Animal Farm (1999 film)

Please do not use {{Infobox television film}} directly. See the documentation for available templates. Animal Farm is a made for TV film version of the 1945 George Orwell novel of the same name. The film tells the story of how the animals of a farm successfully revolt against its human owner, only to slide into a more brutal tyranny among themselves. It was released in 1999 by Hallmark Films.

Plot

With a huge downpour of rain washing away a large structure, Jessie, a Border Collie narrates how the animals have been in hiding from Napoleon and his spies but are now ready to come out of hiding. She then begins to tell how they came to be in this situation.

Mr. Pilkington drives a cart with his wife and two sons through Mr. Jones' farm to return his horse. Mr. Jones invites him to a gathering he is hosting, also wishing to talk about his debts with Mr. Pilkington who brushes him off saying that he could just sell him his farm. Jessie informs the horse that there will be a meeting for the animals that night. At the meeting, the pig Old Major incites the animals to revolt against man and to take control of the farm for themselves, calling for a life of equality and prosperity. Old Major then teaches them the song "Beasts of the World"; hearing the animals, Mr. Jones goes to investigate but ends up slipping in the mud, accidentally firing his shotgun and killing Old Major.

The next day Mr. Jones goes drinking without feeding the animals. Once returning home he still does not feed them, which leads to the animals breaking into the feed room. The animals then rebel against Jones and drive him off the farm. The pig Snowball is looked on as a leader and learns to read and write and he renames the farm Animal Farm. Snowball then writes the Seven Commandments of Animalism which embody Old Major's feelings, while Napoleon calls for a secret meeting in which he has dogs swear loyalty to him and become part of the animal guard.

Mr. Pilkington leads an attack on the farm, but Snowball has planned for this and the animals launch a counter-attack, fending the men off. Snowball makes plans to build a windmill to better the animals' lives, however Napoleon thinks it is a waste of time. When the animals vote in favor of Snowball, Napoleon calls on the animal guard, recognized by Jessie as her puppies, to attack him. Snowball escapes with his life, but Napoleon declares him a traitor, as well as claiming that the windmill was actually his idea. He goes on declare that there will be no more public meetings and that a committee of pigs will decide all aspects of the farm. The animals begin the hard work of building the windmill and Mr. Pilkington hears over the microphone planted in the barn that the pigs can speak English, deciding that if they can talk then they can trade. Napoleon's assistant, Squealer, starts altering the commandments in the night and Napoleon starts trading with Mr. Pilkington. Wanting revenge on the animals, Mr. Jones blows the windmill up with dynamite. Napoleon blames it on Snowball, declaring a death sentence against him.

Squealer begins making propaganda films about Napoleon showing animals on trial for working with Snowball that are sentenced to death, as well as animals supposedly happy with Napoleon's rule. In the rebuilding of the windmill, Boxer the horse is injured and Squealer informs them that Boxer will be sent to hospital. When the time comes for him to be transported the animals realizes that the van is from the glue factory and that Boxer is to be slaughtered. Squealer delivers a phony speech claiming it to be untrue. Later that night Jessie watches a meeting between Napoleon and Mr. Pilkington and cannot tell the difference between them. Realising that Napoleon now essentially fills Jones' shoes, she decides the animals should leave while they still can. As they leave a film plays, with ducks and sheep singing the greatness of Napoleon, and shows Napoleon standing on two legs wearing a suit, declaring they will build weapons and walls.

Back in the present day Jessie narrates how they have waited for Napoleon's rule to come to an end. Flooding from a storm causes a wall to collapse, and the animal refugees are able to return to the farm. They find it derelict and largely abandoned. Napoleon has fallen; "a victim of his own madness." Some survived the fall of Napoleon's regime, however; Jessie's puppies, free from Napoleon's lies, emerge from the ruins and return to her. In the closing scene, Jessie is shown sitting in the sun, surrounded by her puppies, while the new owners, a blond couple with two blond children arrive at the farm in a white convertible Jaguar. The music from the car radio, Fats Domino singing "Blueberry Hill," plays as Jessie vows: "We will not allow them to make the same mistakes. We will rebuild the farm, and now at last, we shall be free."

Production

Filming began on August 25, 1998 and ending on November 6. Because of the extensive CGI work and other post-production requirements, the film was not delivered to TNT and Hallmark Entertainment until June 1999.

14 animals were built to represent the animals of Animal Farm at Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London: four pigs (Old Major, Snowball, Napoleon and Squealer), two horses (Boxer and Mollie), a sheepdog (Jessie), a donkey (Benjamin), a raven (Moses), a goat (Muriel), a sheep, a rat, a chicken and a duck.

Cast

Cast	Character	Notes
Kelsey Grammer	Snowball	(voice)
Patrick Stewart	Napoleon	(voice)
Ian Holm	Squealer	(voice)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	Mollie	(voice)
Julia Ormond	Jessie	(voice)
Pete Postlethwaite	Farmer Jones/Benjamin
Paul Scofield	Boxer	(voice)
Peter Ustinov	Old Major	(voice)
Alan Stanford	Farmer Pilkington

External links

• Animal Farm at IMDb