Original subtitles

You missed it.

Oh, come on, Albert.

Why, too?

Up to look at the old cottage.

Don't you want to?

We're supposed to be haunted.

Oh, don't be silly.

Well, I'm going.

Go on, Beauty.

Go on.

Well, anyway, I'm fishing.

It's all right, Beauty.

I'm here.

Steady, boy.

Ah, my arm.

My arm's hurt. Well, so's you right.

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

Steal him?

I wasn't trying to steal him. I thought he'd straight. I was going to take him

back to the nearest farm. Oh, I'm afraid I don't believe you.

Oh, what are you doing here anyway?

That's mine.

And it doesn't matter what you believe. Just get off. Leave me alone.

Dr. Gordon?

Yes, can I help you?

Allow me to introduce myself.

I'm Henry Thackeray.

Oh, that's all right.

How do you do? And this is my lawyer, Mr. Weems. 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.

fine lady.

Yes, she certainly was.

So, where to be neighbours?

Unfortunately, no.

Mr.

Thackeray has considerable business interests elsewhere.

Yes, I just come to look around the house and the estate before selling it.

sad, but... Business.

Papa!

And this urgent young lady is my daughter, Vicky.

How do you do, sir?

I say, is that beast yours, Doctor? When I can get him away from my family.

I'd positively forbid them to touch it.

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

Well, good day to you.

Good day.

Horse flesh indeed.

What were you in such a hurry about?

I can't fight you.

You really don't need to try.

And that's all you know about him? There's no point in asking him

He just won't answer. But he's bought the cottage.

Not bought it.

Rented it. For a month, they say.

And he doesn't get no letters.

He must be an odd sorry chap.

Yes.

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.

No wonder it hurt.

You dislocated it.

It'll be stiff for quite a while, I'm afraid.

Oh, I'm pretty tough.

You have to be in my line.

What is your line, Mr.

I'm a sailor?

I'm judging by your accent, not British.

Oh, I'm British, all right.

Only not from this island.

I'm from Canada, from Newfoundland.

What made you choose this place?

Well, 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.

Oh, he dislocated his shoulder.

I put it right for him.

There's no mystery about him. He just wants to be left alone.

Why? We don't have to know the reasons.

He's pleasant enough, and if he wants to be on his own, that's his own affair.

But there is something.

It's not just the way he looks.

There's definitely something strange about him.

Harry.

We've met.

But what are you doing?

Well, Harry was teaching me how to wrestle.

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

Right then.

It's your turn.

All right.

me a little.

Quite a lot, I should say.

Stop your nose from falling off.

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 helmet?

I don't mind telling you.

I got it from a broken harpoon in the fluke of a sounding blue whale.

I was in the stern of the longboat and it came.

Boiling up from the depths of the ocean like a giant steam hammer.

Smashed the longboat 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.

But they 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.

Oh, 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, then the land is sold.

But can it really be true?

It doesn't seem possible.

Yes, I checked the records. The land on either 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

by agreement with whoever owns the land.

You must be able to stop them.

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

What can we do?

Very little.

The price they're asking is... It's far too high for me.

Did he really say he'd take Black Beauty? Oh, don't worry. He's the last

I'd sell him to.

But we have to face up to it.

If we haven't run to exercise him properly, we won't be able to keep him.

Attack, people!

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

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's sold already?

No, 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.

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 up the money by three o 'clock this afternoon,

or it goes to the highest bidder.

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 lawyer, 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.

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. He should be back quite soon.

He'd better be.

But I don't understand.

It's a long story.

I 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 was 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 I?

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

They should arrive any day now.

Isn't there anything else?

Something with your name on it.

Well, there's my discharge papers from my last voyage.

Where are they?

Back at the cottage.

Well, you'd better get them.

Give me a leg up, will you? Sure.

Oh, thank you.

Look, bring them to the cottage, Harry.

What can I do? Go to the crossroads and wait for Mr. Binns, the postman. Maybe

that letter's come from Canada.

Right. Bye.

Not back yet. Not yet?

He was very angry with you for taking Black Beauty.

Maybe it's for the best. Don't you understand there's so little time?

Mr. Thackeray's been here already.

And he'll be back in half an hour. And he won't wait any longer.

This letter. We might have been found out.

May I remind you that a month ago you were merely a clerk in my office?

Perhaps I should have stayed there.

If you hadn't been so greedy, we could have sold up and got out. Instead of

trying to get money for the doctor, we'd have been clear by now.

There's still time.

By tonight, the whole estate will be sold.

And we'll be on a ship for France.

Who's there?

Well, now.

Listening, are we?

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.

Look, I hope we're not too late. If only you'd said something sooner.

Yes, Mr. Thackeray, you should have.

You really should have.

That's him.

Just stay where you are.

And no one needs to get hurt.

That's better.

Well, well, well.

Fancy meeting you.

I didn't tell him where you were. Honest, Vicki.

Yes, it was funny that. I met the postman on the road. Your letter from...

as it was obviously intended for me, he handed it over.

Idiot.

Well, it won't do you any good. We can prove you're a fraud.

But as you said, my dear, you're too late.

What are you going to do?

Just keep you here until my friend has completed his business with the doctor?

Go on. Get inside.

All of you. Go on. Don't worry.

He's not going to use that.

He won't shoot any of us. Maybe not.

But there's nothing to stop me shooting your horse.

Get back.

of you. Get inside.

Better get that to your father as soon as you can.

Stop Weems. I'll take care of this for you. Take Albert with you. I might need

two of you to convince him.

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 money?

What's this?

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.

Come on, Albert.

We did it! We did it!

We did it!

Come

on.

Hey, wait for me.

Yoo -hoo!

Go, Dizzy!

Dizzy!

The letter of credit from his lordship. I 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. Oh, no, sir, they're

yours. What?

I couldn't accept them.

After all, if it hadn't been for you and your family and your horse, I would

have been cheated out of everything.

What can I say except thank you?

Don't you dare.

What will you do now, Harry?

Well, I think I'll see what it's like to lead a life of leisure for a while.

Might even learn how to ride.

Harry, will you do me a favor?

Sure, what?

Would you like to get up on Black Beauty?

Go on, I'll tell you.

Right.

There you see.

Didn't you think I could do it?

I'm sure you could, it's just that I...

Always want to see a sailor on a horse.

Thank you.