''Animal Farm'' is a 1954

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

directed by animators

John Halas John Halas (born János Halász;Brian McFarlane ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'', London: Methuen/BFI, 2003, p.48 16 April 1912 – 21 January 1995) was a pioneering British animator. Together with Gyula Macskássy (an acquaintance from Sá ...

and

Joy Batchelor Joy Ethel Batchelor (12 May 1914 – 14 May 1991) was an English animator, director, screenwriter, and producer. She married John Halas in 1940 and subsequently co-established Halas and Batchelor cartoons, whose best known production is the anim ...

. It was produced by

Halas and Batchelor Halas and Batchelor was a British animation company founded by husband and wife John Halas and Joy Batchelor. Halas was a Hungarian émigré to the United Kingdom. The company had studios in London and Cainscross, in the Stroud District of Glouces ...

and funded in part by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA), who also made changes to the original movie script. It was based on the 1945 novel of the same name by

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

. Although the film was a financial failure and took 15 years to generate a profit, it quickly became a staple in classrooms across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and other English-speaking countries like Australia, Canada, and New Zealand into the 1980s. The film rights for a film adaptation of ''Animal Farm'' were bought from Orwell's widow after she was approached by agents working for the

Office of Policy Coordination The Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) was the covert operation wing of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Created as a department of the CIA in 1948, it actually operated independently until October 1950. OPC existed until 1 A ...

(OPC), a branch of the CIA that dealt with the use of culture to combat communism.

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Family Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son ...

provided the voice for all the animals in the film.

Plot

Manor Farm is mismanaged by its drunken owner, Mr. Jones. Prize pig

Old Major Major (also called Willingdon Beauty, his name used when showing) is the first major character described by George Orwell in his 1945 novel '' Animal Farm''. An elderly Middle White boar, his "purebred" of pigs is a kind, grandfatherly philosoph ...

encourages the farm animals to oust Jones, and teaches them the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

ary song "Beasts of England" before suddenly dying. Having not been fed, the animals break into the storehouse and help themselves. They drive Jones away, rename the farm "Animal Farm", and destroy the tools of oppression that had been used against them. They decide against living in the farmhouse, though Saddleback boar

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

is interested and begins to secretly raise an abandoned litter of puppies. The Commandments of Animalism are written on a barn wall, the most important being: "All animals are equal". The farm runs smoothly and food becomes plentiful. The pigs become the leaders and claim special food items "by virtue of their brainwork". Old Major's successor

Snowball A snowball is a spherical object made from snow, usually created by scooping snow with the hands, and pressing the snow together to compact it into a ball. Snowballs are often used in games such as snowball fights. A snowball may also be a large ...

wants a windmill, while Napoleon opposes it and has his dogs chase Snowball away, denouncing him as a traitor and declaring himself leader. He abolishes farm policy meetings, appropriates all decision-making, and advances the windmill plan that he had snubbed when his rival proposed it. The pigs alter their laws. "No animal shall sleep in a bed" becomes "No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets". Napoleon negotiates with Mr. Whymper to trade the hens' eggs for jellies and jams. The hens revolt by throwing their eggs at the pigs when the pigs attempt to seize the eggs by force. To impose his will through fear, Napoleon holds a

show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...

where a sheep and a duck are accused as traitors and butchered by the dogs. Their blood is used to append to the commandment "No animal shall kill another animal" the words "without cause". Napoleon bans "Beasts of England", declaring the revolution complete and the dream of Animal Farm realised. A group of farmers attack Animal Farm and Jones blows up the windmill with himself inside. The animals win the battle at a great cost of lives.

Boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

the

workhorse A draft horse (US), draught horse (UK) or dray horse (from the Old English ''dragan'' meaning "to draw or haul"; compare Dutch ''dragen'' and German ''tragen'' meaning "to carry" and Danish ''drage'' meaning "to draw" or "to fare"), less ofte ...

, wounded, works to rebuild the windmill until he is gravely injured in an accident. Napoleon has a van take Boxer away, which

Benjamin Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

the donkey recognises as being from Whymper's

glue factory Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advant ...

. Napoleon's second-in-command Squealer delivers a sham

eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...

, claiming Boxer's last words were to glorify Napoleon. The animals see through the

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

but are driven away by the snarling dogs. The pigs toast Boxer's memory with whisky they bought with his life. Years pass and Napoleon has expanded the neighbouring farms into an enterprise. The pigs walk upright, carry whips, drink alcohol and wear clothes. The Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others". Napoleon holds a dinner party for a delegation of outside pigs, who congratulate him on having the hardest-working and lowest-consuming animals in the country. They toast a future where pigs own farms everywhere. Benjamin imagines the pigs have taken on the likeness of Mr. Jones. Acknowledging their situation is even worse than before the revolution, the animals storm the farmhouse. The guard dogs are too drunk to respond while the animals smash through the house, trample Napoleon and the pigs to death, and reclaim the farm.

Production

After George Orwell's death in 1950, his widow

Sonia Orwell Sonia Mary Brownell (25 August 1918 – 11 December 1980), better known as Sonia Orwell, was the second wife of writer George Orwell. Sonia is believed to be the model for Julia, the heroine of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. Sonia collaborated with ...

sold the film rights to ''Animal Farm'' to film executives Carleton Alsop and Farris Farr. Unbeknownst to her, they were actually undercover agents for the

, which was funding anti-communist art for E. Howard Hunt's Psychological Warfare Workshop. Hunt chose ''

The March of Time ''The March of Time'' is an American newsreel series sponsored by Time Inc. and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was based on a radio news series broadcast from 1931 to 1945. The "voice" of both series was Westbrook Van Voorhis. Pr ...

