resulting paintings are not to my taste, so I squirmed uncomfortably at the sight of them.But the film is really a character study of the eccentric man and his close friendship with some equally weird friends. Ronald Neame uses the Technicolor camera to capture some nice scenes of London, but the story is essentially a two-character study that works because of the excellent performances of Guinness and Walsh.Summing up: Uneven results but generally amusing and entertaining with some very funny moments.
sol- Alec Guinness, working with a highly interesting character, provides an enjoyable leading performance in this film that he scripted himself, and Kay Walsh is also wonderful to watch on screen. The film is filled with wonderfully amusing comic moments, and it is only prevented by a few small things from being any better, such as a lack of depth, since there is not much else to the film, other than entertainment value. The premise also wears out before the end and some of the supporting characters, in particular Michael Gough's, are overly silly and add nothing to the tale. However, if not perfect, this is still delightful stuff, with a couple of great performances and many lively moments to be had.
maddyx I love this movie; it's on my all-time (ever-growing) list of the ones I love to see again and again. Not very surprising, I also loved reading Joyce Cary's wonderful book. However fine a film version of a work of literature, there is always more in the text. One of the glories of this film is how much of Cary's book it brings to full life. I didn't know, until seeing it in someone else's comment here, that "The Horse's Mouth" is only one book of a trilogy about Gulley Jimson. I will seek out the others as soon as possible. To the person whose name i didn't think to write down when reading your comment: Thank you very much.