'Black Beauty' (1971) on Super 8

[Adrian Winchester]

Not sure if I've ever seen this film mentioned on the forum. Not to be confused with the Techno 200' cut downs of TV series episodes, this is the British Tigon (but international co-production) feature about the renowned horse, although the story apparently features little drawn from the original novel. Walton released 200' and 2x400' versions, and I obtained a copy of the former a year or two ago. I got round to watching it yesterday, and was pleased to see that it retains good colour, but I didn't expect the surprise that was coming. It begins with what appeared to be at least most of the original titles, with no obvious sign of cuts. I don't recall ever previously seeing a Walton 200' feature digest that didn't begin with one of their title cards. The leisurely pace then continued as the rest appeared to largely be two sequences; one in which Black Beauty is born and the second in which its young owner (played by Mark Lester) witnesses a horse shot as a result of falling during a hunt, causing him to resolve to never involve BB in hunting.

This made me curious about the 2x400'. I could imagine this possibly starting with exactly the same footage, but then the remaining three-quarters continuing the story. Alternatively, it could possibly start soon after this incident, making the 200' a nice item to screen first. So, could anyone familiar with the 2x400' tell me if the editing is one of the possibilities above, or if not, does it have a shorter version of the above scenes at the start? And does it also start with the original titles?

[Brian Fretwell]

Quite often the 200ft Walton versions used a different name to the actual title of the film, maybe so they could cut out the original titles.

[Mark Williams]

Not sure if I've ever seen this film mentioned on the forum. Not to be confused with the Techno 200' cut downs of TV series episodes, this is the British Tigon (but international co-production) feature about the renowned horse, although the story apparently features little drawn from the original novel. Walton released 200' and 2x400' versions, and I obtained a copy of the former a year or two ago. I got round to watching it yesterday, and was pleased to see that it retains good colour, but I didn't expect the surprise that was coming. It begins with what appeared to be at least most of the original titles, with no obvious sign of cuts. I don't recall ever previously seeing a Walton 200' feature digest that didn't begin with one of their title cards. The leisurely pace then continued as the rest appeared to largely be two sequences; one in which Black Beauty is born and the second in which its young owner (played by Mark Lester) witnesses a horse shot as a result of falling during a hunt, causing him to resolve to never involve BB in hunting.

This made me curious about the 2x400'. I could imagine this possibly starting with exactly the same footage, but then the remaining three-quarters continuing the story. Alternatively, it could possibly start soon after this incident, making the 200' a nice item to screen first. So, could anyone familiar with the 2x400' tell me if the editing is one of the possibilities above, or if not, does it have a shorter version of the above scenes at the start? And does it also start with the original titles?

its funny you mention this film Adrian as I picked up a copy last week..colour is still good and it’s in its original Walton box too.

I’ll have to give it a watch now!