Monday Movies hosted by Molly at the Bumbles
This Weeks Topic is . . . . movies with confusing plots
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| Lord of the Rings (1978) |
If you are familiar with my blog at all you know that I am a die hard fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Way back in 1978 director Ralph Bakshi attempted to make an animated film based on Tolkien's work. I was very excited about it's release and when it came to the theater I talked Mr. J, his brother Mr. L and his wife to come with me--none of which had ever read the books. The movie was OK but pretty vague with large holes in the story. (The movie only included the Fellowship and the Two Towers totally leaving out the conclusion of the story the Return of the King). The animation was interesting as well waffling between little kid cartoon type to some real people somehow regenerated with an eerie cartoon quality to them. You could tell it was real people and so the animation effects made it feel like you were kind of locked into a drug induced dream. The evening went like this, Sis in law sitting at the end of the row asked Mr. L a question who asked Mr. J who asked me and then I'd answer, Mr. J would tell Mr. L and he'd tell sis in law. So along with the confusing and vague plot, the interesting animation effects and the whispering of the story from ear to ear--it was a confusing night out. My brother-in-law still laughs about it from time to time and says he felt like he'd been on an LSD trip! I was glad that the most recent version of the Lord of the Rings was much improved from this first attempt.
the hobbits--front to back--frodo, pippen, sam, merry
the black rider
aragorn (all that is gold does not glitter--he's not quite as handsome in this film)
the black riders--this is where the realistic but fake animation came in
safe at Rivendell--frodo and gandalf
legolas arrives in Rivendell--isn't he a hunk of elven love?
and here is our funny friend gimli the dwarf
and brave but traitorous boromir
the fellowship at the foot of Caradharas
gollum
the balrog
lady glaladriel her ring and the mirror of galadriel
tree beard
the white rider--which involved more of that freakish realistic but not animation
It's quite a bit different than the most recent version by Peter Jackson
but I was actually glad to see the attempt made
maybe if it hadn't failed so miserably
the likes of Peter Jackson would not have felt the need to do a better job
9 comments:
Some movies really ARE hard to follow. Hmmm. I've never been on an LSD trip but it sounds absolutely awful so I won;t be seeing the 1978 version. :)
Gollum is hilarious looking in the cartoon.
Didn't they show it on TV at some point? I remember being horribly disappointed with all the early versions.
Great blog. I LOVE this version of the story. I remember seeing it as a kid and it was on the tely at Xmas or something. I never saw it again until i was married and my wife bought me it on video when it was first released.
Its such a shame this version wasnt completed in full. As far as I am aware the project ran out of money due to the clever animation which was cartoon over the top of live actors. Innovative to say the least. Great cast and the Battle of Helms Deep was outstanding in this version. I would recommend it personally.
I'm pretty sure we saw this ... and I'm pretty sure we left early. Those stills are bringing a lot of it back. And what an awful looking Aragorn!! Give me Viggio anyway!
I haven't seen this first attempt. I'm pretty sure I would have been very confused.
I will admit that the Jackson versions confuse me to death but I love them anyway. I couldn't describe the full plot or get all the character names straight but I love the eye candy - both of the effects and of Viggo ;0)
Good point!
I've not seen this version, but my cousins boys love it.
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