Black Beauty (1987 film)

Black Beauty is an animated cartoon made by Burbank Films Australia that was released in 1987.^[1] It is based on the 1877 novel Black Beauty by Anna Sewell.

Plot

Bertie Gordon is in the crop field using a slingshot to scare the crows away from the crop field. He then hears a whinny and runs to see that the new horses are here. Outside, Bertie's sister, Polly, gets a wonderful exciting birthday surprise when Mr. John Manley has a black horse with him. Squire Douglas Gordon, Polly and Bertie's father, wishes his daughter a happy birthday and gives her the horse, which she names "Black Beauty".

In the barn, Filcher, a shirker who dislikes work and horses, is sleeping on some bags of hay while trying to avoid some hard work that John offers him to do. By the time John and Black Beauty arrive at Black Beauty's new horse barn, two horses, Merrylegs and Ginger catch sight of him. Suddenly, Filcher is woken up by John and told to clean out the horse stall. As soon as John leaves, Flitcher picks up John's pocket watch and examines it. John soon returns, looking for his watch which he forgot in the barn. Black Beauty finds John's pocket watch hidden in Filcher's pocket and brings it out, surprising Filcher. John retrieves it and leaves the barn.

Black Beauty and Merrylegs are all worried by Ginger's story about people who use whips for horse cruelty. Merrylegs tells his story about when he was made to pull carts around a dirty factory with choking smoke. Ginger tries to tell them that all humans are cruel. But Merrylegs tells them John, Squire Gordon, Bertie and Polly are not cruel.

Squire Gordon and John go out for an adventure with Black Beauty along the countryside on a nice day. A thunderstorm occurs, and lightning strikes a tree, making it fall into the river. . As John, Squire Gordon and Black Beauty arrive at the bridge, the river rises, making it look dangerous for the bridge. A man warns them that a big storm is on the way. Black Beauty refuses to cross the bridge. At last, with two final shakes from John's reins, Black Beauty crosses the bridge safely. Underneath the bridge, the parts of the tree catch the wood that holds the bridge, making it collapse.

During the night, They come across the bridge again, which is in danger of collapsing because of the surging river. As they near the bridge again, Black Beauty rears up once again and whinnies. John is warned not to cross the bridge, as it's in danger of collapsing. John crosses anyway, but the bridge falls to pieces and John falls into the surging river. Squire Gordon throws Black Beauty's reins down to Manley, and he is pulled up in time to watch the remains of the wood float away in the surging river. Squire Gordon is relieved that Black Beauty saved John's life.

The next day, Gordon is watching Black Beauty settle in a grassy field with his new friends, Ginger and Merrylegs, and enjoys a ride in the countryside with the children at the back while Squire Gordon is with Black Beauty. When they reach the village fare, Gordon gives them each a penny. Bertie and Polly come across a fortune teller. They both give their pennies to her, and she begins telling the children their fortunes. When it's time go back home, the fortune teller warns them to beware of any dangers up ahead. The children then scamper off to their father.

Meanwhile, in the barn, Filcher is asleep on the hay sacks, this time with a smoking pipe in his mouth. John yells at Filcher and he jumps and hides his pipe. As soon as Filcher leaves the barn, John shuts the barn door up tight.

In the night, Black Beauty, Merrylegs and Ginger are all asleep in their stables. Soon, many mice began leaping up onto the hay sacks in the barn, only to be chased by a cat. But the cat knocks over Filcher's smoking pipe, which lands behind the bags, setting them alight. Smoke pours into the air; then flames burst out. Black Beauty smells a burning smell and Merrylegs tells them it's coming from the bags. Soon, Raffles the dog smells the smoke as well and starts to bark, alerting Squire Gordon. John then rings the bell to alert all of the people that the barn is on fire. Gordon orders the men to fetch buckets of water to put the flames out. Filcher watches with a smirk as the men desperately try to put the flames out using water. John climbs into the burning barn to rescue the horses. In the barn, John gets Black Beauty to use his hooves to break the barn door down. The door is broken open and the horses are free from the fire. The crowd cheers as John comes out with the horses. As soon as the fire cools, John tells Filcher that he left his pipe in the stables making the hay burn. Filcher tries to make an excuse, but Gordon angrily banishes Filcher from working in the stables due to burning the barn roof down. Gordon is called by Bertie to come quickly and is very horrified to find his daughter has fainted. She is taken into bed by Mrs. Bates. John assures Beauty that Polly will be fine.

