It's not the Jackson epic money-machine.
And as much as I love the Rankin-Bass 1977
cartoon (I mean I still see elves to this day as sour-faced greyish
plant monsters) it's usurped in the number one position by another, lesser-known foreign-made film: The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo
Baggins the Hobbit,
a live-action version produced in the Soviet Union (no less) in 1985.
Thanks to an entirely faithful and
accurate translated credits the understated brilliance and sublime
performances of this adaption—Glimmer-Glam Gandalf (pictured above), pink-shirted
dumpy Bilbo, Pufnstuf dwarves, song-and-dance goblin dance routines by the Leningrad Ballet, Smaug puppets and more—can now
be enjoyed by English-speaking audiences.
"If you act like a bitch, we will slap you like a bitch."
ReplyDeleteYes, truly, it is Tolkien at his finest.
- Ark
True that, in fact I believe that it was the original language excised by the publisher in 1937.
DeleteA thing of haunting beauty, truly.
ReplyDeleteApparently, Bilbo and I have similar world views. You'd never catch me in that shirt, though.
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ReplyDeleteI have always liked the finnish TV-version, it's also in the Youtube with english language subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koj0V7G46fs
ReplyDeleteI may now crawl back to my hole and die, happy to know that I have seen everything.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that could make things better would be the inclusion of the Nimoy classic "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins."
ReplyDelete