Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse.an
Animal Drama - 1994, G. (1 hr, 24 min) The sentimental and romantic story of a stallion, Black Beauty, traded to various owners, told and narrated from the horses point of view. At three years, after some training, young Black Beauty joins squire Gordons family. There he falls in love with a mare, Ginger. The squires family is very kind, especially the grooms young son, Joe, and Black Beauty thinks life is wonderful. During a terrible storm, he saves his masters life, but falls deathly ill himself. Joe and the rest of the family care for him and he recovers. However, because of his mistress illness, the family must move to a warmer climate and the horses are sold. Black Beauty’s new home is much fancier, but the people, interested only in ashionable looking horses and not horses as beings, torture them. The groom gets drunk and rides Black Beauty with a loose shoe, causing severe injury. Ginger is raced before being properly trained and it takes her a year to recover. Black Beauty is then sold to a horse rental establishment where he is mistreated and is very unhappy. Finally, Jerry, a kindly cab driver, buys him. While the work is hard, he is treated with kindness and becomes one of the family. He discovers that Ginger has died from overwork and starvation. When Jerry gets sick and must live in the country, Black Beauty is again abused and almost dies. Finally, Joe (remember him?), now an adult, buys the horse and cares for him in his old age. SUBSTANCES: The gruff groom, Rupert, smokes a pipe that starts a fire. Later he gets very drunk and rides Black Beauty with a loose shoe and severely damages the horses knees.
COMMENTS: A beautiful and often sad portrayal of life in 19th century England, both in the countryside and the city. What happens to children in a Dickens novel (a life of hardship and abuse ending in modest happiness), is what happens here to a horse. Anyone seeing this film will doubtless treat horses, and perhaps all animals, with more respect.
4 & Under No 10-12 Yes
5-7 With Guidance 13-15 Yes
8-9 Yes 15-17 Yes
VIOLENCE/SCARINESS: The storm and the fire are very threatening. The sounds of horses in pain and illness are very disturbing. Black Beauty sees Gingers corpse on a cart. The way the horses are abused and tortured is clearly explained - tight cinches, heavy loads, etc. Despite the film's G rating, this may be quite upsetting to youngsters.
CRIMES: None (except 19th century cruelty).
New in Box. Warner Bros.
ships in the U.S. for $2.75
