Mr. Horatio Knibbles (1971) – Nostalgia Central

This fantasy film from the Children’s Film Foundation introduces young Mary Bunting (Lesley Roach), who is unhappy after being refused a pet rabbit for her birthday.

Her demeanour changes when she meets Horatio Knibbles (Anthony Sheppard) – a six-foot-tall talking rabbit who dresses elegantly in a suit and top hat, lives in Rhododendron Mansion, and only reveals himself to people who swear they love rabbits and count to five with their eyes closed.

Mary and Knibbles become fast friends, despite Knibbles causing trouble wherever he goes.

Mary eventually decides to run away from home and live with Mr Knibbles. Filling her bed with a fake dummy, she makes her escape, merrily skipping through fields, until she is accosted by a furious gamekeeper (Freddie Jones) who accuses her of trespassing and threatens her with a shotgun.

Arriving at Rhododendron Mansion, Knibbles tells Mary she can’t move in, as “it’s a bachelor establishment” but agrees to entertain her for the day, and they go for a riverside picnic of raw turnips and a kipper which Knibbs catches.

The gamekeeper reappears, livid at catching Mary poaching (he can’t see Knibbles), and approaches her with his shotgun.

The invisible Knibbles disarms him and turns the gun on the gamekeeper (which he sees floating at his face), causing him to sit on the bonfire and run off with his bum on fire.

There’s a subplot involving a thieving magpie and a chaotic children’s birthday party with floating plates of raw parsnips and crazy Mary talking to an empty chair.

Knibbles stuffs himself at the party and takes a nap in the Bunting’s water butt just as Roy Barraclough turns up to cart it away.

After a chase through the village (with onlookers watching a barrel floating up the high street) and an incident with a policeman, Knibbles returns to the party, where he promises to show himself to everyone if he’s freed from the water butt.

He reveals himself to the assembled crowd, gives Mary an actual, normal rabbit for her birthday, and announces he’s off to Australia for a while.

Mary Bunting
Lesley Roach
Tom Bunting
Gary Smith
Nancy
Rachel Brennock
Bob
John Ash
Derek
Nigel Chivers
Billy
David Richards
Horatio Knibbles
Anthony Sheppard
Mr Bunting
Bernard Horsfall
Mrs Bunting
Jane Jordan Rogers
PC Briggs
Fred Evans
Sergeant
David Lodge
Gamekeeper
Freddie Jones
Nancy’s Mother
Lila Kaye

Director
Robert Hird

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