Animal Farm (1954)

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:

Many parents were alarmed at the bleakness of the film, having taken their children thinking it was a film along the lines of a Disney cartoon.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the film goes on the pigs alter the writing on the side of barn; the first being the addition of 'sleep in a bed with sheets'. Later on this and other additions are not present

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 Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)

It's not that bad!!!

This animated film version of the classic George Orwell novel, Animal Farm, is faithful to the book's story. After reading Animal Farm, I watched this movie which was a colorized version of the story. This film is ahead of it's time in 1954 so you have to understand that the quality may not be that great and their are only two male voices offering to play all the roles which includes the wonderful Maurice Denham OBE. The story of animals who run a farm after chasing the evil, Mr. Jones away. The animals believe they can run the farm better than Mr. Jones. The problem is that Napoleon, the pig leader or big boar, takes charge and moves into Jones' house and begins breaking the rules that they were founded upon in Animal Farm. Slowly, we see the problems arose among the animals and the unhappiness, greed, and power-hungry of some versus the others.