Episode 023: The Horse’s Mouth (1958)

Alec Guinness wrote and starred in this very funny and inspirational film about a painter who is connected to, and driven by, a strange mystical force called art.

Directed by Ronald Neame. Starring Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Renee Houston, Mike Morgan. Screenplay by Alec Guinness based on the book by Joyce Cary.

How is the world wrong about this movie?

From Andras: This is my favorite Alec Guinness performance. Even though it was filmed in ‘57 and released in ‘58 “The Horse’s Mouth” feels like the beginning of the 60’s with its anarchic exuberance and rebellion in the name of art. More beatnik than hippie, I can’t help but feel like it influenced, or at least entertained, The Beatles and the rest of that generation of young British rockers and comedians when they were just inspired English kids like the one played by the poor doomed Mike Morgan in this film.