#leonard smith

the same blank eyes he once gave. the same silence he once speak. in the end you're just like your old man

                                                    "Then we jacked off together by the fire."

"All boys do that. Normal men grow out of it."

National Velvet premiered in New York City on 14 December 1944, before wider release in January 1945.

Helen Deutsch adapted Enid Bagnold's 1935 novel for the screen, and the part of Velvet Brown was initially offered to 18-year-old Gene Tierney in 1939, but when production dragged on Tierney accepted a role on Broadway. When World War II began, production was halted.

When production restarted in early 1944, 14-year-old Elizabeth Taylor was cast, along with Mickey Rooney (who had been the biggest box office draw in 1939-1941, and had been nominated for an Academy Award in 1943's The Human Comedy, directed by Clarence Brown). Rooney's scenes had to be completed before his induction into the US Army in June 1944 (he served almost 2 years, entertaining troops in combat, for which he received a Bronze Star).

National Velvet was a commercial and critical success, and received 5 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director (Brown), Best Cinematography - Color (Leonard Smith), and Best Art Direction.