| Watership Down | |
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Poster for Watership Down, depicting Bigwig in a snare |
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| Directed by | Martin Rosen John Hubley (uncredited) |
| Produced by | Martin Rosen |
| Written by | Martin Rosen |
| Story by | Richard Adams (Novel) |
| Narrated by | Michael Hordern |
| Starring | John Hurt Richard Briers Michael Graham Cox Simon Cadell Harry Andrews Zero Mostel |
| Music by | Angela Morley Malcolm Williamson |
| Editing by | Terry Rawlings |
| Studio | Nepenthe Productions |
| Distributed by | Cinema International Corporation (UK/AUS) Avco Embassy Pictures (US) Warner Bros. (US Home Media) |
| Release date(s) | 19 October 1978 (UK) |
| Running time | 90 minutes for Nepenthe Productions, 92 minutes for Warner Home Video. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3,838,808 |
Watership Down is a 1978 English adventure drama animated film written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the book by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions. Originally released on 19 October 1978 the film was an immediate success and it became the sixth most popular film of 1979 at the British box office.[1]
It featured the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear, among others, and was the last film appearance of Zero Mostel, as the voice of Kehaar the gull.
Art Garfunkel's British No. 1 hit, "Bright Eyes", which was written by the British singer and songwriter Mike Batt, was also included. The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson.
Contents |
Watership Down opens with a narrated prologue establishing the Lapine culture and mythology, describing the creation of the world and its animals by "Lord Frith" (the name of their god), including the rabbits' leader, Prince "El-ahrairah". All of the animals are friendly, and eat grass, but the rabbits soon multiply and overwhelm the other animals. When Frith warns El-ahrairah to control his people, the prince scoffs at his warning; in retaliation, Frith gives each non-rabbit a gift, turning some of them into predators that hunt down and kill the rabbits. However, Frith also gifts the rabbits with speed and cunning; many creatures may seek to kill El-ahrairah and his descendants, but the rabbits may survive by their wits and their quickness.
The film then switches from a stylized narrative to realistic animation, set in the English countryside of Sandleford. Fiver, a young runt rabbit with prophetic abilities, foresees the end of his peaceful rabbit warren and asks others to leave with him. Fiver and his older brother, Hazel, attempt to persuade their chief rabbit to have the warren evacuated and moved elsewhere, but they are dismissed, and attempt to recruit individuals instead. The group meets resistance from the warren's police force, or Owsla, but eight manage to fight and escape: Fiver, Hazel, the burly ex-Owsla officer Bigwig, the cunning Blackberry, the smallest rabbit Pipkin, storyteller and runner Dandelion, the elder Silver, and the only female, Violet. They travel stealthily through the woods, close to many predators, but make it to a covered bean field to rest for the night; however, in the morning, as she attempts to feed nearby, Violet is killed by a Buzzard.
After crossing a road and a river (using a floating piece of driftwood), evading a hunting dog, and escaping from a rat-infested cemetery, the hungry band meets a rabbit named Cowslip, who invites them for much-needed food to his warren of strange but friendly rabbits. The group is content and grateful for shelter, but Fiver senses something terribly wrong and leaves in a fit. As Bigwig follows him, taunting his bizarre behavior, he is caught in a snare trap; Fiver attempts to get help from Cowslip and his warren, but he is dismissed. As the rabbits frantically dig to free Bigwig, he collapses. As the rabbits mourn him, Fiver admonishes them. The warren is fed by a farmer who occasionally snares rabbits in return for his food and protection from predators. After this revelation, Bigwig miraculously awakens; on Fiver's advice, the band moves on with new respect for the seer's wisdom.
The rabbits discover Nuthanger farm, which contains a hutch of female rabbits. Hazel realizes that females will be needed to begin a new warren, but the rabbits are forced to leave by the appearance of the farm's cat and dog. Hazel promises to return, and the rabbits set off again. They are unexpectedly found by the Sandleford's Owsla Captain, Holly, who is injured and at the point of death. He recounts the destruction of the Sandleford warren that Fiver foresaw, and collapses after mentioning a warren called Efrafa. After he recovers, Fiver soon leads the group to the high hill he envisioned, Watership Down, where the rabbits discover empty burrows suitable to live in.
