Beautifully photographed in glorious black and white, the impressive opening scene features a caravan of horses during a vicious snow storm. One man picks up a foal and during a display of Lawrence of Arabia like nobility carries it on his back for the rest of the way. Finally safe in a East Prussian barn, title character Marion enters and strikes up an immediate friendship with the horse carrier shortly before he dies of exhaustion. WWII is nearly at an end and the red army is coming, so together with her mother Vera and her new foal Prusse, Marion flees to Nedersaksen.
Marion draws the attention of three nasty men (one of them even wears a long leather coat) when she goes swimming in a lake with Prusse. The trio of no good doers take the horse away leading to some highly emotional antics from das mädchen. But in true girlie book fashion, Prusse escapes and runs back home. When the villains follow suit, doctor Meining the veterinary comes to the rescue. Now most reviews and synopsis claim this film concerns a mother and daughter both falling in love with the good doctor. That may sound controversial for it's time, but is only a tiny part of the big picture. From the first to last shot the emphasis is all on horses. Marion shows far more affection for her beloved Prusse than she does for the doctor, and a love triangle is hardly touched upon, or at least in the version I saw broadcast at 10.30 am.
Warning! From here on only sappy junior romance novel clichees follow.
Herr doctor encourages Marion in her horse riding when assisting him at his practice proves too stressful. Meanwhile he is seen wooing her mother, who has become a wash woman. During her first horse race the girl takes a diving. Here follows a very strange German expressionist sequence: Marion is staring into a lake and falls in, is swept along for what seems like miles while Prusse runs after her until she wakes up on shore. Was it all a nightmare? She takes Prusse to a professional race track but immediately objects to the rough handling he receives from the cocky young jockey. As soon as he gets her into the barn however, he sweeps her off her Prusse. Nothing much else happens except more montages of horse races set to mambo music and a syrupy happy end in which everybody wins (except evil men in leather coats).
4 out of 10
