Black Beauty
Clip 2: ‘There is nothing a horse can do, but bear it’
2 min 4 sec
Taken from the TV program Black Beauty (1978)
Original title classification G – this clip chosen to be G
Availability of the complete title
Curator’s clip description
Gerry Barker has taken his family and Black Beauty on a happy Sunday picnic. On their way home they meet old Sam. Black Beauty is horrified to discover that Sam’s worn-out old horse is the once spirited but now beaten Ginger, who sees death as the only way out of the constant beatings and overwork.
Curator’s notes
Once again Ginger voices the cruelties and injustices of the poor treatment of horses, and again she reminds Black Beauty and the audience of the vulnerability of a horse’s welfare. The striking contrast in how the two horses look also serves to reinforce another message in the story, the economic if not humane advantages of treating a horse well. Black Beauty’s final comment foreshadows the tragedy to come in which his seemingly secure circumstances are unexpectedly changed again.
Annemaree O'Brien, curator
