When the owner of a Yorkshire coal-mine decides to mechanize to increase profits, the mine's pit ponies are scheduled to be destroyed. So, three children plan to steal them to keep them safe. But when they're caught, it's up to the mine owners and the miners themselves to decide what's right.
What a cracking little film!
I was not expecting this to be so great. 'The Littlest Horse Thieves' is a highly touching and well paced film from 1976, it's one of Disney's best live-action offerings up until this point in time.
The studio have done a crap tonne of animal and children stories in these early decades, some of them work nicely whilst some fall flat. This, however, is excellent. It sucked me right in, I was fully invested in the story of Dave, Alice, Tommy and 'their' ponies - especially the latter's spearhead, Flash. The ending hit me, I can't lie.
Andrew Harrison, Chloe Franks and Benjie Bolgar play the aforementioned human trio - they give what you'd expect from kid actors, but I appreciate their performances. You also have a number of adults involved, with my standouts being Alastair Sim (Harrogate) and Joe Gladwin (Bert).
Other positive parts include the locations and score, both of which are lovely. An outstanding film, one I would highly recommend!