The Black Stallion (1979)

I'm falling behind a bit on writing my reviews.  I actually watched this one Tuesday night after dinner on TCM.  Tuesday tends to be a night when nothing is going on, and nothing is on TV, and by that I mean weekly shows.  I saw a while ago but wanted to see it again, as did my mom.  Horse movies always have a beauty too them, which I thoroughly enjoy.

While traveling with his father, young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion that is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When the ship tragically sinks both he and the horse survive only to be stranded on a deserted island. Alec befriends the horse, so when finally rescued both return to his home where they soon meet Henry Dailey, a once successful trainer. Together they begin training The Black to race against the fastest horses in the world.

36/50 Eggs

The classic story of a boy and his horse is beautifully filmed, featuring nice scenes of the boy and the horse frolicking on a deserted island. In the first half of this film, there's hardly any dialog. Yes, film is a visual medium, but looking at pretty pictures can become boring after a while. There's no character development and once the action moves to civilization, it becomes the standard "National Velvet" type of clichéd story, complete with Rooney doing a variation of his role in the earlier film. Ballard's tendency for lingering shots makes this extremely slow-moving. The horse gives a good performance, although, curiously, it is dark brown, not black. 

The Devil Is A Sissy (1936)

Caught this one on TCM this afternoon, while the meatloaf was on to cook.  They're doing a Jackie Cooper marathon today because he died a few days back.  I decided to watch it mainly because of the name.  I also haven't seen much of Mickey Rooney, and because he's somewhat of a prominent figure from time to time it peaked my interest.

A well-bred young English lad living in lower Manhattan tries to gain acceptance from his not-so-well-bred peers at school.  When one of his peers' dad dies, they hash a plan to get money for a tombstone.

35/50

It truly is remarkable how much better child actors from the past are then the ones of the present.  Both Jackie Cooper and Mickey Rooney were really good, but the role of Claude stole the show.  The film doesn't have much of a wow factor, apart from everything being spot on.  It's aimed for children, and contains a  great meaning, which doesn't hit you over the head like most kid's films nowadays.  There's not a whole lot I can say except that I really liked it.  I suggest it, if you can handle black and whites.