''Black Beauty'' is a 1994

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

scripted and directed by

Caroline Thompson Caroline Thompson (born April 23, 1956) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer. She wrote the screenplays for the Tim Burton-directed films '' Edward Scissorhands'' and ''Corpse Bride'' and the Burton-produced ''The ...

in her directorial debut. The fifth cinematic adaptation of Anna Sewell's 1877 novel of the same name, the film stars

Andrew Knott Andrew Knott (born 22 November 1979) is a British actor. He played Dirtbox in ''Gavin & Stacey'', and Dickon Sowerby in the 1993 film '' The Secret Garden''. Life and career Knott was born in Salford. His first acting was done in British televi ...

Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...

and

David Thewlis David Wheeler (born 20 March 1963), better known as David Thewlis (), is a British actor, author, director and screenwriter. Thewlis rose to prominence when he starred in the film ''Naked'' (1993), for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Awa ...

. Produced and distributed by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label, it is also treated as an autobiography of the horse Black Beauty as in the original novel, and features Alan Cumming as the voice of the 'Black Beauty'.

Plot

Black Beauty narrates his own story. He is born on a farm in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

countryside during the 19th century and remains by his mother's side until he is sent to Birtwick Park to serve Squire Gordon and his family. Lady Gordon, the squire's sick wife, is pleased by the beautiful horse and gives him his trademark name, Black Beauty. Beauty is smitten with the squire's cynical chestnut mare, Ginger, who rebuffs his attempts to be friendly. However, Beauty also befriends Merrylegs, a perky grey

pony A pony is a type of small horse ('' Equus ferus caballus''). Depending on the context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. Compared ...

who gives rides to the squire's young daughters, Jessica and Molly. On a stormy night, Beauty is pulling a carriage holding the squire and his caretaker, John Manly, home from town. Sensing danger, he refuses to cross a partially

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

. When John tries to pull him to move, Beauty steadfastly refuses. When the bridge finally gives way, crashing into the river, John slips and falls in, but manages to hang on to Beauty's bridle. Beauty and the squire save John, and they again head off back home. Joe Green, who works in the stable, volunteers to look after Beauty that night. Joe's lack of knowledge about horses causes him to give Beauty ice cold water to drink and to neglect to dry him off or cover him with a rug overnight, which causes Beauty to fall sick. The following few days John, Joe, and the squire treat and nurse Beauty, and he recovers. Lady Gordon's illness gets worse, and she is taken to a doctor in a carriage pulled by Beauty and Ginger. When they stop at an

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

for the night, the barn where the horses are being kept catches on

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...

due to a carelessly dropped

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

. Luckily, Joe rescues the horses. Lady Gordon's doctor orders her to leave England for a warmer place because her illness is so severe. The squire and his family bid a sad goodbye to John, Joe, and the beloved horses. Merrylegs is given to the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

who promises never to sell the pony. Beauty and Ginger are taken to Earlshall Park, home of the Lord and Lady of Wexmire, and Joe bids a tearful goodbye to Beauty. Beauty and Ginger are paired up to pull Lady Wexmire's carriage, but she demands that the horses wear uncomfortable bearing reins to raise their heads high, which angers Ginger. When the next day Lady Wexmire orders the horse's heads be strapped up even further, Ginger breaks away from the carriage in a rage, leading to Lady Wexmire forbidding her any further use on her carriage-dragging. Reuben Smith, the horses caretaker, rides to town with Beauty to take a carriage to be repainted. He becomes drunk at the local tavern. Despite warnings from a blacksmith's apprentice, he nevertheless roughly rides Beauty home, who is losing one of his horse shoes. When the shoe finally falls off, Beauty stumbles and throws Reuben off the saddle, causing both rider and horse to suffer injuries. Both are found the next morning by Wexmire's men. Reuben is sacked from his job, and Beauty is later sold by Lord Wexmire due to his disfigured knees. Beauty is bought by a man who keeps horses for renting, but treats them terribly. He is eventually taken to a fair, where he briefly spots Joe, now a grown-up, but Joe doesn't notice him. Beauty's whinnies instead catch the attention of Jerry Barker, a taxi carriage driver from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, who is immediately taken by Beauty and buys him once successfully haggling the cost down to 17

