The Plague Dogs (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Plague Dogs

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image_size =
caption =
director = Martin Rosen
producer = Martin Rosen
writer = Martin Rosen (screenplay) Richard Adams (novel)
narrator =
starring = John Hurt Christopher Benjamin James Bolam Nigel Hawthorne Warren Mitchell Bernard Hepton Brian Sterner Penelope Lee Geoffrey Mathews Barbera Leigh-Hunt John Bennett John Franklyn-Robbins Bill Maynard Malcolm Terris Judy Geeson Patrick Stewart
music = Patrick Gleeson
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Nepenthe Productions
released = October 21, 1982 (West Germany) December 17, 1983 (USA)
runtime = 103 min (82 for cut version)
country = UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0084509

"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.

The film's story is centered on two dogs named Rowf and Snitter, who escape from a research laboratory in Great Britain. In the process of telling the story, the film highlights the cruelty of performing vivisection and animal research for its own sake (though Martin Rosen said that this was not an anti-vivisection film, but an adventure), an idea that was only recently coming to public attention during the 1960s and 1970s.

The theme song, "Time and Tide", was composed and sung by Alan Price. The song, as well as dialogue from the film, was sampled by the Canadian industrial group Skinny Puppy for their single, "Testure", from the 1988 album VIVIsectVI.

Plot

The story doesn't shy away from depicting the violence and cruelty the dogs encounter throughout the story.

Rowf (a labrador-mix) and Snitter (a smooth fox terrier) are two of many dogs used for experimental purposes at an animal research facility in the Lake District of north-western England. Eager to escape the tortures of life inside the facility, an escape is managed. Initially relieved and eager to experience their new freedom the dogs are soon faced, not only with the realities of life in the wild, but with another more terrifying realization — they are being hunted by their former captors.

Differences between the film plot and the book plot are numerous and have substantial bearing on the outcome of the film. The most significant is that the survival of the dogs at the end of the film seems very unlikely, whereas in the book they are rescued and returned to Snitter's original owner, who in the book has survived (in the movie he has not, making Snitter a true orphan.) Other differences are linked to the alteration of certain characters and to an overall compression of the time sequences and series of events outlined in the book.

Video release history

There are two versions of the film: An 86 minute version and a 103 minute version. The only country that offered the full length film on DVD was Australiacite web | work=07/06/2005 Archives: "Martin Rosen's Plague Dogs comes to DVD - UNCUT!" | title=07/06/2005 Archives: "Martin Rosen's Plague Dogs comes to DVD - UNCUT!" |url=http://www.animated-news.com/archives/00003695.html| accessdaymonth=9 November |accessyear=2006] until it was released in the UK on 7 January 2008.cite web | title=The Plague Dogs (UK - DVD R2)|url=http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-plague-dogs.html| accessdaymonth=20 December |accessyear=2007]

The original VHS release of the full theatrical cut of the film was released by Thorn Productions in 1982. Only around 8,000 copies of this version were made.

In 1983, Embassy Pictures ordered cuts to be made to the film. This shortened cut was premiered in 1983. In 1984, it was given a limited release across the United States by Charter Productions. Strangely, the VHS cover states that the film is 99 minutes long.

In 2002, Anchor Bay Entertainment released a Region 2 DVD version of the film, but it contained the US cut. Soon afterwards, the Dutch budget label, Indies Home Entertainment, released a Region 2 disc which also contained the US cut but includes forced Dutch subtitles. This DVD has been out of print since November 2005. In 2004, a DVD version of the film was released by Trinity Home Entertainment. Unable to obtain the full cut, they settled with using the truncated US version.

In 2005, Australian distributor Big Sky Media released the full theatrical cut of the film as well as the truncated version on Region 4 DVD (they also released the full theatrical cut of "Watership Down"), sourced from Martin Rosen's private print. This is probably the only full cut of the film in existence aside from the rare Thorn VHS and the original master. The same print was later released on Region 2 DVD in the UK by Optimum Releasing in 2008.

Many missing scenes are considered completely harmless and were only removed to reduce running time, however, one scene from the full length film was removed because of its shocking content. After a scene of Ackland falling to death from a steep crag whilst trying to shoot the dogs, a helicopter flies over the snow-covered crags and valleys, cutting to a middle to close-up shot of Ackland's body, ripped to shreds. It is clear that the dogs have eaten the corpse. Additionally, there's a disturbing scene where Snitter is beckoned to by a man with a gun. The man dies when Snitter accidentally steps on the trigger of the gun, and the gun fires into the man's face.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0084509|title=The Plague Dogs
* [http://www.mounsey.co.uk/john/the-plague-dogs_1982.html See 12 full colour press kit photographs from The Plague Dogs]