National Velvet

In this adaptation of Enid Bagnold's novel, 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor gives a star-making performance as the girl who dreams of racing her horse in the Grand National. The Yearling director Clarence Brown knows how to tug at the heartstrings and this film has become a classic, even though the story has to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Thanks to a strong performance from Mickey Rooney, an Oscar-winning one from Anne Revere as Velvet's mother, and the appeal of Taylor as Velvet, this is a richly satisfying movie. A misguided British sequel followed in 1978 starring Tatum O'Neal.