Animal Farm (1954)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Joy Batchelor
John Halas

Writer:

George Orwell (novel)

Release Date:

13 February 1956 (Sweden)

Genre:

Animation | Drama

Tagline:

He's got the world in an UPROAR!

Plot:

A successful farmyard revolution by the resident animals vs. the farmer goes horribly wrong when corrupt pigs hijack it for their personal gain.

Plot Keywords:

Farm | Farmer | Pig | Manor | Revolution

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Gordon Heath	...	Narrator (voice)
Maurice Denham	...	All Animals (voice)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | UK:X (original rating) | Czech Republic:U | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | West Germany:6 (nf)

Company:

Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films

Trivia:

The head of the CIA operation to obtain the film rights was none other than E. Howard Hunt, later famous as Nixon's Watergate burglar. As part of the deal, Sonia Orwell requested that she get to meet her idol, Clark Gable; this was arranged.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the first battle, the color of the puppies changes between shots - cream-ivory colored when we first see them, grey when Napoleon takes them up into the barn.

Quotes:

[The laws of Animal Farm are being read]
Snowball: No animal shall drink alcohol. No animal shall sleep in a bed. Four legs good, two legs bad.
[The chickens are very annoyed at this rule]
Squealer: Wings count as legs.
[The chickens realize that Squealer is right]
Group of sheep: Four legs good, two legs bad. Four legs good, two legs bad.
Snowball: [continuing the reading of the laws] No animal shall kill another animal. All animals are equal.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest Cartoons (2005) (TV)

Brutally honest and educational...

I saw this film in my senior Social studies class. It was intended to create a paradigm of our history and how politics can turn ugly.

It did the job very well. If nothing else can effectively demonstrate the failures of our past political systems, it is this film. The parallels drawn between past governments is brutally honest, and the outright indication of the evils of communism and such. This is not so much a movie for family or children; it is best to be utilized as an educational tool. I think it would be a critical work in any social studies program. I also think it's unusual that when the film was released, it got an x-rating for the mature subject matter. Better you learn this kind of thing sooner, and not contribute to repeating the mistakes of the past.