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 (Nicholas Gledhill) is in the crop field looking at the crows standing on an old scarecrow; he uses a slingshot to scare the crows away from the crop field. He then hears a whinny and runs to see what the noise was. He runs past the chickens and a pigsty. He then arrives in his father's house and tells him to come quickly as they're here. Squire Douglas Gordon is sitting down having a chat with Dr. White when he is told by Bertie, his son, that the new horses are here. Outside, Bertie's sister, Polly (Larissa Lambert), gets a wonderful exciting birthday surprise when Mr. John Manley has a black horse with him. Squire Gordon, Polly and Bertie's father, wishes his daughter a happy birthday and hugs her. Mr. Manley said he is called "Blackie". But Doctor and Polly suggests a better name and renames him "Black Beauty", which Manley loves.

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 (Jill McKay) catch sight of him. Suddenly, Filcher is woken up by John's voice and as he gets up, he trips on some corn on the cob and lands on a heap on the floor. John tells him to clean out the horse stall, but Filcher lies and says he was picking up some grain and doesn't want to waste anymore. As soon as John leaves, Flitcher picks up John's pocket watch and examines it. This makes Black Beauty, Merrylegs and Ginger very cross. As soon as John returns, Flitcher hides John's pocket watch behind his back and whistles innocently. But John hands Filcher a rake. Filcher throws the rake away but sees that John is looking for his watch which he forgot in the barn. Black Beauty finds John's pocket watch is hidden in Filcher's pocket and brings it out, surprising Filcher. John retrieves it and leaves the barn. Filcher blows a raspberry tongue behind John's back, then accidentally treads on a rake and lands face first in a muddy bucket. Filcher gets very angry at Black Beauty and brings out his rake, making Black Beauty rear up, frightening Filcher and getting his foot stuck in another muddy bucket. Hopping along, Filcher lands in a pigsty along with the other pigs, especially the one who adores him.

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. They adore horses a lot. They then see the children playing catch outside the barn with their dog, Raffles.

Squire Gordon and John go out for an adventure with Black Beauty along the countryside on a nice day. In the distance, cumulonimbus clouds form a thunderstorm. The lightning strikes a tree making it fall into the river. The strong river currents sweep away the rocks that hold the tree, making it fall into the river. The large tree and the top part of the tree struck by lightning fall down a waterfall. 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 and rears up and whinnies as it's dangerous. John shakes his reins trying to make Black Beauty 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.

It is nighttime, Squire Gordon warns John that the storm is coming fast. As they're on their way, rain pours down, making it difficult for Black Beauty to see. 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. Squire Gordon tells Manley to use a whip, but Black Beauty doesn't like whips as it leads to cruelty. A man waves his lamp and yells out at sea to see who's there. The man warns John not to cross the bridge as its in danger of collapsing. John crosses the bridge, but the tree tears the supporters down making the bridge fall to pieces and John fall into the surging river. Squire Gordon rushes to help pull Manley up, but he can't reach. Manley tells Squire Gordon to fetch Black Beauty's reins to pull Manley up. Squire Gordon throws the reins down to Manley and he catches it, grabbing hold of it. Black Beauty and Squire Gordon start to pull John up from the river. John 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 by pulling him up using his strength.

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. They go past a man who is busy looking at his metal jug. Next, they watch a man who throws a dagger at the apple, cutting it in half. After that, they come across a man with a lead on the bear in one hand and a ball in his other hand. The bear growls, frightening Bertie and Polly. The man tells them not to be afraid as the bear is quite gentle. But Bertie replies that he isn't afraid. He plays catch with the bear and catches it. Then, he is fed by his master which make Bertie and Polly applaud. Next, they watch a woman playing a tambourine while the goat bleats. The goat then eats the tambourine, making the audience and the woman laugh.

After that, Bertie and Polly come across a fortune teller (also played by the voice of Jill McKay). They both give their pennies to the fortune teller. Inside the fortune teller's caravan, a bird is in its cage keeping its eyes on the children, scaring them. A frog then eats the fly which was buzzing around. The fortune teller then begins telling the children their fortunes about what's happening. The fortune teller is in the middle of telling Bertie and Polly's fortunes, when Squire Gordon calls them, meaning 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 Filcher goes, John asks if he finished his work and Filcher replies that he has quite finished. 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 to look for more food around in the barn. They are unaware that there is a cat inside the barn who is hunting for mice. The mice are eating the food from the sacks when they are encountered by the cat. They run off with the cat going after them. 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 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. The ringing wakes up Polly and Bertie, and they run out of their rooms into the darkness. Polly is worried that Black Beauty is in danger and runs out to see. But Gordon catches her and tells her to stay clear. Mrs. Bates (also played by the voice of Jill McKay) then takes Holly away from the burning barn. John arrives with a spade and breaks the barn window open to see what's going on and sees the horses rearing up as the fire is near them. 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. John gets the wooden plank to calm Ginger down. Outside, the men are desperately throwing buckets of water trying to put the fire out, but it is no good. Filcher then notices a small fire on his hat and dunks his head in the trough to put it out. Polly manages to get away from Mrs. Hapes and runs desperately for Black Beauty. But Gordon catches her in his arms. 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 Mr. Manley comes out with the horses. Polly is glad that the horses are safe. John orders everyone to stand back as the barn roof collapses because of the fire. As soon as the fire cools, Filcher is called to see what caused the fire. Mr. Manley tells Filcher that he left his pipe in the stables making the hay burn. Filcher tries to make an excuse that John told a dreadful lie about leaving his pipe, but Gordon angrily banishes Filcher from working in the stables due to burning the barn roof down. As soon as Filcher runs away, Raffles bites his bottom, making Filcher yelp in pain. He gets out a spiky stick and instead of bashing Raffles, he bashes his bottom again, making him yelp louder and run faster than before. 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. Bertie and Raffles are sad to find that Polly isn't waking up. That evening, Mr. Manley is having a cup of tea when Gordon knocks on the door. 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 on 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. So Bertie feeds Black Beauty some of his food, boards the plank up, and 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. As soon as Merrylegs and Ginger stare at each other in sadness, 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. Bertie tells Polly that it's his own fault for making Beauty feel like this. Gordon tries to tell Polly to go back to bed for at least a few days as the doctor instructed. 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, to which Squire Gordon had banished from the farm, creeps to hear what John and Bertie are saying. As soon as Filcher hears that Beauty will get his strength and courage back, he smirks an evil smirk to kidnap Black Beauty.

