Animal Farm [1955]

Customer Reviews:

Political Satire in Cartoon Form.......2007-05-23

The animation of this low budget 1954 British cartoon Film isn't in the same league as Disney's extravaganza's of the same period.
But what it lacks in polish it more then makes up for in substance.
~~~~
The long suffering animals of Manor Farm have finally had enough of farmer Jones's abuses,and launch a revolution.
Driving him out,and off the farm.
But for the animals this is the start of something much worse.
~~~~
George Orwell(a Democratic Socialist)and life long member of the Independent Labour party,wrote this Anti-Stalinist Allergory not as a satire against Marxism(Orwell agreed with many of Marx's policies,and respected Lenin.)but about the corruption of the Stanlinist years.
Millions of ordinary Russian's suffered and perished under his tyranny.
To Help people whom may have not read this excellent book.
Here's a list of the Main characters,and whom they represent.

Farmer Jones = Nicolas 2nd of Russia.
Napoleon = Stalin.
Snowball = Trotsky.
Napoleon's personal bodygaurd = The K.G.B.
Squealer = Pravda.
Boxer = A tragic Avatar of the Russian working class.
Benjamin = Russian Jews.
Old Major = A mixture of Lenin & Marx.
Mr Fredrick = Adolf Hitler.
Mr Pilkington = The UK & US.
~~~~
When Napoleon replaces the song,"Beasts of England" with the deliberately inane "Animal Farm",this is meant to reflect when Stanlin replaced
"The Internationale" with the "Hymn of the Soviet Union".
The ending of the film is much more upbeat then the Novel as it has the Animals revolting against Napoleon's regime.
But as what's happened to the Soviet Union since 1989,I'd say the Film is more accurate.
The royalties from the book gave Mr Orwell a comfortable living for the rest of his life.
First published UK 17/8/45,US 26/8/46.
Time Magazine has had this Novel in it's all time 100 best books since published.
A Good Film and Book.Strongly Recommended.

Some films are more equal than others.......2006-06-05

'Animal Farm' was never intended to be a novel for children. This animated interpretation is true to this and is certainly not a film for young children.
Ground-breaking when it first appeared, this classic retains great strength from the presentation of the key characters - Napoleon, Snowball, Boxer and Old Major with his Churchillian delivery.
If you want to know what Orwell wanted to say then you have to read his book. The producers of this film had to make a compromise with the ending, one that they probably would not have made if making the film now, and however understandable the reasons for the change are, it does detract from the overall morality of the tale.
In its own right this is an excellent film. Buy it, absorb it and put it on a high shelf where young children can't reach it!

a dark classic.......2005-03-23

Any child with a sensitivity to animals would find the violence in this 1955 groundbreaking British animated feature very disturbing; many of the farm animals suffer terrible cruelty at the hands of both Farmer Jones and the pigs that succeed him, so parents should use care and discernment since sometimes this film is represented as a "cartoon".
The script is based on George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and retains much of its brilliance, and is narrated by Gordon Heath, with character actor Maurice Denham speaking all the animal parts.

Orwell wrote "Animal Farm" with the Stalinist Soviet Union in mind, but the tale could apply to any totalitarian regime, many which start with the socialistic "one for all-all for one" idealism and propaganda. The animation is fairly simple compared to what one is used to today, but the images are powerful, and very moving. The plight of Boxer the horse and his devoted friend Benjamin the donkey is wrenching, and beautifully drawn.
The sound effects are also excellent, as well as the score by Matyas Siber, which has some songs that imitate the Soviet military style, with one of them cleverly vocalized by animal sounds.

This film is now in public domain, and there are some DVDs issued at a rock bottom price, which don't include the extras; I have one that has a fairly good transfer, with an adequate (considering the price) color reproduction of its Technicolor hues.
Directed by Jay Batchelder and John Halas, this was Britain's first feature length animated film, and is a classic, but too dark and upsetting for young children. Total running time is 73 minutes.

What a shame.......2003-12-21

It's a real shame. I wanted to enjoy this conversion of Animal Farm to television, I really did. Unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations.

The narrative of the story is substantially altered to convert it into a film, and this detracts massively, both from your enjoyment of it, and from the message that the film portrays. It doesn't have the sociological edge that the book does, and doesn't leave you with the same sense of haveing had your eyes opened to reality.

Customer Reviews:

The Film Dosn't Even Come Close To The Book.......2003-07-15

Animal farm is an adult fable showing the flaws of democracy using satire through farmyard animals however George Orwell's novel has been brought to life through film in the form of a cartoon therefore lowering the age it is aimed at overall appealing to both young children and adults.

A wicked drunkard called Mr Jones runs manor farm. One night, Old Major (the oldest and wisest animal on the farm) calls a meeting to tell the animals of the terrible conditions that they live in and how it could become a utopia if a rebellion were to be led. At the end of the meeting old major dies and the rebellion is led just two days later. Jones tries to take back the farm many times, but always fails. The pigs seem to represent the leaders of the Russian revolution. Boxer is portrayed as the ordinary working people and Farmer Jones as the tsars. The farms next to animal farm (represented as Russia) are pinch field and fox wood. Pinch field is representing Germany and fox wood represents England. This is so because Russia double-crossed England and Germany. The story has many twists and turns and even turns from a communism to a democracy and back again.

There are a lot of differences between the book and the film. The film has left a few main characters out like Mollie who was seen talking to a farmer from a neighbouring farm. Mollie is an important character because she represents the working people of Russia who could not get used to the new living conditions faced at them. I think this is a shame, as it does not put across the view of the ordinary people as well in the film. Also a lot of key events are missed out like the formation of the leadership of the pigs along with numerous others. The book leaves the ending open and the film tries to wrap it up but fails miserably. I would much preferred to have seen the rest of the film done properly then a bad ending to a bad film based on a BRILLIANT novel. The film does the book no justice and if I were you I would get your nose stuck in and read this classic novel instead of watch this boring, dull film which pulls the book down with it.

Good ideas can turn out bad in the wrong hands.......2001-11-11

This is a very good film, but maybe not meant for children. It is a story about how the animals on a farm takes charge over the farm when the farmer dose not treat them as he should. All the ideas are in good intention at first untill one of the pigs(Napoleon) desides that he could proffit on all the others if he can get them to belive that it is all for the best of the farm.
All in all what was a very good idea turnes into a comunist "camp" where the pigs are the upper class and all the other animals are the working class.
This film shows in a diferent way how comuniem workes and how many fail to see it before it is to late.

Animals Good DVD Bad.......2001-10-22

There's no getting away from the fact that this is a beautiful animated version of the novel - in rich 1950s animation. However the 1 star is for the DVD release which has not had a good transfer from VHS. Secondly, it DOESN'T include the Toon Time 30 minute behind the scenes that went out on the video version. This MISSING extra featured all the animator's earlier works, original sketches and intereviews with the makers, etc. A cheap semi-skimmed version of a classic. SHame.

Average customer rating:

The Film Dosn't Even Come Close To The Book
Good ideas can turn out bad in the wrong hands
Animals Good DVD Bad

Animal Farm [1955]
Starring: Gordon Heath , and Maurice Denham
Director: Joy Batchelor , and John Halas
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005IBB4
Release Date: 2001-06-25

Customer Reviews:

The Film Dosn't Even Come Close To The Book.......2003-07-15

Good ideas can turn out bad in the wrong hands.......2001-11-11

Animals Good DVD Bad.......2001-10-22

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