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Watership Down (film)
Encyclopedia
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.
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
.
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 hawk
.
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 ambush
ed 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
:
, 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.
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.
and Malcolm Williamson
, Morley replacing Williamson after the composer had fallen behind and only composed the prelude and main title theme in sketch form. 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.
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
.
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".
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)
Watership Down
Watership Down is a classic heroic fantasy novel, written by English author Richard Adams, about a small group of rabbits. Although the animals in the story live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language , proverbs, poetry, and mythology...
by Richard Adams
Richard Adams
Richard Adams was a non-conforming English Presbyterian divine, known as author of sermons and other theological writings.-Life:...
. 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.
It featured the voices of John Hurt
John Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
, Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
, Harry Andrews
Harry Andrews
Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the...
, Simon Cadell
Simon Cadell
Simon John Cadell was an English actor.Born in London, he was the grandson of the Scottish character actor Jean Cadell, the brother of the actress Selina Cadell, and the cousin of the actor Guy Siner. He was educated at Bedales School at Petersfield where his close friends included Gyles...
, Nigel Hawthorne
Nigel Hawthorne
Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...
and Roy Kinnear
Roy Kinnear
Roy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
, among others, and was the last film appearance of Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
, as the voice of Kehaar the gull.
Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
's British No. 1 hit, "Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes (Art Garfunkel song)
"Bright Eyes" is a song written by Mike Batt, and performed by Art Garfunkel. It was used in the soundtrack of the 1978 film Watership Down and as such is considered the theme song of the film and the later television series adaptations. The track also appears on Garfunkel's fourth studio album,...
", which was written by the British singer and songwriter Mike Batt
Mike Batt
Michael Philip "Mike" Batt is a British songwriter, musician, producer and Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry...
, was also included. The musical score was by Angela Morley
Angela Morley
Angela Morley was an English composer and conductor. Morley was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1924, and played saxophone in a number of dance bands, and in 1944 became a member of Geraldo's band....
and Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
.
Plot
Watership Down opens with a narrated prologue establishing the LapineLapine language
Lapine is a fictional language created by author Richard Adams for his 1972 novel Watership Down, where it is spoken by fictional rabbit characters. The fragments of language presented by Adams consist of a few dozen distinct words, and are chiefly used for the naming of rabbits, their mythological...
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
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
countryside of Sandleford. Fiver, a young runt
Runt
A runt is a smaller specimen in a group of animals, usually of offspring in a litter.Runt may also refer to:*Runt , a 1970 album by Todd Rundgren, originally credited to the band 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
Lapine language
Lapine is a fictional language created by author Richard Adams for his 1972 novel Watership Down, where it is spoken by fictional rabbit characters. The fragments of language presented by Adams consist of a few dozen distinct words, and are chiefly used for the naming of rabbits, their mythological...
, 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
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
field to rest for the night; however, in the morning, as she attempts to feed nearby, Violet is killed by a hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
.
After crossing a road and a river (using a floating piece of driftwood), evading a hunting dog, and escaping from a rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
-infested cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
, 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
Hutch (animal cage)
A hutch is a type of cage used typically for housing domestic rabbits. Other small animals can also be housed in hutches.Most hutches have a frame constructed of wood, including legs to keep the unit off the ground. The floor may be wood, wire mesh, or some combination of the two. One or more...
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
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
and dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
. 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
Watership Down, Hampshire
Watership Down is a hill, or down, at Ecchinswell in the civil parish of Ecchinswell, Sydmonton and Bishops Green in the English county of Hampshire. It rises fairly steeply on its northern flank , but to the south the slope is much gentler . .The Down is best known as the setting for Richard...
, 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
Lapine language
Lapine is a fictional language created by author Richard Adams for his 1972 novel Watership Down, where it is spoken by fictional rabbit characters. The fragments of language presented by Adams consist of a few dozen distinct words, and are chiefly used for the naming of rabbits, their mythological...
), 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
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
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
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
by the Efrafans. In all the commotion, Fiver slips into a trance
Trance
Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
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
Relay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal , or where several circuits must be controlled...
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 ambush
Ambush
An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack an unsuspecting enemy from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops...
ed 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
Ghost story
A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them. Colloquially, the term can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has...
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
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
:
Animation
The film was originally to be directed by John HubleyJohn Hubley
John Hubley was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer of traditional animation films known for both his formal experimentation and for his emotional realism which stemmed from his tendency to cast his own children as voice actors in his films.- Biography :Hubley was...