Later that night, Beauty is sleeping in his stable until he is woken up by Filcher, who is trespassing on the farm in the middle of the night. Beauty tries to whinny for help, but Filcher pulls a bag over and kidnaps him.

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. They ask their father if they can come with them, but he refuses, telling Polly that she's not well enough. The children wait at the farm for a little while with Raffles. Bertie than had 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. Filcher goes inside with a drink of cider in his hand as he walks past Beauty, who is blindfolded. They see Filcher taking a swig of cider from his jug 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 by grabbing both of them. Raffles and Merrylegs both run off to alert John and Squire Gordon. With the children squirming and struggling, Filcher gets bitten on the hand by Polly. Angrily, Filcher tells the children he'll threaten Black Beauty by beating him. When they finally give in, they are both locked in a cupboard as Filcher takes Black Beauty to the nasty 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. But Bertie bravely gets out his bats and tells the rats to back away from them. Then they hear a barking noise. They look outside and they find that Raffles has brought John, Squire Gordon, Merrylegs and Ginger to the rescue. Molly signals the two men that they're up here. Raffles follows the two men to rescue the children who are trapped in the closet. The rats come closer, but 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.

Later, Filcher and Black Beauty are entering the pits while Filcher is busy smoking his pipe. Black Beauty is worried, but Filcher tells him that he tried to fix him, but Beauty reared up because horses don't like big spiky things at each end, like the pitchfork which Filcher used to scare poor Beauty in the farm once.

A few miles away, Raffles is trying to find out where the scent is and which way they went. They take the road that leads to the pits where Black Beauty's been taken by Filcher.

At the pits, Filcher takes Black Beauty through the nasty pathway where it leads to Filcher's boss, Mr. Nicholas Skinner. Filcher tells Mr. Skinner that he brought another horse. Skinner looks at the horse and proclaims he looks sickly. Filcher asks Mr. Skinner if likes his money. But Mr. Skinner tells him he can't have any money until he sees how hard Beauty can work.

Later, Merrylegs, John, Squire Gordon, Ginger, Bertie and Polly all arrive at the pits in search of Black Beauty. Polly asks her father when they will find Black Beauty in this awful place.

Mr. Skinner begins to put Black Beauty to work by making him pull a wagon filled with coal. Filcher watches with an evil smirk as Mr. Skinner dumps the coal into the wagon for Black Beauty to pull. But then, Filcher is then told by his boss to go and make him work and hands Filcher a whip. At first, Filcher gets himself all tied up and says weakly, "Gee up, horsey." Skinner uses the whip and tells him how to use it properly. Skinner releases the brake on the wagon, making it go backwards towards the end of the track. But Skinner whips Beauty, encouraging him to pull. The wagon stops and then goes backwards again. Then, Skinner is punched in the face by John, which makes him go backwards knocking the brake on one of the wagon's wheels, making it stop completely. As soon as John is pulled over by Mr. Skinner and his whip, Bertie tries to help, but Squire Gordon holds him back. Filcher watches behind and cowers as the fight goes on. John kicks Skinner, which sends him flying backwards, knocking the brake lever off to which it makes the wagon move again. Polly runs off to save Black Beauty, but Squire Gordon and Bertie run after her. As Filcher tries to sneak off, he is caught by Squire Gordon and is left on a hook. Bertie tries to loosen the wagon away from Beauty, but it is too stiff and won't budge. Skinner and John still carry on fighting. Skinner's whip grips the wooden piece, which falls down, making the pot pour hot lava. John and Skinner both jump out of the way. Then Skinner finds himself on the track at the end. The wagon knocks him off, sending him down toward his death along with the wagon. At last, the fight is over and Black Beauty is free. 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

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sewell, Anna (1927). Black Beauty (Annotated). Bronson Tweed Publishing. p. 117.

External links

Black Beauty at the Internet Movie Database

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