Gallant Bess
6.8 /10 1 Votes6.8
Country United States | 6.6/10 IMDb Duration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 1 January 1947 Writer Marvin Park (story), Jeanne Bartlett (story), Jeanne Bartlett (screenplay) Tagline See Bess do stunts you never saw a horse do before. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gallant Bess is a motion picture released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1946. It was loosely based on the true story of U.S. Navy Warrant Officer Arthur Parker's rescuing of an injured filly during World War II. Portions of the movie were filmed on the coast of Santa Barbara, California, in October 1945. This was the first MGM motion picture made in Cinecolor.
Contents
Plot
Art Parker grows up on a ranch in Montana in the early 1900s and has worked with horses. At the age of 17, he lies to enlist in the U.S. Navy. During World War II, he is stationed in the Solomon Islands and befriends a local rancher.
After a Japanese bombing raid, the rancher asks Parker for help rescuing a filly that has been injured. Parker ends up taking the horse to the Navy base and training her. She eventually becomes a morale booster for the sailors, as well as the unit's mascot.
Bess learns a number of tricks, including running to a sandbagged cave for protection whenever the air raid siren sounds. This leads to those who knew her giving her the nickname "Foxhole Flicka", after the horse in the 1941 children's book My Friend Flicka.
When Parker receives his orders to return to the U.S., he is denied permission to take Bess with him. He eventually either receives permission, or makes the right people think he received permission, and is allowed to build a stall on a ship for Bess.
Reception
The film earned $1,487,000 in the US and Canada and $524,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $196,000.
References
Gallant Bess WikipediaGallant Bess IMDb Gallant Bess themoviedb.org