Guinness had toiled successfully on the stage for more than adecade before making his screen debut in the first of two superb DavidLean films taken from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, asthe affable Herbert Pocket (a role Guinness had played in his ownstage adaptation of the book in 1939). The cheerful young actor'sraffish performance, however, did little to prepare the world for hissubsequent, controversial enactment of a heavily Semitic Fagin inLean's Oliver Twist. Buried under extravagant make-up (modeledafter the original Cruikshank drawings), Guinness is a silky,raspy-voiced seductive paterfamilias to his den of little thieves andhis vivid depiction drew so many protests from pressure groups in thiscountry that the film's release (it was made in 1948) was delayedthree years (and after seven minutes of supposedly offensive materialwas deleted).

If his Fagin caught the public's attention, it was the series of quirky, eccentric and intrinsically English Ealing Comedies he made (so named for the studio that produced them) that secured his reputation as that rare commodity, the character actor as star. Beginning with Kind Hearts and Coronets, in which he portrayed the eight members of the aristocratic d'Ascoyne family standing between Dennis Price and his inheritance, through The Lavender Hill Mob (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor), The Man in the White Suit, The Ladykillers and others, Guinness became a quality brand name to discriminating art-house attendees in the United States.

It was his work in a very different kind of film from that whichhe'd previously been associated that catapulted Guinness to the frontrank of international stardom. Again working for David Lean, Guinnessplayed the misguided martinet, Colonel Nicholson (a part CharlesLaughton turned down), in The Bridge on the River Kwai. Thefilm was a huge critical and popular success and for his work asNicholson, a man whose strict adherence to a personal code of honorleads to disaster; Guinness won world-wide recognition (Life magazinecalled him "Alec the Great" and Time had him on its cover the week ofthe Oscar ceremonies), and awards from most of the critical groupsculminating in the Oscar itself for Best Actor. (The award wasdelivered to him on the set of one of his next efforts, The Horse'sMouth.)

Guinness used his new-found prominence and clout to initiate along-cherished amibition, to bring Joyce Cary's most famous novel,The Horse's Mouth, to the screen. The film is an obvious laborof love. Guinness, up to that time a dabbler at writing, chose toscript the film himself (an act which ultimately won him anotherAcademy Award nomination, this time in the bestadapted screenplaycategory). It's easy to see why Guinness was attracted to TheHorse's Mouth. The main character is painter Gully Jimson and inthe words of Pauline Kael, "he's a fabulous creation: the modernartist as a scruffy, dirty little bum." He's all that and more. Jimsonis based on the life and flamboyant bad behavior of Cary's friend,poet Dylan Thomas. For Jimson, the higher calling of the musesupercedes any notions of social niceties and politesse. He's adisreputable deadbeat and scrounger who will use every wile in pursuitof his noble goal: to find a canvas grand enough for his plannedmagnum opus. This is a mural he deems his "three great projects forthe Nation: The Fall of Man, The Raising of Lazarus, and The LastJudgment." When he finally lays eyes on a properly suitable wall, he'sa man obsessed. There's only one hitch: it's in the lavishly appointedflat of Lord and Lady Alabaster. The subsequent comic high point ofthe film is Gulley's commandeering of the apartment, when, through aconvoluted series of events, he is left alone while the Alabastersdepart for a six-week trip to Jamaica. Gulley rapidly sets aboutconverting the blank space into his chef d'oeuvre (though his maniafor feet gets in the way of the religious imagery) and the livingquarters into a smoke-filled artist's garret. The sequence ends withone of the all-time great sight gags (one that Blake Edwards liked somuch he appropriated it for S.O.B.). Gulley may be down but notout. He finds an even more incongruous setting on which to lavish histalent. (Gulley's artistic inspiration is William Blake. A Blakeantyger makes a cameo appearance on Gulley's wall and Blake quotespepper the dialogue. The actual paintings within the film are by JohnBratby, then a leading figure in the British Kitchen-Sink School ofArt.) Gulley's comic odyssey takes him from prison to the Tate Museumand finally off to parts unknown via the Thames and his peregrinationsare slyly accompanied by Prokofieff's jaunty "Lieutenant Kije" Suite.

Part of the success of The Horse's Mouth is the engaginglight touch brought to it by director Ronald Neame, who Guinness hadknown from his involvement on the Dickens film. (Neame had producedand co-scripted Great Expectations and produced OliverTwist.) Prior to those films, Neame had made his name as asuperior cinematographer (Major Barbara, In Which WeServe, Blithe Spirit), an apprenticeship which led him totake his own seat in the director's chair. (One of his early effortsin that capacity had been another Guinness comedy, ThePromoter, based on The Card by Arnold Bennett.)

But the real kudos belong to Guinness. To see The Horse'sMouth is to admire Guinness' consummate skill.
-- JONATHANBENAIR

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