Original subtitles

(soft orchestral music)

- Oh, missed it.

- Oh, come on, Albert.

- Where to?

- Up to look at the old cottage.

Don't you want to?

- Was supposed to be haunted.

- Oh, don't be silly.

Well, I'm going.

Go on, Beauty.

Go on.

- Well, anyway, I'm fishing.

(bright adventurous music)

(soft whimsical music)

(soft suspenseful music)

(soft whimsical music)

(door clanging)

(horse whinnying)

Beauty!

Stop him!

(horse whinnying) - [Harry] Oh!

(horse whinnying)

(intense dramatic music)

(bright adventurous music)

(soft dramatic music)

It's all right, Beauty.

I'm here.

Steady, boy. Whoa.

- Ah, it's my arm.

My arm's hurt.

- Well, serves you right. (horse whinnying

It's your own fault for trying to steal Black Beauty.

- Steal 'em?

I wasn't trying to steal 'em.

I thought he'd strayed.

I was going to take him back to the nearest farm.

- [Vicky] Well, I'm afraid I don't believe you.

Well, what are you doing here anyway?

- It's mine.

(intense dramatic music)

And it doesn't matter what you believe.

Just, just go off. Leave me alone.

(door slamming)

(soft piano music)

(horse hooves clomping)

- Dr. Gordon?

- Yes, can I help you?

- Allow me to introduce myself.

I'm Henry Thackeray.

- Oh, uh.

- That's all right.

- How do you do?

- And this is my lawyer, Mr. Weems.

- How do you do? - How do you do?

You're from Thackeray House?

- Yes, I inherited the house about a year ago from my aunt,

but it's only this last week I've managed to visit it.

- Yes, I met your aunt.

I bought this place from her just before she died.

Very fine lady.

- Yes, she certainly was.

- So, uh, we're to be neighbours?

- Eh, unfortunately no.

- Eh, Mr. Thackeray has considerable

business interests elsewhere.

- Yes, I've just come to look around the house

and the estate before selling it.

It's sad, but, um- - Business.

- [Vicky] Papal!

- [James] And this urgent young lady

is my daughter Vicky.

- [Vicky] Oh, how do you do, sir?

- How do you do?

- I say, is that beast yours, Doctor?

- When I can get him away from my family.

(Weems and Thackeray chuckling)

- I am positively believe him to touch it.

He's as fine a piece of horse flesh I've seen anywhere.

Well, good day to you.

- [Weems] Good day.

- Horse flesh, indeed.

- What were you in such a hurry about?

(inquisitive mysterious music)

(knuckles rapping)

(inquisitive mysterious music)

(intense dramatic music)

- All right, I can't fight you.

- You really don't need to try.

(horse whinnying)

- And that's all you know about him?

- There's no point in asking him questions.

He won't, he just won't answer.

- But he's bought the cottage?

- Not bought it, rented it for a month, they say.

- Oh.

- And he don't get no letters.

He must be a surly chap.

- Yes.

(Harry laughing)

- Heavens, steal your horse?

- I don't happen to think it's funny.

- Well, you should.

I can't even ride.

- You frightened my daughter quite badly.

- Well then I'm sorry, but I had no idea she was here.

Ah!

- No wonder it hurt.

You dislocated it.

It'll be, uh, stiff for quite awhile, I'm afraid.

- Oh, I'm pretty tough.

You have to be in my line.

- What is your line, Mister, uh?

- I'm a sailor.

- And judging by your accent, not British.

- Oh, I'm British, all right.

Only not from this island.

I'm from Canada, from Newfoundland.

- Well, what made you choose this place?

- Oh, it's out of the way,

and I don't get bothered by other people.

- You certainly won't have many visitors down here.

- I don't want any.

Not just yet anyway.

(chickens clucking)

- Hello.

- Well, he dislocated his shoulder.

I put it right for him.

There's no mystery about him.

He just wants to be left alone.

- But why?

- Well, we don't have to know the reasons.

He's pleasant enough and if he wants to be left alone,

that's his own affair.

- But there is something. - [James] Come on.

- It's not just the way he looks.

There's definitely something strange about him.

(tense suspenseful music)

(Albert screaming)

(intense dramatic music)

(horse whinnying)

(intense dramatic music)

(Albert grunting)

- [Albert] Come on then.

(Albert screaming)

- Albert!

(Albert groaning)

- [Albert] Hello, Vicky.

This is my new friend Harry.

- We've met.

- But what are you doing?

- Well, Harry was teaching me how to wrestle.

- He oughta know how to take care of himself at his age.

- Right then. It's your turn.

- All right. (chuckling)

(Albert grunting and gasping)

(Albert screaming)

You let me do it! You cheated!

- Only a little.

(both laughing)

(horse grunting)

(both laughing)

(soft mysterious music)

- That, that's the paddock. (clearing throat)

And that, that's the field.

Oh, they're both of fair size.

Worth quite a lot, I should say.

- Mmm.

