The Horse's Mouth (1958)

The Horse's Mouth is a 1958 film directed by Ronald Neame and filmed in Technicolor. 

Alec Guinness wrote the screenplay from the 1944 novel The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary, and also played the lead role. 

Guinness transforms himself into one of cinema’s most indelible comic figures: the lovably scruffy painter Gulley Jimson. As the ill-behaved Jimson searches for a perfect canvas, he determines to let nothing come between himself and the realization of his exalted vision. 

A perceptive examination of the struggle of artistic creation, The Horse’s Mouth is considered Neame’s comic masterpiece. This film has been also characterised as "one of the best films ever about a painter". 

Scott Weinberg of the "Apollo Guide" describes Guinness’ performance as "a devilishly enjoyable character study" that "ranges from 'mildly dishevelled’ to 'tragically exhausted’" and also praises Ronald Neame's direction Henry Goodman has written of the idea of the artist as destroyer with reference to this film.