The Horse's Mouth not only features a tour de force performance by Alec Guinness, but also showcases Guinness' Oscar-nominated screenplay, which takes the film beyond clichéd eccentric character study to a deeper level of examining an artist whose obsession has in many ways left him alone and ruined. Once again displaying his legendary ability to physically transform into his character, Guinness plays the aging artist Gulley Jimson as a man whose desperation to express his creativity has almost turned him into a social outcast. This is not the scenery-chewing, over-the-top performance that one would expect from such a character, but instead a subtle, heartbreaking, and darkly comical exploration of the need for artistic expression. Kay Walsh and Renee Houston are also very good as the women in Gulley's life, both getting their moments to shine thanks to the fact that Guinness' central performance is not over-dominating. Director Ronald Neame makes excellent use of Sergei Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije" suite, and Arthur Ibbetson's color photography has a painterly feel to it. John Bratby's renditions of Gulley's paintings also work very well, reflecting Gulley's personality. In that tiny genre of films that explore the inner workings of the artist, The Horse's Mouth can proudly stand beside such other classics as Lust for Life and La Belle Noiseuse.