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

. Jerry introduces Beauty to his warm family - wife and two young children, who name him Black Jack. Though Beauty dislikes the harshness of London, he nevertheless likes his job as a taxi cab horse and Jerry's kind treatment of him. One day, Beauty spots and reunites with Ginger; she is now a cab horse who has suffered from years of abuse by her owner. Beauty begs for her not to give up, but too soon she is led away by her owner on a fare. Sometime later, Beauty spots her dead body on a wagon, her troubles finally over. One snowy night, Jerry has a dreadful cough that worsens as he's kept waiting for hours outdoors in the freezing weather for his passengers to leave a party. His condition then worsens and a doctor advises him to quit his job and move to the countryside. Beauty is reluctantly sold to a grain dealer where he's forced to pull heavy loads of flour. After two years of pulling heavy carts, he collapses from utter exhaustion. Beauty is taken to a fair to be sold, but he is now so weak and in such poor condition that many reject him. Then Farmer Thoroughgood and his grandson spot Beauty, and a young man sees him, too. Beauty realizes that the young man is Joe on recognizing his voice, and though he is hardly able to, he finds the strength and whinnies for his old friend and the two are finally reunited. Beauty lives the remainder of his life at Thoroughgood's farm with Joe, who promises that he will never sell Beauty.

Cast

* Docs Keepin Time as Black Beauty (horse) * Alan Cumming as Black Beauty (voice) *

as Joe Green **

Ian Kelsey Ian Kelsey (born 17 December 1966) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Dave Glover in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', Patrick Spiller in the BBC medical drama '' Casualty'', DI Richard Mayne in the ITV crime drama '' Blue Mur ...

as older Joe Green *

as Farmer Grey *

as Jerry Barker * Jim Carter as John Manly * Peter Davison as Squire Gordon *

Alun Armstrong Alan Armstrong, known professionally as Alun Armstrong, is an English actor. He grew up in County Durham in North East England, and first became interested in acting through Shakespeare productions at his grammar school. Since his career began ...

as Reuben Smith *

John McEnery John McEnery (1 November 1943 – 12 April 2019) was an English actor and writer. Born in Birmingham, he trained (1962–1964) at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, playing, among others, Mosca in Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' and Gaveston ...

as Mr. York *

Eleanor Bron Eleanor Bron (born 14 March 1938) is an English stage, film and television actress, and an author. Her film roles include Ahme in the Beatles musical ''Help!'' (1965), the Doctor in '' Alfie'' (1966), Margaret Spencer in '' Bedazzled'' (1967), a ...

as Lady Wexmire *

Peter Cook Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, comedian, satirist, playwright and screenwriter. He was the leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, and he was associated with the anti-establishme ...

as Lord Wexmire * Keeley Flanders as Dolly Barker * Niall O'Brien as Farmer Thoroughgood

Release

Box office

The film did not recoup its budget and performed poorly at the box office, grossing only $4,630,377 domestically.

Critical reception

''Black Beauty'' received generally positive reviews upon its release. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 81% of 16 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.6 out of 10. Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' gave the film a mediocre review, objecting to the horse's voiceover: " plays like a cross between

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...

and anthropomorphism run amok." Similarly, Lisa Schwarzbaum of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' found the narration to have "the effect of making a basically charming story go drippy." However, she concluded her review by conceding that "girls will inevitably love all this."

Year-end lists

* Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – William Arnold, ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was f ...

'' * Honorable mention – Betsy Pickle, '' Knoxville News-Sentinel'' * Honorable mention – David Elliott, ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

Soundtrack

The film's score was written by Danny Elfman and was released on CD and cassette tape through Warner Bros.' Giant Records label. ;Track listings #Main titles #Baby Beauty #Gang on the Run #Mommy #Jump for Joy #Kicking up a Storm #The Dance/ Bye Merrylegs #Sick #He's Back (Revival) #Frolic #Ginger Snaps #Goodbye Joe #Wild Ride/ Dream #Is it Joe? #In the Country #Poor Ginger #Bye Jerry/ Hard times #Memories #End Credits

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black Beauty (1994 Film) Films based on Black Beauty 1994 films 1990s adventure drama films 1990s English-language films American adventure drama films American children's adventure films American children's drama films Films set in England British children's adventure films British adventure drama films Films directed by Caroline Thompson Films scored by Danny Elfman Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films shot in England Films with screenplays by Caroline Thompson Warner Bros. films 1990s children's adventure films 1994 directorial debut films 1994 drama films Films about friendship Films about horses Films produced by Peter MacGregor-Scott 1990s American films 1990s British films