Conference bookie::movies

604.0. "Black Beauty" by DSSDEV::RUST () Mon Aug 08 1994 20:44

    "Black Beauty" is a very pretty rendition of the classic story. [A
    review in a local paper mentioned the critic's fondness for the Black
    Beauty story even in its original version, when it was known as the
    Book of Job. <chortle>] The story is narrated by Beauty himself, in
    voice-over. Though this is faithful to the book, which is also told
    from Beauty's point of view, I found it distracting in the movie; in
    many scenes, the narration was superfluous, as the actions of the
    horses said it all without words. However, it did come in handy for
    advancing the plot, and wasn't too terribly intrusive. [One annoyance
    for me, though, was that Ginger - Beauty's stablemate and most
    cherished equine friend - never got to say anything. In the book, she
    and Beauty had a number of interesting conversations about humans and
    what they meant to horses, but in the movie we miss nearly all of that;
    of all the horses we see, only Beauty has a voice.]
    
    Much of the film consists of wonderful footage of the horses at work or
    play - the loveliest featured some "dance" sequences with Black Beauty,
    Ginger, and little Merrylegs the pony, all at liberty, frolicking or
    racing or cavorting in their meadow. Wonderful stuff for horse
    fanciers...
    
    The days of wine and roses (or oats and clover, to be more appropriate)
    don't last long, of course.  Fate keeps dropping by to send Beauty to
    one home after another, some good, some bad, some deplorable. How he
    fares through all this makes up the rest of the tale, with only passing
    nods at the people who come and go. 
    
    The human actors are all first-rate, though most have little screen
    time; they have to sketch their parts, interact with the horses, and
    then disappear as Beauty moves on. (There's some nice casting here - the
    boy who played Dickon in "The Secret Garden" shows up as young Joe, the
    well-meaning stableboy, and there's a lovely turn as a good-hearted
    cabbie by David Thewlis, whose previous credits include a role as a
    thoroughly despicable abuser of young boys in "Prime Suspect III", and
    a sociopath in "Naked".)
    
    Considered as a "family movie," this is probably too slow for very
    young children, unless they'd be content just looking at the horses;
    and some of the scenes of cruelty and privation are a little rough to
    watch for anyone who's got a soft spot for horses. [As it is, the
    movie's been toned down quite a bit from the book. Some of the scenes I
    recall as the most painful to read have been excised or rewritten.
    However, there are scenes of mistreatment, of injury, and of death -
    and of course the ongoing theme of abandonment, where even the best and
    most loving owners find themselves forced to leave their animals
    behind.]
    
    It's sweet, and sad, and beautiful - and sometimes a bit silly, but
    that's OK. I recommend it.
    
    -b

    BLACK BEAUTY IS A LOAD OF PURE CACK.

    
    Which works wonders on the garden, by the way.
    
    Eloquently put, as ever, Mr Wallace.

    
    I doubt Black Beauty could even have made a decent glue.
    
    Ian.