B-Team Sequel: Phyllis Briggs wrote a sequel called Son of Black Beauty, published in 1950. The Pullein-Thompson sisters also wrote several stories concerning relatives of Black Beauty.
Banned in China: The book was formerly banned in South Africa. Having the words "black" and "beauty" in the title was evidently a no-no during apartheid, despite the fact that "Black Beauty" is the name of a horse.
Follow the Leader: Inspired many similar books, especially those told from the perspective of the animal. Beautiful Joe is one such book - about a dog that had similar results on the public.
One-Book Author: This was Anna Sewell's only novel. Her health was declining while she was writing it, and she died only five months after it was published. Fortunately, she did live long enough to see it become a success.
The Red Stapler: Inverted. The 'bearing rein' went out of fashion almost immediately after the book was published. The 'check rein' continues in use as a piece of safety equipment, to prevent a horse from lowering its head too far and getting caught on the carriage shafts, but using it to force the horse's head up as depicted in the book would now (rightly) be considered animal cruelty.
Write What You Know: Anna Sewell had to rely on ponies and horses to get around in her youth, and this brought her attention to how cruel the treatment of them could be.
The 1994 film:
Acclaimed Flop: Made only $4 million at the Box Office, but is considered one of the best adaptations of the novel.
Advertised Extra: Sean Bean gets top billing but only appears in the first part of the film, and even then is not featured that much.
Fake Brit: Alan Cumming is Scottish, putting on an Oop North accent for Beauty.
Follow the Leader: The film quite clearly follows the influence of the 1993 adaptation of The Secret Garden, adapting a Victorian children's novel with a similar visual style, casting 'name' actors in smaller roles and emphasising the Oop North setting. Andrew Knott who played Dickon in the former plays the young Joe in this. It was also directed by Caroline Thompson, who wrote the screenplay for The Secret Garden.
Playing Against Type: Comedy actor Peter Cook plays the non-comedic Lord Wexmire, a very human character in contrast to some of his more two-dimensional characters.
