Animal Farm (1954)
Director:
John Halas and Joy Batchelor
Notable Cast: Maurice Denham

Funded by the CIA at the height of the Cold War, this adaptation made several changes to the novella’s story in order to suggest that the Stalinist regime of the pigs is much worse than the capitalist regime of Mr. Jones. The movie ends with the other animals, lead by Benjamin, taking back control of the farm.

Animal Farm (1999)
Director: John Stephenson
Notable Cast: Kelsey Grammer, Ian Holm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Patrick Stewart, Julia Ormond, Paul Scofield, Pete Postlethwaite, Peter Ustinov

This adaptation is narrated by Mr. Jones’s dog, Jessie, and it ends with Napoleon’s Farm in ruins. Otherwise, it is faithful to the events of the novella, although critics found it a simplistic version of Orwell’s story.