GB
1994
1hr 28mins
Dir: Caroline Thompson
Starring: David Thewlis and Peter Davison
Adventures of a horse from birth to pasture
The fifth film adaptation of the 1877 classic novel by Anna Sewell features a scene filmed on the Bluebell Railway at Horsted Keynes station, though no locomotives are visible. The station forecourt was transformed into a coal yard, a coal office was erected on the old cattle dock, and a pile of ballast that just happened to be present was sprayed black to represent the coal! The plan was to also have an early scene filmed at Freshfield Bank, where a young Black Beauty is being trained to cope with the sight and sound of passing trains. SECR H Class 0-4-4T No.263 was used on a short branch train, but Beauty failed to show any sign of anxiety, and after several aborted takes, the whole scene was abandoned!!
