Halas & Batchelor. Director John Halas, Joy Batchelor, (animation) John F. Reed; Producer John Halas, Joy Batchelor; Writer Lothar Wolff, Borden Mace, Philip Stapp, John Halas, Joy Batchelor; Camera S.G. Griffiths, J. Gurr, W. Traylor, R. Turk; Music Matyas Seiber
Human greed, selfishness and conniving are lampooned in Animal Farm with the pigs behaving in a pig-like manner and the head pig, named Napoleon, corrupting and perverting an honest revolt against evil social conditions into a new tyranny as bad as, and remarkably similar to, the old regime. In short, this cartoon feature [from the novel by George Orwell] is a sermon against all that is bestial in politics and rotten in the human will to live in luxury at the expense of slaves.
Made in Britain, the cartoon is vividly realized pictorially. The musical score, the narration, the sound effects and the editing all are of impressive imaginative quality.
(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1954. Running time: 72 MIN.
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