, 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
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
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
Watership Down (TV series)
Watership Down is an animated television series, adapted from the novel of the same name by Richard Adams. It was a co-production of Alltime Entertainment of the United Kingdom and Decode Entertainment of Canada, and produced by Martin Rosen, the director of the 1978 feature film...
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.
Cast
This was the first film to feature both John HurtJohn Hurt
John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
and Nigel Hawthorne
Nigel Hawthorne
Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...
. Both later starred together in two other animated features, The Plague Dogs
The Plague Dogs (film)
The Plague Dogs is a 1982 animated film based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Richard Adams. The film was written-for-screen, directed and produced by Martin Rosen, who also directed Watership Down, the film version of another novel by Adams, produced by Nepenthe Productions and released by...
(which was also based on a Richard Adams book), and The Black Cauldron
The Black Cauldron (film)
The Black Cauldron is a 1985 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and originally released to theatres on July 24, 1985...
. 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 John Hurt John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York... |
rabbit European Rabbit The European Rabbit or Common Rabbit is a species of rabbit native to south west Europe and north west Africa . It has been widely introduced elsewhere often with devastating effects on local biodiversity... |
| Fiver | Richard Briers Richard Briers Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a... |
rabbit |
| Bigwig | Michael Graham Cox Michael Graham Cox Michael Graham Cox was an English actor who voiced Boromir in the 1978 movie The Lord of the Rings, as well as voicing Boromir in the 1981 BBC radio series The Lord of the Rings. He also voiced Bigwig in the feature film Watership Down.Michael had a minor role in Richard Attenborough's A Bridge... |
rabbit |
| Holly | John Bennett John Bennett (actor) John Bennett was an English actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he was educated at Bradfield College in Berkshire, then trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, followed by a wide Rep experience including Bromley, Bristol Old Vic, Dundee, Edinburgh Festival and Watford before going to... |
rabbit |
| Chief Rabbit | Ralph Richardson Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films.... |
rabbit |
| Blackberry | Simon Cadell Simon Cadell Simon John Cadell was an English actor.Born in London, he was the grandson of the Scottish character actor Jean Cadell, the brother of the actress Selina Cadell, and the cousin of the actor Guy Siner. He was educated at Bedales School at Petersfield where his close friends included Gyles... |
rabbit |
| Silver | Terence Rigby Terence Rigby Terence Christopher Rigby was an English actor with a number of film and television credits to his name. In the 1970s he was well-known as police dog-handler PC Snow in the long-running series Softly, Softly: Taskforce... |
rabbit |
| Pipkin | Roy Kinnear Roy Kinnear Roy Mitchell Kinnear was an English character actor. He is best remembered for playing Veruca Salt's father, Mr. Salt, in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:... |
rabbit |
| Dandelion | Richard O'Callaghan Richard O'Callaghan Richard O'Callaghan is an English film, stage and television character actor.Born on 7 March 1940, he is the son of actors Patricia Hayes and Valentine Brooke whose stage name was Valentine Rooke. As a boy actor he was known as Richard Brooke. He has led a versatile career in film, stage and... |
rabbit |
| Cowslip | Denholm Elliott Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits... |
rabbit |
| Kehaar | Zero Mostel Zero Mostel Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version... |
Black-headed Gull Black-headed Gull The Black-headed Gull is a small gull which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder westernmost areas of Europe are resident... |
| General Woundwort | Harry Andrews Harry Andrews Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the... |
rabbit |
| Campion | Nigel Hawthorne Nigel Hawthorne Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the... |
rabbit |
| Hyzenthlay | Hannah Gordon Hannah Gordon Hannah Cambell Grant Gordon is a Scottish actress who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television work, including Upstairs, Downstairs, Telford's Change, My Wife Next Door, Joint Account and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave.-Early life:Gordon was born in... |
rabbit |
| Blackavar | Clifton Jones Clifton Jones Clifton Jones is an actor, mostly known for his roles on British television.His most prominent role is probably that of David Kano during the first season of the science fiction series Space: 1999.... |
rabbit |
| Chervil/Vervain | Derek Griffiths Derek Griffiths Derek Griffiths is a British actor who appeared in numerous British children's television series in the 1960s to 1980s and more recently has played parts in TV drama.- Career :... |
rabbit |
| Lord Frith | Michael Hordern Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:... |
Deity |
| Black Rabbit | Joss Ackland Joss Ackland Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE , known as Joss Ackland, is an English actor who has appeared in more than 130 films and numerous television roles.-Early life:... |
Deity |
Music
The musical score was by Angela MorleyAngela Morley
Angela Morley was an English composer and conductor. Morley was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1924, and played saxophone in a number of dance bands, and in 1944 became a member of Geraldo's band....
and Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
, Morley replacing Williamson after the composer had fallen behind and only composed the prelude and main title theme in sketch form. 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.
