Watership Down becomes a film,

in October 1978.

The public face of the Martin Rosen's 1978 film 'Watership Down'. This is the quad for the film. The original is 40 X 30 inches (1.01m x .76m).         This is the image seen all over the UK during late 1978 and all of 1979. It first appeared on posters advertising the film with the stark words: 'All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a thousand enemies, and whenever they catch you they will kill you.' Notice the quote was not continued as it is in the book: '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.' There wasn't space on the poster for all this... It very soon appeared on the Penguin paperback edition of the book (although the Puffin edition, sold as a children's book, kept the familiar Pauline Baines painting) and on tie-in merchandising such as the film soundtrack LP. Probably the most popular of the merchandising was the Watership Down Film Picture Book: over 250 stills with specially written linking text and Preface by Richard Adams and a Foreword by Martin Rosen, the film's director. All the images below, save one, come from this wonderful and unusual book (for a start the pages are black with white text...). It has been said that this stark and haunting image was used to put parents off bringing young children to the film. Martin Rosen wanted an 'A' certificate, roughly equivalent to today's 'PG', but got a 'U' instead. To avoid the public thinking this was a 'Disney' style film this image was used with it's grim quote. I shall leave you to ponder on what effect it actually had on the public, but it was not the expected one! (A clue: this is a rabbit in a snare, but most people don't notice the wire...) One thing I can say is that these posters were particularly effective in the close confines of the London Underground system!

Those leaping rabbits were Nepenthe Productions', Martin Rosen's production company, trademark. Here they are again, a bit bigger this time:

They appeared on some merchandising, though it has to be said there wasn't much.

The film's view of Sandleford at sunset.

This is the opening scene of the film: the Sandleford warren at sunset. Now for those of you who have the film picture book you will notice that this is back to front. Well, it's not, the picture in the book, along with quite a few others, are back to front; this is how it actually appears in the film. To see how it appears in the real world click here. Hazel will soon appear from the undergrowth by those trees, the notice board is a little way off to the left of this picture. This is as naturalistic as any animated film yet made gets.

Nuthanger Farm at evening, the rabbits first encounter with the farm.

This is the film version of Nuthanger Farm which is very similar to how it appears in real life. This view shows it in the half light of very early morning, just before dawn. Later in the film we see the farm at night and mid-afternoon. Compared to other locations, most notably Watership Down itself, and Newtown churchyard, Nuthanger is portrayed very accurately, though it is perhaps odd that this is not the case throughout the film.

        Interestingly the Railway Arch is another location that is shown accurately in the film, even down to the marks where the arch was extended, they are difficult enough to notice in the photographs, but there they are, accurately drawn (though on the wrong side of the tracks), in the film version!

Holly, recalling his experiences in Efrafa.     Now here's a wonderful image. I would like to say it's from the film but in fact it's not. This scene never appears in the film and must have been edited out quite late on, at least after the Film Picture Book had been prepared. The rabbit is Holly, probably my favourite character from the film - he seems to be very much the Holly I imagined. But this powerful image never made it to the final cut of the film, and I would dearly love to see the rest of this sequence - part of his escape from Efrafa I presume.

A stylised moment from Holly's description of the destruction of the Sandleford warren.          Holly brought news of the destruction of the old Sandleford warren to Watership Down, the destruction that Fiver had predicted. It was portrayed in the film in a visually stylised 'nightmare' sequence to a voice-over by Holly. In the film he was the only survivor of, and thus only witness to, that destruction. In the book Bluebell survives with him. Who this terrified rabbit is, or was, we cannot know. All we know is that he died because he was in our way. He died so that we could build a few more houses.

Blackberry asking Hazel to reconsider going on the raid to Nuthanger Farm.          This is another of my favourites, it's Hazel and Blackberry discussing the raid on Nuthanger. The reason I like it is because both rabbits look so 'in character'. Blackberry looks intelligent and Hazel looks, well, like Hazel! There are two interesting things to note: The hill on which Nuthanger stands has been enlarged, probably to make it stand out from the background; and the painting of the foreground plants to give the impression of evening light.

The film Watership Down has a wonderful score; Angela Morley drew heavily for inspiration on the styles of Delius, Debussy and Satie and the string traditions of English music to create a lyrical and emotional evocation of nature. Yet she hadn’t, apparently, done very much film work before Watership Down. That’s because she used to be Walter Stott.         This image, like the one of Holly, doesn't actually appear in the film, at least not in this form. We see this scene right enough, but at no time in the scene do Hazel and Blackberry look at each other directly. As the conversation between the two proceeds first Blackberry looks away towards Nuthanger farm in the distance, then Hazel looks, but before he turns back there is a fade to Nuthanger farm itself, while the conversation continues as a voice-over. I presume that this particular image comes from a point in the conversation after the fade, and that fade was done during editing to keep the pace up. Thus, somewhere, there is a few seconds, at least, of fully completed animation that we have never seen. This is actually from an outtake!

