Black Beauty is the 1971 adaptation of the classic novel by Anna Sewell. Beauty is raised on the Evans farm with Joe (Mark Lester, Oliver), the farmer's young son, standing by, and is given to Joe to be his own; as the young stallion grows, it's Joe who takes the primary role in training him. But Evans is an independent farmer, not a tenant, and when he gets in trouble with the bank, there's no one to insure that he keeps his land or his stock; Beauty is sold for the debt along with everyone else. Joe swears to get him back one day, but the road to that goal is hard. Beauty falls into the hands of a young wastrel who is killed in a fall from his dogcart, is stolen by an Irish tinker who rides him in a stake race, then abandoned, picked up by horse traders, and taken to the Continent to be sold to a small circus. From there he goes on to become a cavalry horse in India and a coal-merchant's drudge.moreless