The Hobbit, Not The Hobbit
With the Hobbit movie coming out later this year, here’s a special treat! This is the very first film version of The Hobbit ever produced, created in a rush in 1966 to fulfill a licensing contract with J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate. It’s a very, very loose translation. Have a look see. But be forewarned that just enough of the plot is similar that it could be considered spoilerific!
Yeah I saw this last week, too funny. Very 60’s-ish!
I know it’s completely wrong, but there’s something about it I quite like. The art is rather charming and the narration has that machine gun delivery that was a hallmark of the Fractured Fairy Tales.
Yikes!
It’s not that “yikes”, is it?
To a lifelong Tolkien lover, it is…
To me “yikes” was the reaction to the LotR movies as well. Not because of the acting or special effects, but because of the butchering of the lore performed in the movies.
I actually love the movies, for what they are – somebody’s adaptation. But I don’t think any adaptation can ever live up to the original material. At least we can always go back and read the books, although I think that the visuals from the films may have supplanted much of what I had in my head.
The movies are what they are. To some they’re going to be what got them into reading the books. I wouldn’t have probably ever read them if it hadn’t been for the Rankin/Bass version of the Hobbit. To other people, the movies ARE the Lord of the Rings. Fine, whatever. We still have the books and maybe that’s all WE need.