'' newsreel producer Louis de Rochemont and his production company as a

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

for the film's production. De Rochemont agreed so that he could release "frozen pounds" earned from ticket sales of his previous film ''

Lost Boundaries ''Lost Boundaries'' is a 1949 American film starring Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer (in his first leading role), and Susan Douglas Rubeš. Directed by Alfred L. Werker, it is based on William Lindsay White's story of the same title, a nonfiction ...

'', which were required to be spent on film productions staged in the United Kingdom. John Halas and Joy Batchelor were chosen as the film's directors because of their work on documentaries produced by the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

and the British Ministry of Information. The CIA also distrusted American animators and illustrators due to the

Red Scare A Red Scare is the promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism, anarchism or other leftist ideologies by a society or state. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States which ar ...

and the

Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying emplo ...

. Halas and Batchelor hired John F. Reed, the only American in the production, as animation director from The Walt Disney Studio. They also hired a team of 80 animators and technician from

The Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...

's disbanded animation division. Despite their background, Halas, Batchellor, and the film's animation crew were kept unaware that the film had been initiated and funded by the CIA.Orwell Subverted, Daniel Leab, p.11Sibley, Brian. Audio commentary on UK 2003 'Special Edition' DVD release of ''Animal Farm'' Halas and Batchelor were awarded the contract to make the feature in November 1951 and it was completed in April 1954. Animation was done in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and camera work was done in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. During the film's production De Rochemont, acting on behalf of the CIA, had the film rewritten from the original novel's plot by Philip Strapp and Lothar Wolf to end with the other animals successfully revolting against the pigs. Batchelor strongly opposed the changed ending, although Halas later defended it.

Fredric Warburg Fredric John Warburg (27 November 1898 – 25 May 1981) was a British publisher best known for his association with the author George Orwell. During a career spanning a large part of the 20th century and ending in 1971, Warburg published Orwel ...

, the original publisher of the novel and a former

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent, also served as a consultant on the film, suggesting that Old Major be given an appearance similar to

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. The CIA investors were allegedly initially greatly concerned that Snowball was presented too sympathetically in early script treatments and that Batchelor's script implied Snowball was "intelligent, dynamic, courageous". A memo declared that Snowball must be presented as a "fanatic intellectual whose plans if carried through would have led to disaster no less complete than under Napoleon." De Rochemont subsequently implemented these changes.

Release

Much of the pre-release promotion for the film in the UK focused on it being a British film instead of a product of the Hollywood studios. Scenes from ''Animal Farm'', along with the 1954 TV program ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...

'', were featured in "The Two Winstons", the final episode of

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fir ...

's program '' A History of Britain'' broadcast June 18, 2002. Four decades after the release of ''Animal Farm'', Cold War historian Tony Shaw discovered, through looking at archives of the film, that the CIA had secretly purchased the rights to the film. The CIA also altered the ending of the film so that the pigs, who represent communists, were overthrown by the other animals on the farm. When first released in 1954, the British Film Board felt the film was unsuitable for children and gave it a rating certificate of "X", prohibiting anyone younger than 18 from seeing the film. The rating has since been amended to "U" (Universal), stating the film as fit for audiences of all ages. ''Animal Farm'' was the highest-grossing animation of 1954.

Reception and legacy

Film critic C. A. Lejeune wrote at the time: "I salute ''Animal Farm'' as a fine piece of work… he production teamhave made a film for the eye, ear, heart and mind". Matyas Seiber's score and Maurice Denham's vocal talent have been praised specifically (Denham provided every voice and animal noise in the film). The animation style has been described as "Disney-turned-serious".Author unknown, "Animal Farm on the screen", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 1955. The movie holds score at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on critic reviews. Some criticism was levelled at the altered ending, with one paper reporting, "Orwell would not have liked this one change, with its substitution of commonplace propaganda for his own reticent, melancholy satire". The film took 15 years to recover its budget but earned profits in the next 5 years.

Comic strip adaptation

In 1954, Harold Whitaker, one of the film's animators, adapted the film into a comic strip published in various British regional newspapers.

In popular culture

The band

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

used an image from the film on their 45-RPM single "

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Home media

''Animal Farm'' was released on

Super 8 film Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8& ...

in the 1970s, and received several home video releases in the UK and in America. American VHS releases were produced by

Media Home Entertainment Media Home Entertainment Inc. was a home video company headquartered in Culver City, California, originally established in 1978 by filmmaker Charles Band. Media Home Entertainment also distributed video product under three additional labels — ...

Vestron Video Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1993, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market. The name is now used for a collect ...

, Avid Video, Wham! USA Entertainment, and

Burbank Video Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television se ...

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

released the film on DVD in the UK in 2003. In 2004, Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) released a 'Special Edition' DVD of the movie in the United States, including a documentary hosted by

Tony Robinson Sir Anthony Robinson (born 15 August 1946) is an English actor, author, broadcaster, comedian, presenter, and political activist. He played Baldrick in the BBC television series ''Blackadder'' and has presented several historical documentarie ...

. In 2014, a 60th-anniversary Blu-ray was released by Network Distributing in the UK only.

References

External links

''Animal Farm'' (1954)
* *
Animal Farm
' at the

TCM Movie Database Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...

* *
Short British Pathe film on the making of the cartoon

Excerpt
{{Authority control 1954 animated films 1954 films 1954 drama films Animated drama films Animated films about animals Animated films based on novels 1950s American animated films American satirical films British adult animated films British satirical films Cold War films Films based on Animal Farm Films adapted into comics 1950s satirical films Films directed by John Halas 1950s English-language films Animated films about revenge Films about pigs American adult animated films Halas and Batchelor films Films set in farms 1950s British films