National Velvet

Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney) was a young wanderer and opportunist whose father had given him “all the roads in the Kingdom” to travel. One of the roads, and a notation in his father’s journal, leads him to the quiet English countryside home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), has a passion for horses and when she wins the spirited steed Pie in a town lottery, Mi is encouraged to train the horse for the Grand National – England’s greatest racing event. —A.L.Beneteau