The Horse's Mouth is based on a 1944 novel by Joyce Cary. Alec Guinness plays Gulley Jimson, an old, impoverished, and eccentric artist. Desperate for a place to work, he appropriates the luxurious apartment of a couple away on vacation. There he begins a mural of "The Raising of Lazarus." Later, he works on a piece depicting the creation of the world on a building in the process of being demolished. This 1958 English film directed by Ronald Neame vividly conveys the creativity of artists who serve imagination and disdain the world of everyday routines and contingencies.