Main Cast: Mona Freeman, Richard Denning, Evelyn Ankers, Charles Evans, J.M. Kerrigan
Release Year: 1946
Country: US
Run Time: 74 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell's classic tale of a beautiful horse is adapted in a disappointingly flat fashion by independent producer Edward L. Alperson. Unlike the novel, which is told from the horse's point of view, the film concentrates on the animal's first owner, a young English girl (Mona Freeman). Raising the horse into a prize-winner called "Black Beauty," the motherless girl is thrown into a panic when Beauty disappears. She locates the horse in a barn that is about to catch fire; knocked unconscious, the girl is saved by the valiant Beauty. The film's script utilizes only one of the many episodes in Sewell's 1879 novel, and not the most fascinating one at that. Had Black Beauty been produced by 20th Century-Fox instead of merely being released by the studio, the film might have had the saving grace of Technicolor photography. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Arthur Lonergan - Art Director, Max Nosseck - Director, Martin G. Cohn - Editor, Martin Cole - Editor, Dimitri Tiomkin - Composer (Music Score), David Chudnow - Musical Direction/Supervision, Roy Hunt - Cinematographer, Edward L. Alperson, Jr. - Producer, Glenn Thompson - Set Designer, Lillie Hayward - Screenwriter, Agnes Christine Johnston - Screenwriter, Anna Sewell - Book Author
