Animal Farm (1955 film)
| Animal Farm | |
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Poster
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| Directed by |
John Halas Joy Batchelor |
| Produced by | John Halas Joy Batchelor |
| Written by | Joy Batchelor John Halas Borden Mace Philip Stapp Lothar Wolff |
| Based on |
Animal Farm by George Orwell |
| Starring | Maurice Denham |
| Narrated by | Gordon Heath |
| Music by | Mátyás Seiber |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Distributors Corporation of America |
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Release date
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Running time
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72 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $350,000 |
Animal Farm is a 1954 British-American adult animated drama film by Halas and Batchelor, based on the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. It was the first British animated feature (Water for Firefighting and Handling Ships, two feature length wartime training films, were produced earlier, but did not receive a formal cinema release). The US CIA paid for the filming, part of the American cultural offensive during the Cold War, and influenced how Orwell's ideas were to be presented. The CIA initially funded Louis de Rochemont to begin work on a film version of Orwell's work and he hired Halas & Batchelor, an animation firm in London that had made propaganda films for the British government.
Maurice Denham provided the voice for all the animals in the film.
Manor Farm is a formerly prosperous farm that has fallen on hard times, and suffers under the now-ineffective leadership of its aggressive and drunken owner, Mr. Jones. One night, Old Major, the prize boar and the second-oldest animal on the farm, calls all of the animals on the farm together for a meeting, where he decries their abuse and unhappiness under Jones, encouraging the animals to oust him, while emphasizing that they must hold true to their convictions after they have gained freedom. With that, he teaches the animals a revolutionary song before collapsing dead mid-song, to the animals' horror.
The next morning, Mr. Jones neglects to feed the animals for breakfast, and they decide to break into the storehouse to help themselves. When Mr. Jones wakes up and threatens them with his whip, the animals revolt and drive him away from the farm, and rename it "Animal Farm". Several of Jones' acquaintances in the surrounding village rally against them, but are beaten back after a fierce fight. The animals begin destroying every trace of the farmer's influence, starting with the weapons used against them. A subsequent investigation of the farmhouse leads them to concede against living there, though one of the head pigs, an antagonistic boar named Napoleon, takes interest in the abandoned house and in a litter of puppies left motherless, and trains them privately.
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