Favorite Film & TV Homes Blogathon: The Browns’ cottage in “National Velvet” (1944)

“I am excessively fond of a cottage; there is always so much comfort, so much elegance about them. And I protest, if I had any money to spare, I should buy a little land and build one myself.” ~ Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

When I found out about this fun blogathon, it was easy to pick what to write about. I’m sure there’s been more than one movie house that’s made me say, “Aw, gee, I wish I could live there,” (if you include more modern film, Barton Cottage from Sense and Sensibility ’95 may be my all-time favorite movie dwelling) but one of the first that always springs to mind is the Brown family’s cottage in National Velvet (1944). Tucked away in a corner of a little English village, it’s cozy, cheerful, bright, and homelike. It looks like you could really step into it and live there. As I took the screenshots for this post, I found myself discovering all sorts of delightful little details I’d never noticed about it before, even though I’ve seen the movie dozens of times.

Lots of screencaps coming here, so make yourselves comfortable, perhaps with a cup of tea (I had one beside me while writing this, in fact). You can click on any picture to enlarge it and see the details better.

When you really look at it, the layout of the cottage is extremely simple. The downstairs consists of the one main room, encompassing both dining-room and living-room, a charming little winding staircase leading up to the second floor, and a step down into the kitchen. And yet it’s a perfectly comfortable fit for a family of six. I love the simple, countryish décor—the light-colored walls, wide white woodwork, the ceiling beams and those wonderful many-paned windows.

Watch the scenes in the parlor and you pick up all sorts of homey little touches—the plaid afghan on a chair, the mismatched but coordinating pillows scattered about, the family photos tucked in corners, socks drying by the fire, the lace doilies and sewing-basket on a table. I love how in the final scene (below left), the windowsill and window-seat are carelessly piled with books and newspapers—it’s a house that really looks lived-in. The dining-room chairs don’t all match, though they’re all the same finish.

In the daytime the parlor is bright and airy, with those two wide sets of windows letting in sunlight at the front and back; at night snug and warmly lit and cozy. And it has one thing I’ve always longed for: a window-seat. And that wide recessed windowsill, perfect for potted plants. If you notice, almost every window in the Browns’ cottage is bright with flowerpots.

The kitchen is filled with detail too—the shelves lined with jars and cans, more open windows and potted plants, racks and cabinets of dishes, aprons and towels hanging up. A couple of angles show a brick recess that seems to hold the stove and perhaps some ovens, and a mantelpiece lined with candlesticks and copper pots and trimmed with a ruffled valance. Like the rest of the house, it looks lived and worked in, but neat enough not to be cluttered.

Upstairs we get a glimpse of two bedrooms and a bit of hallway. I love the slant-roofed bedroom Velvet shares with her sisters, decorated in dainty flowered wallpaper and whitewashed brick—is that actually a little fireplace over on the left? And it looks like a whatnot with knickknacks tucked in the corner next to it.

Look at all the lovely little details in the daytime shots—the ruffled pink curtains, the washstand with its shaded lamp and china pitcher and washbasin; the piles of books on the ledge of the dormer window behind the beds. And more potted plants, and more of those darling diamond-paned windows. Like the dining-room chairs, the beds don’t match exactly.

Though you can’t see them in the shot below left, there are still more flowerpots on the sill of the hall window that Velvet slips past on her way to her mother’s bedroom. Like the kitchen, both bedrooms are a step or two down from the hallway. This one has a dormer window and a corner fireplace too, with an old-fashioned metal fender. I think that’s what I like best about cottage architecture—it’s not all predictable straight lines; it’s filled with quaint little angles and nooks and crannies.

It’s rather a shame we don’t get to see much of the cottage exterior in daylight. There’s the stable-yard behind it where a number of scenes are set, but our only daytime glimpse of the front comes in the homecoming scene near the end. It fits with the rest of the house—a picket fence twined with roses, flowers and shrubs under the big window, a little footpath winding around the house and a rustic chair beneath the tree on the front lawn.

The only thing that could have made the cottage better would have been surroundings of genuine English countryside. But World War II was still going on when National Velvet was filmed, and so the exterior as well as the interior of the Browns’ cottage was an MGM set, surrounded by pretty obvious painted backdrops. The only time their flatness is really noticeable is in the daytime outdoor scenes, though. Inside the cottage, with realistic lighting and only glimpses of the outdoors seen through the windows, everything seems real. If you could transplant the Browns’ cottage somewhere into real countryside—English or American—I’d live there in a heartbeat.

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This is an entry for the Favorite Film and TV Homes Blogathon, hosted by Phyllis Loves Classic Movies and Love Letters to Old Hollywood. Don’t forget to check out what movie houses other participants are spotlighting!