Black Midnight

I've always liked Roddy Mc Dowall :like his good friend Liz Taylor ,he was a child actor whose career would still be thriving when he grew up : a teenager in such works as "Lassie come home" and "how green was my valley" , a young man in "Cleopatra" ,a middle-age man in " dead of winter" , one of his rare parts of a villain (and terrifying at that).

"Black Midnight" ( it's the name of his stallion ) is suitable for the whole family and for people who like horses ,although the violent mistreatment of the stallion may be hard to bear for the very young audience .

Scott ,an orphan who lives in his uncle's farm is a nice but clumsy boy ( count the times he falls into the duck pond, into the eggs or elsewhere);he does not approve of cousin Daniel's taming of his stallion and buys the wild horse ;"we will pals " ;and pals they become . But he has to reckon with cousin Daniel's and his shady companion's ominous plan.

Very pleasant scene of the country ball ,with the infectious "come along home Cindy " song ....A fete .which Scott will sheepishly finish.

Less than a year ago, I traveled to remote Lone Pine, California to see the Alabama Hills and Mount Whitney. Why? Because many of my favorite old movies were filmed there because of its gorgeous scenery. Hundreds of B-westerns and a bunch of features (such as GUNGA DIN and many John Wayne pictures) were filmed in this area...as was "Black Midnight".

"Black Midnight" is interesting because it not only stars Roddy McDowell, but he actually produced it as well...which is impressive for a 21 year-old. It also is a major change of pace from his usual roles...which I appreciate. It also helped that the movie was directed by Budd Boetticher, a man who excelled with westerns and got a lot out of B-movie scripts.

Scott (Roddy McDowell) lives with his Uncle Bill (Damian O'Flynn) on a ranch out west. A neighbor has a horse he hates and cannot control...so he plans on shooting it. Scott sees this about to happen and stops him...begging Daniel to sell him the horse. Scott plans on trying to tame this 'untamable' horse. Can he do it or will it break his neck in the process? And, what will happen when an idiot later tries to harm Midnight?

The film is a typical boy and his (dog, horse, etc.) sort of movie. But it's well directed and acted and they managed to make a much better than usual B-movie. With a limited budget and time, they managed to make a dandy little family movie.

Everyone is pleased when Rand Brooks returns, especially his brother, Roddy McDowall. Brooks has turned his wanderjahr into a profitable trading venture, swapping his old plug into a string of half a dozen handsome horses. McDowall takes a shine to the stallion, and trains him, naming him 'Midnight.' However, there are problems that come out eventually.

It's one of seven movies McDowall produced for him to star in, and it's a handsome production, particularly when the shooting heads up to Lone Pine for DP William Sickner to shoot the Alabama Hills. McDowall is too monotonously nice in this coming-of-age story: hard working, clueless as to what's going on, and so forth, but director Budd Boetticher keeps things on an innocuous keel.