The Hobbit (1977) in Movie of the Day Forum

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The Hobbit (1977)

Author	Comment
Dave Sindelar	The Hobbit (1977)	Lead	[-]
May 13 12 9:47 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The Hobbit (1977) TV-Movie #3926 Viewing Date: 5-4-2012 Posting Date: 5-14-2012 Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. Featuring the voices of Orson Bean, Richard Boone, Hans Conried Country: USA What it is: Children's epic fantasy A hobbit is recruited as a burglar for a band of dwarves intent on recovering a treasure from a dragon. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is in something of an odd place; it's the prelude to one of the greatest epic fantasies of all time, "The Lord of the Rings", but since "Rings" is a fairly adult fantasy while "The Hobbit" is intended for juveniles, there's an odd difference in style between the works. And since "The Hobbit" was intended for children, one of the hazards of its being adapted is for it to be made cuter and more cuddly than it is. At least this adaptation of the book avoids that; it maintains its epic fantasy feel rather well. The use of music is uneven and a little too persistent, but at least most of the lyrics come directly from the book, and the music never gets too pretty. The movie also keeps fairly faithful to the book; the only major episode missing is the encounter with Beorn, but given that very little actually happens during that part of the novel, it was no doubt the first thing to get the axe when trying to condense the story to 77 minutes. But, because of the shortness, the story sometimes feels a bit rushed, especially during the first half. All in all, I found this a good, if not great, adaptation of the Tolkien novel. Oh, Benson, dear Benson, you are so mercifully free from the ravages of intelligence!
flashback		#1	[-]
May 13 12 9:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	they released a set of vinal record albums with the compleate audio of the show shortly after it aired.
hermanthegerm	The Hobbit (1977)	#2	[-]
May 14 12 8:13 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I like this. It ain't bad overall. I know some feel the music is jarring, but I think it works well with the overall hippie/folksie feeling of the telling. What I think is bad is the recycling of footage, as if stuff wasn't taken out already and there was a need for filler. The elf and Gollum designs have been criticized, but if you take The Hobbit as a standalone, they manage to work fine. The battle of the armies at the end is particularly bad with little animated dots representing the army components, but what are you gonna do? They did have a small budget. Some of the designers and animators are Ghibli people (also see The Last Unicorn.) I still remember the illustrated TV guide article for this when it debuted. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
Wich2		#3	[-]
May 14 12 10:59 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>hippie/folksie feeling of the telling.< This wasn't far from the era of Nimoy's "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"!
G Vallejo		#4	[-]
May 14 12 1:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just picked up the DVD this month. I always liked this cartoon, although the hippie music has worn me down just a tad. It's still ripe for parody, like South Park has done (Lemmywinks!) I will always maintain that this is the best Gollum ever. Voice and design. A perfect Monster has no end...
hermanthegerm		#5	[-]
May 14 12 1:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The problem with Gollum is when the idea is introduced that he was once human. If he was human how did he turn into this animated froggy-like being? But it really is hard to believe that this animated amphibious/reptilian monster was anything remotely resembling a human. Jackson's Gollum almost works, but I think they overdid the gigantic eyes. Based on the logic that the Ring turns you into a wraith, Gollum should have been more wraithlike and less a cartoon. They don't quite say Smeagol was a exactly a hobbit, so he coulda have been merely a hobbit-like creature that is now extinct, not quite a hobbit, as per the flashbacks. But in the Jackson flashbacks Smeagol looks nothing like the current Gollum. But you are right. I also love this character. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
Kaijubait		#6	[-]
May 14 12 3:14 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	hermanthegerm wrote: The problem with Gollum is when the idea is introduced that he was once human. Gollum was never human. They don't quite say Smeagol was a exactly a hobbit... In the book, that is exactly what Gandalf says. Gollum in this was voiced by the infamous 'Brother Theodore', an eccentric personality about whom not nearly enough is written or known about...
G Vallejo		#7	[-]
May 14 12 4:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's been years since I saw the cartoon (which is why I bought the DVD) but as I recall, either the book or the cartoon (or maybe even LOTR) says his people were something like hobbits. My impression was, whatever he was, his folk were peaceful, but the ring corrupted him. I figured the men became wraiths because their rings were a different type of magic and they were basically magic-users (witch-kings, I think), while he simply used his to become invisible to sneak up on people. There's probably a lot of ret-conning with the ring since Tolkien basically made it up as he went along, and expanded on the ring's powers over the years... but in The Hobbit it was simply a magic ring that turned you invisible... no corrupting influence like later in LOTR. But I am definitely not a Tolkien scholar. I know the very basics and that's it, so I could be wrong. I thought it was only Jackson's movie that made Gollum out to be a fallen hobbit. Another interesting possibility is the ring corrupts each wearer in a different way, sort of like that chemical in the Swamp Thing movie that turns one guy into a plant man and another guy into a little dwarf monster. Brother Theodore was an interesting fellow. I only learned about him a few years ago, seeing him on talk shows on youtube and downloading a spoken word album or two. A perfect Monster has no end...
hermanthegerm		#8	[-]
May 14 12 7:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	G Vallejo wrote: Another interesting possibility is the ring corrupts each wearer in a different way, sort of like that chemical in the Swamp Thing movie that turns one guy into a plant man and another guy into a little dwarf monster. A book is not a movie, so any visualization is fair game. I won't have a problem if it is logical or consistent. When they made the movies each film making group made his own decisions. The Hobbit by itself is consistent as it was never followed up, unless you count Return Of The King as a sequel. Jackson was inconsistent, yet Jackson's is the most human like. The Ring affected all the wraiths the same way, but Gollum differently. Other than that, Bakshi is the only other guy to tackle the problem. And Bakshi also made Gollum look like a green skinned alien, even more so than The Hobbit. Bakshi The Hobbit: The Return Of The King: Peter Jackson LOTR: Gollum was never human. No, but Jackson's Hobbits were played by human actors with minimal make up. And Hobbits have been mostly presented to be close enough to humans that they could pass for them. Also, per Tolkien, I get the intimation that the Hobbit race were ultimately absorbed by the human race. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING Last Edited By: hermanthegerm May 21 12 1:26 PM. Edited 2 times.

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