International Velvet

I saw this movie when I was 13. I think I must have seen it 50 times if not more. I bought 2 copies of the book, and have collected more than a few items of memorabilia that have to do with the movie over the years. I was so jealous of Tatum O'Neal, I wished it was me in the picture. I have been to Ledyard-where they filmed Sarah's first visit to the US as a member of the US team and it was awesome to see the 3 day eventing up close and personal. I love horses and even had my own for quite a while. (I even wanted to change his name to Arizona Pie but figured since he'd had his name for sometime that every time I called him, I was afraid he wouldn't come!!!) I have a copy of the movie and treasure it like it's gold! This movie is for anyone young or old who loves horses. It's a great family movie and one to be watched over and over again.

Orphaned Tatum O'Neal moves to Britain to live with her aunt Velvet and live-in boyfriend, writer Christopher Plummer. Like auntie, who won the National, Miss O'Neal falls in love with the last colt of Pie, and tries out for the National team.

Clearly intended to tug at the heart strings of people who loved the first movie, this one doesn't succeed on that count. Where it works, thanks to writer-director Brian Forbes, is in painting portraits of the characters, particularly Plummer, and team coach Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins is particularly good, with a lot of humor in his tough, supercilious character.

Despite the focus being on Miss O'Neal, her character is far less complicated and interesting -- at least to me, who am not horse-mad. Forces' wife, Nannette Newman, plays Velvet -- it was hoped that Elizabeth Taylor would reprise her role -- and their daughter, Emma Forbes, has a small part.

Like its predecessor, National Velvet, International Velvet (1978) boasts a stellar cast: teenager Tatum O'Neal, the gorgeous Nanette Newman, and leading men Christopher Plummer and Sir Anthony Hopkins. It also has a more believable plot and a top-notch writer/director in Bryan Forbes (The Stepford Wives, The Slipper and the Rose, The Guns of Navarone, Colditz). The main stories are Sarah Brown's (O'Neal), an American orphan who finds herself in England with an aunt she doesn't know (Newman as the adult Velvet Brown), and of the horses and people inextricably entwined in their lives. A poignant and graceful growing up story of the challenges facing a difficult teenager and the adults who raise her, International Velvet has something for both horse lovers and non horse-lovers alike. More important than Sarah's bid for the Olympics is the love that is won. The cinematography and Francis Lai's soundtrack are stunning and awards worthy; Tatum should have won another Oscar with this role, too. Beautiful scenery. An under-rated feel-good family film!

Warning: Box of tissues useful when watching this movie as, amid the love and triumph, there is some gritty realism.

Orphaned American girl comes to stay with her aunt in England, who once was a famous horse rider when she was a child. Belated follow-up to Elizabeth Taylor's girlhood triumph "National Velvet" has an excellent cast: Nanette Newman is solid in Taylor's former role, now a grown woman living with her wily lover, Christopher Plummer, who is perfect; Anthony Hopkins is also superb as a stern taskmaster. In the lead, Tatum O'Neal, affecting a curious 'mature' façade, disappoints--odd considering the director was Bryan Forbes, who usually excels with child actors. The young star is far more convincing playing Sarah in her older teen years than as a schoolgirl, but this is counterproductive since the movie runs too long and wears out its welcome. Hardly a washout, but not the heart-tugging, tear-jerking family film it was intended to be. **1/2 from ****

This is a good, enjoyable and fairly accurate depiction of the eventing world, with plenty of good riding action (shot with real event riders, not stunt actors) - a perfect movie for riding fans. Yes, it is set in a world of fairly wealthy people with posh accents, but that is the context of the film. You don't find many ethnic minority people from housing estates, with cockney accents, competing in top level eventing (even now).

Fans of the book National Velvet will spot lots of inconsistencies (The Pie isn't piebald and the dates are wrong). If viewed as a completely separate film in it's own right, though, then the interactions between the heroine and her 'adoptive' parents are very genuine. Even so, the plot is incidental to the riding and so some parts are a bit weak, but that won't bother any horse fans. And to the various reviewers who commented on the heroine being played by an American actor - they obviously haven't actually seen the film because the heroine is American.