Black Beauty (1946)
Based on Anna Sewell's novel. In rural England of the 1880's, widower Squire Wendon is rearing his young daughter Anne. Her father has forbidden her to be present when their mare, "Duchess," gives birth. Anne sneaks out to the stable, however, and is discovered by her father who forbids her ever to ride Duchess again. Despite this punishment, he gives Anne Duchess's colt because it is her birthday, and she names him "Black Beauty."
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
One of my all time favorites.
It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
Widower Squire Weldon (Charles Evans). trying to raise his motherless daughter, Anne (Mona Freeman) presents her with a colt, Black Beauty (Highland Dale), in the hope that by disciplining the horse, she may learn to discipline herself.Seeing as this was released in the 1940s, I am going to assume the film was black and white and color was added later. This may not be correct, as some great color was around early on. But either way, the use of it here is very nice and makes the dresses (for example) very vibrant. This is how color of its time ought to be used.The story itself is alright and tends to be a children's story, though it may have a wider family appeal. There is the element of romance, and of course the theme that a horse is more than just something to ride.
Perhaps the best way to tell the story of Black Beauty is with animation. This version of the Anna Sewall family classic that stars Mona Freeman and Richard Denning is a nice film, but not the story. Too many years ago that I care to remember I read the book as a kid and the story is told from the horse's point of view. I do remember the whole first part of the novel with the birth of Black Beauty and how he interrelated with the other horses on the estate of widower Charles Evans and his daughter Mona Freeman.Circumstance separates the horse from his mistress and the novel tells of the horse's odyssey. A lot of that is rushed through until the reunion. The book is about the horse's experience with the various humans who owned him, some good and some bad.Mona Freeman does a nice job of the spirited young lady, a lot like Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet who lives for her horse. Freeman is a little older than Taylor's character and she wants handsome young American Richard Denning to notice her. Denning at first has eyes for the sophisticated Evelyn Ankers who was taking a break from those Universal horror flicks. In real life she was Mrs. Richard Denning at the time.Best role in the film for me was J.M. Kerrigan as the very wise groom John on the Evans estate. Next to Black Beauty be's the smartest one in the film.This version of Black Beauty is a nice family film, done a bit on the cheap by 20th Century Fox's B film unit.
This is to me the best version of the movie. Most complain because it's in b/w, but that makes it even better. A lot of people don't realize that this was the debut of Fury, the horse from the 50's TV show by the same name. Never a smarter horse was there.
There's only superficial resemblances to Anna Sewell's classic in this 1946 movie but this is a not bad piece of Hollywood hokum. Mona Freeman is a pretty and lively heroine as she cavorts on horseback across a Hollywood version of the English countryside and falls in love with handsome American Richard Denning.Very pleasant musical background by Dimitri Tiomkin.