John Steinbeck’s classic comprehension of the pangs of a little ranch boy’s growing up, caught with such poignance and simplicity in his “The Red Pony” tales, has been sought with considerable sincerity but indifferent dramatic success in Lewis Milestone’s film of the same title (…) In directing the picture, Mr. Milestone has adopted a frankly casual style which further invests the proceedings with a languid quality. However, Mr. Milestone has done an advantageous thing in shooting much of the picture on an actual California ranch. The consequence is that the exteriors have the beauty and flavor of all outdoors, which appears to particular advantage in the Technicolor used. And the one real dramatic crisis—the red pony’s agonizing death—has been pictured by him with fidelity to the stabbing shock of Mr. Steinbeck’s tale (…) Aaron Copland’s music is full of wistful, haunting strains, and does lift the emotional potential of many of the film’s more touching scenes. Bosley Crowther, 1949.