Black Beauty is a 1946 American drama film directed by Max Nosseck and based on Anna Sewell's novel of the same name.
Plot Summary
The story picks up in 1880s England, when widower Squire Wendon's (Charles Evans) mare Duchess is about to give birth to a foal. He has denied his adolescent daughter Anne (Mona Freeman) to watch, but the girl sneaks into the stables and watches anyway.
Anne gets the colt on her birthday and because of its color she names it Black Beauty. Anne grows very affectionate towards the horse as they grow up together during the years.
One day a young man from America, Bill Dixon (Richard Denning), comes to visit the neighbors on the next farm, and he notices Black Beauty. He can't stay for tea because he is leaving for America, but two years later he sends Anne a gift and a letter from Bill, saying that he will be back soon. Anne then starts riding her horse and discovers that it is a very good jumper. But just as she has learned to appreciate taking care of her horse, her father wants to send her away to a boarding school to learn how to be a woman.
Bill soon returns to England, after graduating from an Ivy League college. Anne falls in love with the handsome young man, but he still regards her as a child. When they ate out riding together, Bill brings the neighbors' daughter, Evelyn Carrington (Evelyn Ankers), and Anne gets jealous. She decides to prove herself as a horsewoman and rides side-saddle like the grown women do, to try to catch Bill's interest.
After Evelyn's horse is injured, she borrows Black Beauty to go riding with Billy. Anne decides to join in afterwards, and borrows a wild horse that throws her off its back. She is knocked unconscious by the fall and Bill has to fetch the Doctor White (John Burton) using the Black Beauty.
The horse is exhausted from the hard riding, and in need of rest and treatment for its sore legs. Unfortunately the horse drinks cold water before anyone has the chance to stop it, which is bad for it in the current condition. Black Beauty is very sick from the water and from being walked around without a blanket in the cold by the stableman, Joe (Terry Kilburn).
When Anne wakes up again she discovers that Black Beauty is ill, and that Joe has left his employmnt, blaming himself for the horse's condition. Soon enough, the horse gets well again, and Bill and Evelyn come to visit Anne.
Anne hasn't overcome her jealousy, and the visit prompts her to go off to boarding school as her father has suggested. One of Wendon's employees, John (J.M. Kerrigan), promises Anne to take care of her horse while she is gone. But it turns out that Black Beauty is more ill than expected, having an serious infection in his leg.
It is decided the horse is to be put down, but John only pretends to carry out the deed, firing his gun once out of sight, deliberately missing the horse. He hides the horse from his employer. When Anne comes back from school she hears the good news from John.
But Anne is unaware that Black Beauty has been sold on an auction by the man who was supposed to be hiding her. Black Beauty is now owned by a local baker, and Anne and John go looking for it, followed by Bill who has begun to take a romantic interest in Anne. In their search for the horse they bump into Joe, who knows that the horse is in a stable close by.
They find Black Beauty just as its owner whips it. Another man tries to stop the abuse of the animal and there is a brawl between the two men. In the course of action the stable catches fire. Anne arrive to the scene and tries to save Black Beauty from the flames, but she and the horse both need rescuing by Bill, who arrives just in time to get them out of there.
The story ends with Anne and Bill marrying and Black Beauty becoming the proud father of a new colt.
Cast
- Mona Freeman as Anne Wendon
- Richard Denning as Bill Dixon
- Evelyn Ankers as Evelyn Carrington
- Charles Evans as Squire Wendon
- J. M. Kerrigan as John
- Moyna Macgill as Mrs. Blake
- Terry Kilburn as Joe
- Thomas P. Dillon as Skinner
- Arthur Space as Terry
- John Burton as Dr. White
- Olaf Hytten as Mr. Cordon
- Leyland Hodgson as Auctioneer
References
External links
- Black Beauty at the Internet Movie Database
- Black Beauty at the TCM Movie Database
