The Rocking Horse Winner

In the cinema of the fantastic, The Rocking Horse Winner ranks as a landmark work of art. Produced in Great Britain in 1949 and based on a short story by D.H. Lawrence, the film is both a cautionary tale of the dangers of material obsession and the psychological trauma that can haunt children when their desire to help fix what is broken in their families becomes desperate.

In The Rocking Horse Winner, a young boy named Paul lives with his upper-class family in a world of wealth and privilege. By all appearances, they have all that money can buy. What they also have is enormous debt.

“There must be more money!”

With their lavish lifestyle, the family is on the verge of financial ruin. Paul’s father gambles at cards in an attempt to turn his fortunes around, but, of course, he loses. And his mother is a compulsive spender. She spends so much on maintaining her social standing that the family is forced to rely on hefty loans from her wealthy brother to help pay the mountain of bills. He repeatedly warns his sister to stop her blind spending, but she ignores him. Her hunger for more possessions, more prestige will not stop. “There must be more money,” she cries.

Of course, it’s her young son Paul who hears her plea most sharply. He’s utterly devoted to his mother and, above all, wants her to be happy. When he finds out that money is the culprit for the tension in their home, he’s driven to find enough money to make his mother happy.

But how will get it? Incredibly, Paul discovers the answer in his toy rocking horse. When he rides it, a strange voice whispers to him the name of the horse that will win an upcoming race at the track.

With help from his uncle and the family handyman, Paul starts placing bets on his predictions at the racetrack. and he wins…and keeps winning! He persuades his uncle to start sending the money to his mother without her ever finding out the truth about where it’s coming from. And true to her selfish nature, his mother does not question her sudden good fortune. She keeps spending like never before. and Paul feverishly keeps riding his rocking horse to feed her appetite for wealth.

As you might expect, there’s a terrible price to be paid for this magic, and Paul and his mother will pay. Poignant and beautifully crafted, The Rocking Horse Winner is filled with the shadows and whispers that lurk and echo in the mind of a child who gets caught in the web of their parents’ dysfunction.

I give The Rocking Horse Winner four out of four stars. It’s a dark fantasy that you won’t soon forget.