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 | John Hurt, Christopher Benjamin | |
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| Martin Rosen | |
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| Martin Rosen | |
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| Martin Rosen | |
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| Completed | |
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| 1982 | |
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| From the creators of Watership Down comes a poignant, beautifully animated adaptation of another Richard Adams’ best seller - The Plague Dogs.
Subjected to harrowing scientific experiments, two dogs make a flight for freedom from the animal research laboratory in which they are imprisoned. In making their confused way through the lab, and panicked by the cries of monkeys, rabbits and mice, they break a glass containing a deadly virus. Beyond the fences, hungry and terrified, SNITTER (John Hurt) a gentle Fox Terrier and ROWF (Christopher Benjamin) an older, more cynical Labrador, soon discover that the outside world is not the haven they had hoped it to be. The rugged hills of England’s Lake District prove hard to master and the pair find it difficult to revert to the wild, killing sheep to keep from starving. Having spent his life in a science laboratory, ROWF is unsurprised by the bleak, inhospitable terrain and by the hostility of the few humans they encounter. SNITTER has known a good master however, and despite having suffered many cruel experiments, has some memories of what civilised living is like. He is the optimist, always hopeful of finding another warm hearth and home.
Sadly the human population has other plans, as news gets out that the dogs could be infected with the plague. Pursued at every turn, they are forced to retreat further into the wintry hills, with SNITTER’s tortured mind becoming ever more disturbed. He believes he is responsible for the death of his master, and consequently for the horror of their situation.
They are befriended by THE TOD (James Bolan) a wily but good natured fox who guides them through the wilderness in their attempts to escape.
With the army and helicopters in pursuit, time eventually runs out for the beleagured dogs. When chased on to a beach they realise that the only way out is to take to the sea. In the icy waters ROWF and SNITTER swim to an uncertain fate disappearing behind a bank of fog. | |
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