4 Film Favorites: Classic Horse Films (Black Beauty, National Velvet, International Velvet, The Story of Seabiscuit)

My sister had given me Black Beauty on VHS and I must have watched that half a dozen times. It begins with Black Beauty in his final home, then shifts back to his birth and gentling. It was cute to see how oats helped him deal with the bit and girth. It does take place in England, as opposed to the NBC mini-series that took place in Maryland. In Black Beuaty, there is a voice for him, but not for the other horses. When he is sold to Squire Gordon he meets Ginger and Merrylegs, and is paired with Ginger to drive the carriage. When the squire's wife takes ill, Beauty and Ginger are sold, and so begins the many owners he has to deal with until in the end the grown-up Joe Green (the young lad who nearly killed him) gives him his last home. The Story of Seabiscuit stars Barry Fitzgerald, whom I take to be a real Irishman and Shirley Temple, who is not Irish. The subject is a small-sized, non-inspiring colt named Seabiscuit who catches Uncle Shawn's eye and, over initial objections, convinces his boss to keep him and let him train him for the racetrack. After a very unpromising start, the colt begins to win, and win, and win, and, in a match race against Sir Barton, shows the bigger horse his heels. A rags-to-riches story that ended with Shawn having the last laugh on the two who had written the little fellow off. National Velvet has been around for so long if you haven't seen it, you just don't watch horse movies. I loved the pairing of Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney, and the exciting running of the Grand National. International Velvet was such a superb sequel in my opinion I was put out by the lack of recognition it received. Christopher Plummer, Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree, was so good as "Uncle" John, and poor Velvet was at a loss in dealing with the rebelious Sharah until they discovered her love for horses. That scene where Velvet asks Sarah to go fetch the Pie, only to have Sarah realize that it is not the Pie, but her foal, and to have the two running toward each other, is beautiful. To watch an awkward young Sarah become an accomplished rider, under the guidance of Captain Johnson, played by the dashing Anthony Hopkins, and represent her country (she was born in England) in the Olympics was fascinating. To think the actress was able to learn to ride as she did over those jumps was quite an achievement. The ending, when Sarah makes her way over the mud to where Velvet and John were waiting, and introduce them to her fiancee Scott as "my parents," just made my heart soar.

My family loves all stories and movies about horses, so we thought this collection would be perfect, but we were not as pleased with the full collection. The very best film in this collection is National Velvet, and in the last 6 months have watched it weekly as a family! It is a beautiful story with a strong, young girl protagonist that carries a wonderful message and has a beautiful setting and gorgeous horse scenes. Black Beauty is a quality story, but the film has some very uncomfortable scenes that involve the horses being mistreated, and there are quite a few very sad moments, so it is not an enjoyable movie for more sensitive people. Seabiscuit is more of a romance film between the human characters, taking place in a race-horse setting, so it is not really for horse lovers or for kids. Finally, most insulting to all of humanity, is the atrocity International Velvet. Do not bother trying to view this mockery of a horse-lover's film. It is absolutely not for youth, as much of the film revolves around adult situations, and includes a bit of violence and, as my son said after watching the first five minutes of a smoking, bare-chested Christopher Plummer talking about mature subjects with a self-absorbed, annoying supposed-adult version of Velvet, "creepiness." Sadly, this is intended to be a sequel to National Velvet, as one of the characters is an adult Velvet, however, she is so unlike the original youth, so unlikable, so much of the opposite that you would expect Velvet to become, that it is truly disturbing. As well, the film was made in the 1970's, and has the bland cinematography of that era, as opposed to the beautifully filmed National Velvet. Do your family a favor and watch National Velvet, try out Seabiscuit and Black Beauty, and TOSS International Velvet out the window.

Great movies

Pretty good deal. I like three outa the 4,but wish I didn't have the 4th because of bad language and other non child friendly stuff.National Velvet is a classic, I think one of the very best things Elizabeth Taylor did. A must for horse lovers and a great character building type movie with a dear mother exemplified in it.Seabiscuit is fun, corny, but fresh and entertaining. You might get a kick outa seeing Shirley Temple grown. Not a great actress, but its still worth a watch.Black Beauty is very well done and as I remember the book fairly accurate. I enjoy this one as have children from 2-16.International Velvet is not a repeat watch. I barely made it through the first time. It is not a really pleasant story, it kinda strains to make things fit as a National Velvet sequel and the show goes on and on with few rewarding moments...there are some. Do not recommend.

Once again we made an excellant decision and purchased a top quality product. I remember when this movie first came out and years later my daughters watched it on television. Our youngest daughter was a fanatic for National Velvet and when it came on television we had to tape it so she could watch it regularly, so much so that she knew every actors lines all the way through the movie. Unfortunately the tape quality became poor and we were unable to purchase it here in Australia on dvd. Thank you Amazon for four excelland movies and luckily my daughter was able to purchase a dvd player here in Australia to view movies from America. Excellant product and service once again. THANK YOU!!!

The reason I bought this was for National Velvet and International. Only way to get these movies on the same video. Don't know about the others. Really enjoy the above mentioned movies. As I said, I don't know about the others. Well, worth the price to get the two movies I really wanted.

I bought this for my granddaughter and she loves it!

All my favourites on one box set. After watching black beauty in 1995 in particular I vowed never to pass my horse on. It still brings me to tears. My lad is in a very happy place these 22 years. He has always been allowed an opinion. I am very lucky to be able to say this I know. Updating national velvet to eventing was a great choice. Tatum O’Neill believable quite dated now but still a good watch and a few very well placed comments on how to handle life. Particularly the one on choices and how some people pay more than others by Nanette Newman - and Anthony Hopkins on being a team player. Still relevant.

I just love this movie, it's one of my all-time guilty pleasures.Sadly it wasn't a big success upon its release in 1978, a shame because it has some great things in it - gorgeous Devonshire locations, a beautiful haunting score by Francis Lai, stunning cinematography by Tony Imi and a lovely cast - Tatum O'Neal, Christopher Plummer, Nanette Newman, Anthony Hopkins.Although harshly reviewed at the time - most critics had a problem with the film's overt sentimentality - as a director Bryan Forbes tells his story simply and effectively. Try not to shed a tear during the aeroplane sequence or when Sarah introduces her aunt and uncle as "my parents" during the final scene - as Francis Lai's music begins to swell you'll soon be grabbing for your box of kleenex.Unavailable as a single DVD but part of Warner's '4 Classic Horse Favorites' Box Set in glorious 1.85:1 WIDESCREEN. Also available to download on itunes.

Region 1 encoding (requires a North American or multi-region DVD player and NTSC compatible TV. More about DVD formats.)Bought this at a bargain price as its much cheaper than buying a region 2 version, also have a multi region player and can read when it says region 1 on listing.I enjoyed watching all 4 films with my daughter.

International Velvet is one of my favorite films its really lovely i hadn't seen it for ages it was great to watchit againI remember watching international Velvet on Christmas day many years ago right after the Queens speech its a lovely i film highly recommend it.It brought back so many memories!

Horse lovers films.