Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to In The Balcony. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Plus, you'll be eligible for the monthly $1 million prize. (Not really.)

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Animal Farm (1954)
Topic Started: Jan 21 2016, 08:49 PM (426 Views)
Laughing Gravy
Member Avatar
Look for In The Balcony on Facebook!
[ *  *  * ]
Posted Image

Animal Farm (1954) Dir. John Halas & Joy Batchelor

The animals of Manor Farm, tired of mistreatment and starvation courtesy of drunken Farmer Jones, band together and rise up and expel him, working the farm themselves and vowing that "All Animals are Created Equal." Alas, some animals are more equal than others, and soon they're forced to toil even harder for less food under the hooves of Napoleon the pig and his sidekick Squealer, who maintain power thanks to a pack of vicious dogs trained by the Fearless Leader. In the end, they can't tell the pigs from the evil humans. Well, practically the end: a happy ending is tacked on 'cause, hey, this is a cartoon, folks.

This adaptation of the great, classic George Orwell novel (which I'm sure we've all read several times, right?) was the first animated feature film to be made in England - and was secretly financed by the C.I.A. Ah, that crazy Cold War.

The darn thing turns out to be well done, as least as well animated as anybody else was doing in the early 1950s, with a certain style all its own (although definitely Disneyesque). The score (by Mátyás Seiber) is very good; the animal song of revolution is creepy as hell. The film - which was produced with a LOT of input from the U.S. Gov't - doesn't whitewash the biting satire and political parable of the novel (well, not until the end, anyway). The fate of Boxer, the hardworking horse, is absolutely heartbreaking. There is humor, notably when the animals first invade Farmer Jones' house to look things over. Mostly, though, this is a serious, somber picture and hardly for small children, who'll be horrified and wonder where the cute animals are.

Million-dollar Dialog:
"By now, supervision by the pigs was hardly necessary, so they had time for less laborious pursuits."

An admirable version of the novel, all in all. It's in the public domain (I paid all of 99˘ for a perfectly acceptable copy of it) and easy to find.

"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Inspector Carr
Member Avatar
Charter Member
[ *  *  * ]
I remember Animal Farm being part of our English Class required reading list when I was in Junior High (as well as 1984) I remember this animated film very well. and yes it is not exactly made for Kiddies......I remember a live action version of the film being made for television in the late 1990's I remember enjoying it and I don't know if it ever was released on home video.

On a side note......I have always felt Orwell was way ahead of his time and 1984 is actually very prophetic and clearly saw where our society was heading......I have recently re read it and it is actually haunting seeing how society has morphed into what was once viewed as fantasy/science fiction.

the John Hurt/Richard Burton film version of it (released in ironically 1984) has grown in stature over the years and is equally haunting when I viewed it again recently.....
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The Batman
Member Avatar
Charter Member
[ *  *  * ]
Laughing Gravy
Jan 21 2016, 08:49 PM

An admirable version of the novel, all in all. It's in the public domain (I paid all of 99˘ for a perfectly acceptable copy of it) and easy to find.


Sony also released a remasterd 50th anniversary edition in 2004 that's loaded with special features:

- Scenes as told through original storyboards
- Audio commentary by film historian Brian Sibley
- Down on Animal Farm, a 30-minute BBC making-of featurette presented by Tony Robinson
- Liner notes by author and art historian Karl Cohen

Animal Farm 50th Anniversay Edition

This sounds like the edition to get. I've seen the live action version, and read the amazing book, but haven't seen this one yet. It's in the cart now.






Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
CliffClaven
Member Avatar
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
I do remember reading the book and seeing the film in grade school. I think the film was shown because it was one of the few "entertainment" titles in the district library and they like to toss us a treat now and then. Silents were represented by "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", and cartoons by "Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land", Goofy on good driving, and a WWII-vintage short about vaccinations (the one with pudgy blood cells battling spiderlike viruses).

In junior high they splurged and rented a couple of features for the 7th graders to watch while the 8th graders were doing pre-graduation stuff: What looked like a 30s version of Tom Sawyer, and, inexplicably, "Damn the Defiant." The latter film was mostly beyond our comprehension or interest, aside from a sailor being ordered to eat a biscuit full of maggots.

Now my sister-in-law shows her fifth grade classes "Johnny Tremain." Spoiled kids. But I digress.

The animated movie deprived all the animals of speech except the pigs. It also left out dealings with the neighboring farms, which represented some of Russia's real neighbors. The book ends with the human farmers at the table with the pigs, and the two species are presented as interchangeable tyrants. The movie keeps its outrage focused on the pigs. More efficient storytelling, but in hindsight I suspect that was an ideological choice as well.

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Pa Stark
Charter Member
[ *  *  * ]
Inspector Carr, you have it exactly correct. I have said that these two books by Orwell are the most important books you can read. Amazing how many terms Orwell used in 1984, have become part of the English language. "Big Brother," "The thought police," etc.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
CliffClaven
Member Avatar
Balcony Gang, Foist Class
[ *  *  * ]
The other future fiction that had an impact was Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World". Where Orwell envisioned Soviet-style oppression worldwide, Huxley offered a mock paradise where sex, drugs, and indoctrination via sleep learning kept society humming.

Humans were bred into different social/physical/mental classes and trained to love their place in society. Old age was almost unknown as everybody died before aging got ugly. Anyone who was too smart or inquisitive got packed off to distant camps, where the climate was lousy but they communed freely with similarly smart people.

It was published in 1932, but a lot of it feels like direct commentary on the 50s or 60s. I recall it was done for television, but the promo pics showing cheesy "futuristic" sets and costumes weren't encouraging.

Years later, Huxley did a book of factual essays titled "Brave New World Revisited." One that stuck described psychological indoctrination methods used by some communist regimes; it stuck with me because it mirrored what the Unification Church was doing years later, and I suspect other major cults are doing even now. Another chapter described how savvy first-world marketers appealed to third-world consumers by surrounding their product with religious iconography in their promotional calendars -- talk about celebrity endorsements.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Pa Stark
Charter Member
[ *  *  * ]
1984 is alive and thriving on many college campuses. Many professors try to indoctrinate students, student's free speech is crushed if it doesn't conform to the views of certain students. What is sad is UC Berkeley was home to the Free Speech Movement in the mid 60's, now guest speakers are shouted down for daring to think differently.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The Batman
Member Avatar
Charter Member
[ *  *  * ]

Pa, I agree with you about Orwell's books, two must reads for any rational, free-thinking individual.

Unfortunately, these days of PC-correctness and social media bullying have rendered the above a radical or moot point.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · Name that 'toon! · Next Topic »
Add Reply