This heartbreaking tale of a horse will bring a lump to the hardiest of throats. Based on the once-popular Will James story, previously filmed in 1933, and again remade in 1966, the adventures of Smoky put Black Beauty to shame. This version is especially well photographed in glorious 1940s Technicolor (notably the circus sequences) and sympathetically directed by Louis King, lesser-known younger brother of veteran Henry King. The stars (Fred MacMurray and Anne Baxter) are eminently likeable, but the real scene-stealer (no, not the horse), making his movie debut here, is "Big Daddy" Burl Ives, 12 years before Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and his Oscar-winning performance in The Big Country.

Clint Barkley first sees Smoky as a runaway, and drives him back to the ranch where he meets the owner, Julie Richards. He is given a job on her ranch, but the head cowhand is doubtful about Clint and fears that since he refuses to talk about himself, he must have some dreadful secret in his past. Clint and Smoky become close to each other, weathering the hardships of Western life and the suspicions of others together, until one day, Smoky tragically vanishes. Will Clint ever see him again?