£beater thudding Albert coughing

(horse whinnying)

(beater thudding) (Albert laughing)

(Albert coughing)

- Tea's ready.

- Phew.

- There we are.

Just like you need it up in Greenland.

Stop your nose from falling off.

(Vicky and Albert chuckling)

- Greenland?

- Yeah, I was second mate on a whaling ship.

I'm glad I met you both.

It's nice to have company.

- Why didn't you want it before?

- Well, after a year's trip on a whaler,

you value your privacy.

- Is that where you got the-

- Albert!

- Nah, I don't mind tellin' ya.

I got it from a broken harpoon

in the fluke of a sounding blue whale.

I was in the stern in the long boat

and it came boiling up from the depth of the ocean.

Poof, like a giant steam hammer.

Smashed the long boat to smithereens.

Threw me up like a ball in the sky.

- I don't believe it!

I just don't believe it.

- It is nonetheless true.

Now, when you bought this property,

you were given the rights of use and pasturage

of the paddock and the large field adjoining.

-Yes. -Yes.

But the% were not part of the land that you had bought.

Now, unless you pay for them,

they will be sold in three days,

along with the rest of the Thackeray estate.

- But you're asking so much, gentlemen.

I don't have that kind of money.

I'm just a country doctor.

- Well, I'm sorry.

But if you don't buy them,

they will go to the highest bidder.

- I'm sure you'll be able to raise the money, Doctor.

I tell you what.

I'll take that black horse of yours in part payment.

- That's hardly a solution, Mr. Thackeray.

Without the horse, the doctor would have no need

for the field or the paddock.

- How true.

Three days and the land is sold.

(tense dramatic music)

(door slamming)

- But can it really be true?

It doesn't seem possible.

- Yes, I checked the records.

The land on the other side of the road belongs to them,

except for the garden.

- I always thought at least the paddock was ours.

- We have the right to use it only by agreement

with whoever owns the land.

- You must be able to stop them.

- No, I can't, Vicky. The law's on their side.

- What can we do? - Very little.

The price they're asking is, well,

it's far too high for me.

- Did he really say he'd take Black Beauty?

- No worries.

He's the last person I'd sell him to,

but we have to face up to it.

If we haven't room to exercise him properly,

we won't be able to keep him.

(soft solemn music)

(planks clattering)

(horse whinnying) (dramatic music

- Get away, you brute!

Go along, shoo!

(horse whinnying)

Take him off me!

Take him off me! Get him away!

(horse whinnying)

- Beauty!

Come on, Beauty. Come away.

Oh, please.

Don't make things worse.

Whoa, whoa.

- [Albert] Whoa, Beauty.

- [Vicky] Come on, Beauty. Gently.

(gate clanging)

- How dare you!

You keep that beast under control!

Don't you know better than to let him attack people?

(horse whinnying)

- He doesn't understand why he can't go in his paddock.

- [Albert] I know.

- He doesn't know how mean human beings can be.

- Is all this necessary, Mr. Weems?

- The buyers want to see what they're getting.

- You mean it sold already?

- Eh, no. Not yet.

But we have to show them that the land is available.

Mr. Thackeray wants a quick sale.

- Very well, Mr. Weems.

You won't have to wait.

- Hmm?

- Does the price you mentioned still hold?

- You've decided to buy it after all?

- I think I can get the money.

- Oh, splendid, splendid.

But I warn you, Doctor.

You pay off the money by three o'clock this afternoon

or it goes to the highest bidder. Hmm.

(James sighing)

(soft solemn music)

- I knew he could do it.

- Yes, but don't think it's easy, Albert.

He'll have to borrow the money from Lord Eddington.

- Hello.

- Oh, hello.

- Hello, Harry.

- You two don't look very cheerful.

- No, well, my father had some trouble.

- What sort of trouble?

- Well, you see, he nearly lost most of his land,

all because of that lyin' Mr. Weems and Mr. Thackeray.

- Weems?

He's made things difficult for your father?

- If only I'd done something sooner.

- It's nice of you to care,

but what could you have done?

- Well.

You see, I'm Henry Thackeray.

(dramatic piano music)

That other man is only pretending to be me.

- What do you mean he isn't here?

- Well, he's gone to see Lord Eddington.

He said he'd be home well before three o'clock.

- That is the deadline I gave him.

- [Amy] He should be back quite soon.

- He better be.

(horse hooves clomping)

- [Vicky] But I don't understand.

- It's a long story.

I'd just started on a whaling trip

when I got a letter from that lawyer Weems

telling me my aunt had died and I was her only heir.

But it was nearly a year's voyage,

and I only got to England a few weeks ago.

- And you went to see Weems?

- Yeah, he was surprised to see me after all that time.

He took the letter and he gave me 50 pounds,

saying that's all my aunt had left.

But before going back to Canada,

I thought I'd visit here, see where my family came from.

- Only to find your aunt had left a manor house

and a large estate.

- You can imagine how I felt.