The soundtrack included Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
's British No. 1 hit, "Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes (Art Garfunkel song)
"Bright Eyes" is a song written by Mike Batt, and performed by Art Garfunkel. It was used in the soundtrack of the 1978 film Watership Down and as such is considered the theme song of the film and the later television series adaptations. The track also appears on Garfunkel's fourth studio album,...
", which was written by the British singer and songwriter Mike Batt
Mike Batt
Michael Philip "Mike" Batt is a British songwriter, musician, producer and Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry...
(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
Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone is an English pop singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group The Zombies, and for his participation on various albums with The Alan Parsons Project.-Biography:...
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
Gerry Beckley
Gerald Linford "Gerry" Beckley is a founding member of the band America.Beckley was born to an American father, and an English mother. He began playing the piano at the age of three and the guitar a few years later. By 1962, Beckley was playing guitar in The Vanguards, an instrumental surf music...
of America
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
for use as the theme song. It was never used, but the band recorded it for their 1976 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Hideaway. An alternative mix can be found on the box set Highway
Highway (America album)
Highway: 30 Years Of America is the third principal major label compilation album by American folk rock duo America, released by Rhino Records in 2000 . The collection represented the first boxed set release of America's material...
.
Reception
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. The film was nominated for Hugo Award for Best Dramatic PresentationHugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
in 1979. In 2004, the magazine Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
named Watership Down the 47th greatest British film of all time and it was also ranked 15th in the "100 Greatest Tearjerkers".
Picture book
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.DVD releases
- Watership Down 2-Disc Deluxe Edition (2011)
- Watership Down Deluxe Edition (region 1, USA) (7 October 2008)
- Watership Down 25th Anniversary Edition (region 4, Australia) (2003)
- Watership Down (region 1, USA, currently out of print) (2002)
International distribution
Theatrical:UK: Cinema International Corporation
Cinema International Corporation
Cinema International Corporation was a film distribution company started by Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios in the early 1970s to distribute the 2 studios' films outside the United States – it even operated in Canada before it was...
Australia: CIC Australia
Cinema International Corporation
Cinema International Corporation was a film distribution company started by Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios in the early 1970s to distribute the 2 studios' films outside the United States – it even operated in Canada before it was...
US: Avco Embassy Pictures
Netherlands: Concorde Film
Finland: Suomi-Filmi
Suomi-Filmi
Suomi-Filmi, lit. Finland-Film, is a Finnish film production and distribution company established in 1919 by Erkki Karu. Suomi-Filmi produced around 160 feature length films and for most of its history was one of the two most important film companies in the country, along with Suomen Filmiteollisuus...
Video/DVD:
UK: Guild Home Video
Guild Home Video
Guild Home Video or Guild Film Distribution was one of the very first video distribution companies to start operating in the UK. Unlike other independent labels such as Intervision or Videoform, GHV not only survived for a very long time, but continued to grow, eventually becoming a video...
(1987)/PolyGram Video (1990s)
USA/internationally: Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
(1990–present)
Finland: Finn Innovation Products (1995) / Future Film Ltd
Future Film Ltd
Future Film Ltd is a Finnish-based home-video distribution company headquartered in Vaasa. From early to late 1990s they were best known as the distributors of children's animation...
(2005)
Australia: CIC Video
CIC Video
CIC Video was a home video distributor, owned by Cinema International Corporation , and operated in some countries by local operators...
(1980s-1999)/Roadshow Home Video
Roadshow Home Video
Roadshow Entertainment is a division of the Australian media company Village Roadshow . Notable releases include First Blood, Mad Max, Gallipoli, and The Terminator. Their first release was Scanners...
(1999–2000)/Blue Sky Video (2005)
- The film is rated G in New Zealand and has also been dubbed in JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.