The Virtual Equestrian - Young Black Stallion

Young Black Stallion - Movie Review

Young Black Stallion

Available on DVD on June 8th the Young Black Stallion is a prequel to the successful 80s movies The Black Stallion and The Black Stallion Returns.

Originally released in IMAX cinemas in 2003 the film was seen in limited release and although the preview tape was converted for normal TV viewing the background scenery is still an awesome sight.

The film begins in North Africa in 1946 where a grey mare foals in a storm. Some time later the mare and foal and chased through the desert region by en on horseback who capture the mare as the foal escapes amongst the rocks and caves. The foal is now left to fend for himself.

A group of travellers are seen heading through the desert before being set upon by armed men but a young girl escapes. As she flees her camel trips and she is then alone. She soon finds a water spring amongst the rocks and caves then discovers the foal who has now grown into a stunning black colt.

What follows the is the story of the friendship of the girl and the colt, their journey home and what she discovers when she gets there including a horse race where the black stallion must show how fast he really is.

The movie is short at around 50 minutes but they have packed plenty into the story and the horse race sequence is riveting. It is a good family film as would be expected from Disney and is suitable for all ages.

It is based on the final Walter Farley book which was completed by his son and the production involved several who made the original Black Stallion film. Fred Roos produced the original film and served in the same capacity for the Young Black Stallion in partnership with Frank Marshall while Jeanne Rosenburg also wrote the original film screenplay.

The movie is directed by Simon Wincer who is well known for directing the movie Phar Lap as well as several other films including Free Willy. Also from Phar Lap (and many other productions involving horses) was renown horseman Heath Harris who taught the actors the finer points of riding.

Biana Tamimi who plays the girl Neera was an experienced rider who got the role after a friend sent in a tape after seeing the casting call on the internet. She won the part but underwent further riding training to ride confidently when galloping flat out and for the scene involving the camel (10 camels were also used in the production).

The main stars of the movie though are the Arabian horses. over 40 horses provided by the South African stud of Fanie and Jack Maritz. Heath Harris handpicked his stars and then trained them for the film. Each horse role had a main equine actor and two understudys with some being dyed so they were an exact match. The horses were trained in a similar fashion to endurance competitors and were very fit. In one scene where 'Neera' throws away her headpiece the production crew clocked horse and rider travelling at 65kph.

The big race took 10 days to film at various locations and involved a celebrated Moroccan jockey, a US trainer and a group of South African endurance riders. The race was carefully choreographed especially scenes where the leading group are galloping close together. The horses were swapped regularly during filming and there were no injuries or undue stress suffered by any of the horses involved despite the hot conditions.

The movie is available from major DVD retailers and as with all good horse movies Breyer produced a new Black Stallion model when teh film was released in IMAX cinemas.