Black Beauty (1987 film)

Holly, Bertie's sister, 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 allows her to keep the horse, which she names "Black Beauty".

In the barn, Filcher is offered some jobs 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, Flicher 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.

In the night, 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 and the townsfolk. 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. 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. As soon as the fire cools, John tells Filcher that he left his pipe in the stables making the hay burn. As a result, Filcher is banished from working in the stables due to his carelessness in leaving his pipe, making it catch fire and burning the barn roof down. Gordon is called by Bertie to come quickly and is horrified to find his daughter has fainted. She is taken into bed by Mrs Bates.

The next morning, Holly is in bed as Mrs Bates tries to make her better. 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 board, Black Beauty gallops away 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.

Next morning, Holly 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.

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 Polly onto the ground. Filcher hears the noise and grabs the children. They struggle until he threatens to beat Beauty. When they finally give in, they are both locked in a cupboard as Filcher takes Black Beauty to the pits.

Back at the old windmill, Holly and Bertie encounter some 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 falling to 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. Then Beauty gallops over to Holly, who cuddles Beauty.

• 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)

• Black Beauty on IMDb