They settle in, developing their own warren, with Hazel informally recognized as Chief Rabbit. They befriend an acerbic injured seagull, Kehaar, who offers to survey the local area for females. Meanwhile, the rabbits return to Nuthanger farm to free the does, but as they make their escape, Hazel is shot by a farmhand and presumed dead; however, Fiver, following a vision, returns to the farm to discover Hazel still alive. Kehaar returns, and while removing buckshot pellets from Hazel's leg, reports of Efrafa, an over-large warren which may have females. Holly, who knows of Efrafa, begs them not to go there, describing it as a highly militarized and totalitarian state; however, Hazel, recovered from his injury, feels they have no choice but to seek does there. Bigwig decides to infiltrate the colony: He impresses the Chief Rabbit, the cold-hearted General Woundwort, who makes him an Owsla officer. In time, Bigwig recruits several would-be escapees to his cause, including Hyzenthlay, an outspoken, rebellious doe, and Blackavar, a persistently attempted escapee permanently scarred as a public deterrent. After one morning's feeding (or silflay), they escape, with Woundwort and the Efrafan Owsla in hot pursuit. Aided by a timely airborne attack by Kehaar during a lightning storm and their use of a boat off a river bank (echoing their earlier use of driftwood), the group manages to escape and return home.
However, their relief is short-lived: Efrafan trackers discover their trail several days later, following them to Watership Down and laying siege upon the warren, with the General himself planning to recapture the escapees. Hazel confronts and tries to reason with Woundwort, offering an alliance of "free and independent warrens"; after appearing surprisingly intrigued, Woundwort abruptly dismisses him, ordering Hazel to "tell Bigwig" to unconditionally surrender. It is then that Hazel decides to fight: upon his return, the Watership rabbits hole themselves up inside their own warren and are soon besieged by the Efrafans. In all the commotion, Fiver slips into a trance in which he envisions "a dog loose in the woods" from their earlier travels. His moans scare the Efrafans, but inspire Hazel: to free the dog from Nuthanger and lead him to the warren to attack them. He again escapes, this time with Blackberry, Dandelion and the doe Hyzenthlay, whom Woundwort ignores, intent on finding Bigwig.
On their way, Hazel prays to Frith, offering his life for the life of the warren, a bargain Frith reveals he cannot accept: "What is, is what must be." Upon their arrival, Hazel proceeds to chew through the dog's leash, after which he is pounced on by the cat, but is rescued by the farmer's daughter. His companions, chosen for their running ability, bait the dog in relay fashion into following them uphill to Watership Down. When the Efrafans finally break through the warren's defenses, Woundwort jumps in first; Blackavar attacks him, but Woundwort easily overwhelms and kills him. Woundwort is soon ambushed by Bigwig, and the two fight to near exhaustion; when Woundwort asks why he will not surrender, Bigwig defies him: "My chief's told me to defend this run." Woundwort, who had always assumed Bigwig was chief, hesitates as he imagines a rabbit even larger than the formidable Bigwig in charge of the warren. As he wonders, the farm dog arrives, led to the warren by Hyzenthlay; the dog goes into a blood-rage and quickly kills the Efrafan rabbits standing guard outside the warren. Hearing their screams, the General abandons Bigwig and emerges from the warren; as the dog sees him, he runs to attack Woundwort, who in turn fearlessly leaps to confront the dog. Later, no trace of the General is found, and his memory becomes a ghost story used by rabbit parents to frighten their children into obedience. The rabbits of Watership Down are safe at last.
The epilogue shows the thriving warren several years later. As stories are told of the warren's early exploits, a tired, elderly Hazel attempts to silflay when he is visited by a shadowy rabbit, eventually revealed as The Black Rabbit of Inle. He invites Hazel to join his Owsla, assuring him of Watership Down's perpetual safety. Reassured, Hazel agrees; he falls asleep on the grass and peacefully passes away. In a reprise of other mystical scenes in the film, Hazel discards his body and freely follows the Black Rabbit through the woodland and trees towards the sun—which metamorphoses into Frith—and into the afterlife:
| “ | All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you: digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed. | ” |
The film was originally to be directed by John Hubley, who died in 1977. His work can still be found in the film, most notably in the "fable" scene. He was replaced by Martin Rosen, his directorial debut.
After the genesis story rendered in a narrated simple cartoon fashion, the animation style changes to a detailed, naturalist one, with concessions to render the animals anthropomorphic only to suggest they have human voices and minds, some facial expressions for emotion and paw gestures. The animation backgrounds are watercolours. Only one of the predators, the farm cat, is given a few lines, the rest remaining mute.
