This film, starring John Hurt and Richard Burton, earns rave reviews from fans saying that it's a faithful adaptation of the classic novel. Eerie, gritty and worth a watch—after you've finished reading the book, of course.
After Orwell's death, the story goes, the CIA obtained the film rights to Animal Farm from his widow and quietly funded this anti-totalitarian film. Like the novel, this animated movie is grim and foreboding. Despite the cartoon animals, it is NOT kid-friendly—they kill Boxer, for crying out loud!
This first attempt at a film adaptation of the book is apparently not as good as the later version. We're just letting you know that it's out there.
This British documentary looks at Orwell's world at the time that he wrote his grim vision of a future dystopia. It features archival footage of world leaders at the time such as Winston Churchill and Benito Mussolini.
This is a British film version of Orwell's bleakly comic novel by the same name. It is a charming and entertaining approach to one of Orwell's lesser-known works. It came out in the U.S. under the title "The Merry War."
The good people at the Hallmark channel decided to take on political satire, and the results are about what you'd expect. This made-for-television movie is horrifically cheesy. We personally find it very difficult to take talking animals seriously—makes us think of Babe and Charlotte's Web. If we ever hear that you watched this movie instead of reading the book, you are officially disinvited from Shmoop.