International Velvet

A pretty equestrian fairytale, in which an orphaned American teenager (O'Neal) sets her sights on a Gold Medal for Great Britain in the 3-day event at some future South African Olympic Games. This gelatinous story, devised by producer/director Forbes, is so unashamedly sentimental, so resolutely devoid of authentic emotion or motivation, that one can only marvel at its lavish audacity. Do families still go to such tosh? Forbes presumably banked the film's appeal on middle-aged parents recalling Elizabeth Taylor winning the Grand National in National Velvet and hauling their children off to see this, its woeful - and very belated - sequel.