In Ronald Neame’s film of Joyce Cary’s classic novel, Alec Guinness transforms himself into one of cinema’s most indelible comic figures: the lovably scruffy painter Gulley Jimson. As the ill-behaved Jimson searches for a perfect canvas, he determines to let nothing come between himself and the realization of his exalted vision. A perceptive examination of the struggle of artistic creation, The Horse’s Mouth is also Neame’s comic masterpiece.
Cast
| Gulley Jimson | Alec Guinness |
| Coker | Kay Walsh |
| Sara Monday | Renee Houston |
| Nosey | Mike Morgan |
| Abel | Michael Gough |
Credits
| Director | Ronald Neame |
| From the novel by | Joyce Cary |
| Screenplay | Alec Guinness |
| Music | Kenneth V. Jones |
| Cinematography | Arthur Ibbetson |
| Editing | Anne V. Coates |
| Art direction | Bill Andrews |
| Costumes | Julia Squire |
| Paintings | John Bratby |
| Producer | John Bryan and Ronald Neame |
by Bruce Eder
Jun 3, 2002
In addition to being his funniest film, The Horse’s Mouth is the most personal, and touching, of all Alec Guinness’ movies. Apart from starring as the brilliant but bedraggled artist Gulley Jimson, Guinness also adapted the Oscar-nominated screenplay from Joyce Cary’s book...
by Ian Christie
Jun 3, 2002
By any standard, The Horse’s Mouth shines as an outstandingly personal work from a decade that often seems the most arid in British cinema. Amid tepid comedies and timid thrillers, it sparkles with conviction and eccentricity—at least that’s how it struck this avid young provincial...
by Ronald Neame
Jun 3, 2002
“I’ll show you how to understand a painting,” says the reprobate artist Gulley Jimson to his on-off lady friend Coker. “Don’t look at it. Feel it with your eyes. Feel the shapes in the flat, like patterns. Then feel it in the round. Feel all the flaws and sharp edges, the lights and the shades...
by Jonathan Benair
Mar 4, 1989
Sir Alec Guinness is probably best known to current audiences as the venerable Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas’s blockbuster Star Wars trilogy and as John Le Carre’s implacable spy-master, George Smiley, in the popular TV adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and...