The raid on Nuthanger farm ended with the shooting of Hazel. Here we see Blackberry and Dandelion tell Fiver that his brother will not return to Watership Down. This is the start of the great 'Bright Eyes' sequence. The only thing wrong with this is Fiver's ears, just what are they doing?            Some people didn't like the Bright Eyes sequence. Some complained about the song, saying that it interfered with the narrative flow of the film, some critics felt the animation style, which was more stylised and much more metaphoric than the rest of the film, indeed it is almost surreal, didn't work. The audience seemed, from what I can gather, to universally love it. People may have forgotten the rest of the film, but they don't forget Bright Eyes, neither the song, nor the animation. For most people this IS Watership Down. Personally I feel the sequence is almost perfectly judged. It provides a welcome interlude in the story, the imagery is wonderful and the arrangement of the song is near perfect, though the production, with Art Garfunkel's voice being faded in through the first verse, is a problem. Overall though, I feel this sequence is a triumph.	Blackberry and Dandelion tell Fiver that Hazel has been shot.
	Fiver follows the Black Rabbit to find Hazel during the Bright Eyes sequence. This is not from the Film Picture Book, it's a scan of a greetings card.
There is one quote from the film that I always seem to be using: "Can you run?" hissed the cat. "I think not... I think not...". The cat is not particularly well-drawn in the other scenes but here she, Tab to give her her name, comes alive - much to Hazel's discomfort.	'"Can you run?" Hissed the cat. "I think not... I think not...."

Woundwort and Bigwig fight it out.

The film of Watership Down is sometimes described as being violent. This scene, the all out fight between Bigwig and General Woundwort, is the main reason why. Here we see Bigwig crumbling under Woundwort's relentless pressure. Disney it isn't, but then again it's nothing compared to most mainstream live-action films. It depicts rabbits as being able to attack each other and prepared to defend themselves with tooth and claw.

Hazel's death, the final sequence of the film of Watership Down, is one of the best animation sequences I have ever seen, anywhere. It handles a very difficult subject - death itself. This is not cute cuddly bunnies, this is not blood and gore, this is simply the peaceful passing of a old rabbit. It is a very powerful sequence and I make no apology for showing as much of it as I can - these four images. However it is not perfect, though it is very, very technically accomplished. The problem comes about from the simplification of the book that was necessary for the film. In the book El-ahrairah was totally separate from the Black Rabbit. In a sense the Black

Hazel recognises the Black Rabbit.

Hazel leaves his body lying by the ditch.

Rabbit is a form of our 'Grim Reaper', his job is to do what he must do, there is no bargain with the Black Rabbit. He is death, but that is no more than his appointed task. El-ahrairah was the mythical 'Robin Hood' of rabbits. Thlayli (Bigwig) says to Hyzenthlay when they are in Efrafa that his companions, meaning Hazel and the other Watership rabbits, are 'El-ahrairah's owsla - no less.' In the epilogue it is El-ahrairah who comes to collect Hazel on behalf of the Black Rabbit. He asks Hazel, who does not recognise him at first - until he sees the 'faint, silver light' in his ears, to join his oswla. Thlayli was right all along.

This sequence uses an unusual drawing style to depict the rabbit's souls, they are translucent and look as if they are delicately drawn in pencil. The drawing style of the Black Rabbit, voiced by deep, velvet tongued Joss Ackland, changes throughout this sequence from this semi-naturalistic style (probably depicting the El-ahrairah aspect) to a much more 'cartoony' style to illustrate the Black Rabbit side of this compound character.

The Black Rabbit tells Hazel that he needn't worry about the future of his rabbits.

Hazel following the Black Rabbit.

The background is beautifully uncluttered yet full of detail. The scene is meant to take place 'one chilly, blustery morning in March', and this is used to great advantage in the back and foregrounds. The music is also very significant, it is a reprise of 'Climbing the Down', signifying that Hazel's death is only the start of a new, greater adventure.         This is the very last scene of the film of Watership Down - a worthy end to a ground-breaking animated film. One that proved it was possible for animation to appeal to adults just as much as children.

Click Bigwig here to return to The Real Watership Down Page. Be careful of his ears, his fleas live there!