The backgrounds and locations, especially Efrafa and the nearby railway, are based to the diagrams and maps in Richard Adams's book. Most of the locations in this movie either exist or were based on real spots in Hampshire and surrounding areas.
Although the film was fairly faithful to the novel, several changes were made to the storyline, mainly to decrease overdetailed complexity and improve pace and flow of the plot. In addition, the order in which some events occur is re-arranged. Unlike many animated features, the film faithfully emulated the dark and violent sophistication of the book. As a result, many reviewers took to warning parents that children might find the content disturbing.
This attitude extended to when the animated Watership Down TV series was marketed with the producers making an effort to reassure parents that the violence was softened and that the main characters would not be permanently harmed in their adventures.
Some marketers in the U.S. were also worried that the main promotional poster (see above) appeared too dark and might scare some children. The poster is actually showing Bigwig in a snare (his distinctive hair is clearly visible), and the image on the poster does not appear in the film, which has a far bloodier depiction of the scene.
This was the first film to feature both John Hurt and Nigel Hawthorne. Both later starred together in two other animated features, The Plague Dogs (which was also based on a Richard Adams book), and The Black Cauldron. John Hurt and Richard Briers (who played Hazel and Fiver, respectively, in the film) later returned to voice General Woundwort and the new character, Captain Broom, respectively in the 1999 TV series remake.
| Hazel | John Hurt | rabbit |
| Fiver | Richard Briers | rabbit |
| Bigwig | Michael Graham Cox | rabbit |
| Holly | John Bennett | rabbit |
| Chief Rabbit | Ralph Richardson | rabbit |
| Blackberry | Simon Cadell | rabbit |
| Silver | Terence Rigby | rabbit |
| Pipkin | Roy Kinnear | rabbit |
| Dandelion | Richard O'Callaghan | rabbit |
| Cowslip | Denholm Elliott | rabbit |
| Kehaar | Zero Mostel | Black-headed Gull |
| General Woundwort | Harry Andrews | rabbit |
| Campion | Nigel Hawthorne | rabbit |
| Hyzenthlay | Hannah Gordon | rabbit |
| Blackavar | Clifton Jones | rabbit |
| Chervil/Vervain | Derek Griffiths | rabbit |
| Lord Frith | Michael Hordern | Deity |
| Black Rabbit | Joss Ackland | Deity |
The musical score was by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson, Morley replacing Williamson after the composer had fallen behind and only composed the prelude and main title theme in sketch form.[2] A list of the musical cues for the film can be found on the composer's website, which also gives information about the different composers working on the project.[3]
The soundtrack included Art Garfunkel's British No. 1 hit, "Bright Eyes", which was written by the British singer and songwriter Mike Batt (although in a different arrangement from the one released as a single). Batt also wrote other songs for the film which were not used. The composer recorded three songs with vocals by Garfunkel, but only "Bright Eyes" made it to the film. The song "When You're Losing Your Way in the Rain" has a very similar feeling and arrangement, and was recorded by the former Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone in 1979. Garfunkel's version was heard years later, on the TV series soundtrack released in 2000. The song, like many others which appeared on the TV soundtrack, was never used in the show.
Another song, "Watership Down", was written by Gerry Beckley of America for use as the theme song. It was never used, but the band recorded it for their 1976 album, Hideaway. An alternative mix can be found on the box set Highway.
The film has received a generally positive critical reception, with an 81% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 67% from select critics.[4] The film was nominated for Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1979. In 2004, the magazine Total Film named Watership Down the 47th greatest British film of all time and it was also ranked 15th in the "100 Greatest Tearjerkers".
A picture book of the animated film was also produced, titled The Watership Down Film Picture Book. Two editions of the book were published, one a hard-cover, the other a reinforced cloth-bound edition. The contents include stills from the film linked with a combination of narration and extracts from the script, as well as a preface written by Richard Adams and a foreword written by Martin Rosen.
Theatrical:
UK: Cinema International Corporation
Australia: CIC Australia
US: Avco Embassy Pictures
Netherlands: Concorde Film
Finland: Suomi-Filmi
Video/DVD:
UK: Guild Home Video (1987)/PolyGram Video (1990s)
USA/internationally: Warner Home Video (1990–present)
Finland: Finn Innovation Products (1995) / Future Film Ltd (2005)
Australia: CIC Video (1980s-1999)/Roadshow Home Video (1999–2000)/Blue Sky Video (2005)
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