Thunder of hoofs

While Elizabeth Mitchell cited some of the horse racing movie genre’s most well-known examples (“A Thorny Run for the Roses,” May 4), along with some of the more interesting obscure titles, she curiously omitted some seminal films: The two “Ben-Hur” films (1925 and 1959) contain some of the most thrilling race footage in cinema history, and the classic “National Velvet” (1944) starring the young Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney is surely the epitome of the childhood fantasy horse films. I was also surprised that Mitchell did not cite “Casey’s Shadow” (1978), starring Walter Matthau, which was lauded for its racing accuracy, or “Bite The Bullet” (1975), which depicted a 700-mile endurance race and was described in Films in Review as “a paean to horses.” And how could she forget the Marx Brothers’ wonderful “A Day at the Races” (1937)?

I was also surprised by Mitchell’s closing statement that “Maybe

Petrine Mitchum

Burbank

Petrine Mitchum is the co-author of “Hollywood Hoofbeats,” a history of horses in movies, and the producer of a documentary film of the same title and subject.