- Why didn't you go straight up there and throw them out?

- How could 1?

I'd given Weems the letter he sent me,

the only way I could really prove who I was.

- Well, what are you going to do?

- Oh, I wrote home at once to get them to send

my birth certificate, letters, family photographs, anything.

They should arrive any day now.

- Isn't there anything else?

Something with your name on it?

- Well, there's m?/ discharge papers from my last voyage.

- Where are they?

- Well, back at the cottage.

- Well, you better get them.

Give me a leg up, will you?

- [Harry] Sure.

- Oh, thank you.

Look, bring them to the cottage, Harry.

- What can I do?

- Um, eh, go to the crossroads and wait for

Mr. Binns, the postman.

Maybe that letter's come from Canada.

- [Albert] Right. - Bye!

(Albert gasping)

Is Father back?

- [Amy] He's not back yet.

- Not yet?

- He was very angry with you for taking Black Beauty.

- Well, maybe it's for the best.

- But don't you understand?

There's so little time.

Mr. Thackeray has been here already.

And he'll be back in half an hour!

And he won't wait any longer!

- [Albert] Hi!

(soft dramatic music)

- [Imposter] It's all your fault.

- [Weems] What do you mean?

- This letter! We might've been found out!

- May I remind you that a month ago

you were merely a clerk in my office?

- Perhaps I should've stayed there.

If you hadn't been so greedy,

we could've sold up and got out.

Instead of trying to get money from the doctor,

we would've been in the clear by now.

- [Weems] There's still time.

By tonight the whole estate will be sold

and we'll be on a ship for France. (laughing)

(branch snapping) - [Albert] Whoa?)

- [Weems] Who's there?

- Well now, Listening, are we?

(gun cocking)

(fist pounding)

- I just found them.

They were in the bottom of my duffel bag.

- Oh, let me see.

- My name's only written in.

- Oh, it's better than nothing.

I hope we're not too late.

If only you'd said something sooner!

- Yes, Mr. Thackeray, you should have.

You really should have.

- [Vicky] But that's him!

- Now stay where you are, and no one needs to get hurt.

That's better.

Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you.

- I didn't tell where you were. Honest, Vicky.

- [Imposter] Yes, it was funny, that.

I met the postman on the road.

- Your letter from Canada.

- [Imposter] And as it was obviously intended for me,

he handed it over.

- The idiot!

Well, it won't do you any good.

We can prove you're a fraud.

- [Imposter] But as you said, my dear, you're too late.

- What are you gonna do?

- [Imposter] Just keep you here until my friend

has completed his business with the doctor.

Go on. Get inside.

All of ya. Go on! - Don't worry.

He's not gonna use that.

He won't shoot any of us.

- Maybe not, but there's nothing stopping me

shooting your horse.

(horse whinnying)

Get back! Go on!

All of you, get inside!

(horse whinnying) (kick thudding)

Ah!

(gun firing) (glass shattering)

- Better get back to your pa as soon as you can.

Stop Weems.

I'll take care of this one.

Take Albert with you.

I might need two of you to convince him!

- [Imposter] Oh!

- They're all in order, Doctor.

They're made out in your name.

- Just checking, Mr. Weems.

I don't spend 200 pounds without making sure

of what I'm getting.

Yes, they seem to be all right.

- Then the, uh, the money?

What's this?

- [James] It's a letter of credit.

- But I distinctly said cash.

- It's signed by Lord Eddington.

It's as good as money.

- Oh, very well.

But it's highly irregular.

(upbeat dramatic music)

- [Vicky] Stop him!

- [Weems] What?

- It's all a fraud! I've got proof.

(soft suspenseful music)

Stop him!

(Albert screaming) (Weems grunting)

Well done, Albert.

- We did it! We did it!

Yay, we did it! (laughing)

(chain thudding)

Come on.

- Hey, wait for me!

Yahoo!

Come on, Beauty!

Beauty!

- Your letter of credit from His Lordship.

Imagine he'll be glad to get it back.

- Not half so glad as I'll be.

Oh, I must remember to give you the deeds to the land.

- Well, no sir. They're yours.

- What?

- Oh, I couldn't accept them.

After all, if it hadn't been for you

and your family and your horse,

I would've been cheated out of everything.

- Well, what can I say except thank you?

- [Harry] Ha ha, don't you dare.

- What will you do now, Harry?

- Well, uh, I think I'll see what it's like

to lead a life of leisure for awhile.

Might even learn how to ride.

- Harry.

Would you do me a favour?

- Sure. What?

- Would you like to get up on Black Beauty?

Go on. I dare you.

- Right.

(light playful music)

(Harry grunting)

There, you see?

Didn't ya think I could do it?

- [Albert] I'm sure you could.

It's just that I've always wanted to see

a sailor on a horse. (laughing)

- [Harry] Whoa!

(horse whinnying)

(all laughing)

Ah!

(all laughing)

(sweeping orchestral music)

(bright adventurous music)