The next morning, Polly is in bed as Mrs. Bates tries to revive her by putting a wet cloth on her forehead. Gordon tells John that his daughter has a high fever. So John goes off to fetch Dr. White by taking Black Beauty. The doctor finds John and is told that Polly has fallen ill and is asked to come as quickly as possible. With the doctor in the saddle, Black Beauty gallops off as fast as he can to get the doctor to Polly. Bertie is told by his father to look after Black Beauty. Unfortunately, Bertie leaves Black Beauty uncovered when he has to see how Polly is doing. Soon, the storm comes again and the rain pours down, leaving Black Beauty feeling cold without his blanket.

The next morning, Bertie tells John that Black Beauty isn't getting up. John goes to see the problem, and then tells Bertie to cover him up with some warm blankets while Mr. Manley goes to make up some warm batch. Bertie tells John that it's all his fault for leaving Black Beauty untucked last night. John tells Bertie that Beauty may be sick, but he's a young horse with a strong heart.

Later in the night, Gordon goes over to see John sleeping with Beauty and Bertie. Gordon asks and John tells him he's very sick, but over the next few hours he'll start to pull through.

Next morning, Polly wants to see Beauty but sees that he is still fast asleep. Polly is mad at her brother and tells Bertie that she will never forgive him if Beauty dies. But Beauty opens his eyes and struggles to get up. The children are pleased to see that Beauty is finally awake. So Gordon takes Polly back to bed if she wants to get better quicker. But behind Beauty's stable, Filcher overhears that Beauty will get his strength back,and decides to kidnap Black Beauty.

Next morning, Bertie and Polly are shocked to find that Beauty has been stolen. John tells the children that he and Squire will report this to the constable at the police station. Bertie then has an idea and tells Polly that Merrylegs and Raffles will go searching for Black Beauty.

Later, they are in the woods searching for clues about Black Beauty. Raffles leads them to Filcher's old windmill home in the fields. They see Filcher and Beauty, and try and think of a way to get Black Beauty back without Filcher knowing or getting spotted by him. But Raffles wobbles the bench accidentally tipping over Bertie and Holly onto the ground. Filcher hears the noise and grabs the children. They struggle until he threatens to best Beauty. When they finally give in, they are both locked in a cupboard as Filcher takes Black Beauty to the pits.

Meanwhile, Raffles and Merrylegs run back to the farm to find Squire Gordon and John back from telling the constable about Black Beauty being stolen by Filcher.

Back at the old windmill, Polly and Bertie encounter some nasty rats. Luckily, Raffles has brought John, Squire Gordon, Merrylegs and Ginger to the rescue. Squire Gordon breaks down the door while Raffles and John try to scare the rats away. After the children are free, the children try to persuade their father that Raffles and Merrylegs know where Black Beauty is taken to. In the end, their father tells Bertie to lead the way.

At the pits, Filcher's boss Mr. Skinner begins to put Black Beauty to work by making him pull a wagon filled with coal, whipping him as he does so. Luckily, John and the others show up and get into a fight with Skinner, which results in his death. John takes Filcher and Squire Gordon tells him that the constable will deal with him. Back in the fields, everyone is happy as Beauty has been saved from the pits. Then Beauty gallops over to Polly, who cuddles Beauty.

Voice cast

• Bob Baines
• Colin Borgonon
• Patrick Dickson
• Nicholas Gledhill as Bertie Gordon (voice)
• Larissa Lambert as Polly Gordon (voice)
• Jill McKay as Ginger/The Gypsy/Mrs. Bates (voice)
• Sean Scully (actor)

References

External links

Black Beauty at the Internet Movie Database