Animal Farm 1954

Manor Farm is mismanaged by its drunken owner, Mr. Jones. The animals are voiced by Maurice Denham as all animals, while the events are presented by Gordon Heath as the Narrator. A prize pig named Old Major stirs the herd with a vision of shared rule and freedom, teaching them a revolutionary song that echoes through the stalls before he dies of a heart attack, leaving the animals hungry for change.

When Jones forgets to feed them the next morning, Major’s successor Snowball leads a brave return to the storehouse for food and then the decisive push to drive Jones off the farm. They rechristen the place Animal Farm and smash the tools of oppression that had kept them in fear. The animals decide against living in the empty farmhouse, though Napoleon—a Saddleback boar—harbors a private interest, secretly raising a litter of puppies to serve as attack dogs while he indulges in Jones’s jam storage.

On the barn wall, the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted, with the banner principle declared as “All animals are equal.” The colony learns to cooperate, reaping plenty of food and stronger community, yet the pigs—led by Napoleon and his sly second-in-command, Squealer—avoid physical labor and claim leadership and special foods, such as milk, by virtue of their brainwork. As winter tightens its grip, Snowball calls a meeting to promise electric power, arguing it will come with harder work and stricter rations in the meantime, a plan Napoleon vocally opposes. When the majority sides with Snowball, Napoleon unleashes his dogs to drive Snowball from the farm, then proclaims himself leader and undermines any future policy discussions, presenting Snowball’s windmill plan as his own.

Work on the windmill becomes the central project, with Boxer the steadfast workhorse and Benjamin the cautious donkey shouldering long hours while the pigs enjoy greater luxuries. Tensions rise when Boxer and Benjamin discover the pigs sleeping on beds in the farmhouse, prompting a subtle rewrite of a Commandment from “No animal shall sleep in a bed” to “No animal shall sleep in a bed WITH SHEETS.” Napoleon then starts trading some hens’ eggs for jam from a local trader, Mr. Whymper, without the hens’ consent, sparking a revolt among the hens that is crushed by Napoleon’s dogs. A show trial follows, where the hens, a sheep, and a duck are forced to confess dissent; they are executed while their blood is used to alter the Commandment again, changing it to “No animal shall kill another animal WITHOUT CAUSE.” The abolition of Beasts of England signals the supposed completion of the revolution, as the farm grows increasingly insular and controlled.

When neighboring farmers envy Mr. Whymper’s profits, they attack Animal Farm, but the animals repel the assault, paying a heavy price in casualties. Jones returns briefly in a drunken frenzy and literally blows up the windmill with himself inside. The farm must rebuild the windmill, and Boxer’s injuries and advancing age push him toward retirement. Napoleon orders a van to remove Boxer, a move Benjamin recognizes as being connected to Whymper’s glue factory; the animals’ attempts to rescue him fail. Squealer delivers a sham tribute, claiming Boxer’s last words glorified Napoleon, a lie that the animals see through even as their protests are silenced by the snarling dogs. That night the pigs toast Boxer’s memory with whisky they had traded for his life.

Years pass, and Napoleon builds a cult of personality, extending the farm’s influence to neighboring pig-dominated holdings. The animals—now emaciated and overworked—discover that the commandments have been condensed into a single grim slogan: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Benjamin spies on a dinner party where Napoleon is applaud for his triumph, and the future of pig-run farms everywhere seems assured. As the animals grow hungrier and more aware of the deception, Benjamin rallies the others to confront the betrayal. In a final confrontation, they storm the farmhouse while the dogs are too drunk to intervene; the animals break in, shattering the illusion, and the farm’s power structure collapses in a brutal turn of events that reveals the humans’ and pigs’ shared willingness to rule by fear.