The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)
| The Lord of the Rings | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ralph Bakshi |
| Written by | Peter S. Beagle; Chris Conkling based on the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Produced by | Saul Zaentz |
| Starring | Christopher Guard; William Squire; Michael Scholes; John Hurt; Simon Chandler Dominic Guard; Norman Bird; Michael Graham Cox; Anthony Daniels; David Buck; Peter Woodthorpe; Fraser Kerr; Philip Stone; Michael Deacon; André Morell; Alan Tilvern; Annette Crosbie; John Westbrook |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Running time | 132 minutes |
| Budget | $8,000,000 |
The Lord of the Rings is the title of an animated film produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi, and released to theaters in 1978. It was an adaptation of the first half of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
Bakshi's most ambitious effort (and his most famous after his animated adaptation of the underground comic Fritz the Cat), the film was produced by Saul Zaentz's Fantasy Films, but distributed to theaters by United Artists.
Plot Overview
Long ago, in the early years of the Second Age, the great Elven-smiths forged Rings of Power -- Nine for mortal Men, Seven for the Dwarf-lords, and three for the tall Elf-kings. But then, the Dark Lord Sauron learned the craft of ring-making and made the Master Ring -- The One Ring to rule them all. With the One Ring, Middle-earth is his and he cannot be overcome.
As the last alliance of Men and Elves fell beneath his power, the ring fell into the hands of Prince Isildur of the mighty kings from across the sea. He did not destroy the ring, and because of this, the spirit of Sauron lived on and began to take shape and grow again.
The Ring had a will of its own, and had a way of slipping from hand to hand, so that it might at last get back to its master. The Ring lay in the bottom of a lake for thousands of years. During those years, Sauron captured the nine Rings that were made for Men and turned their owners into the Ringwraiths: Terrible shadows under his great shadow who roamed the world searching for the One Ring.
The Ring, meanwhile, was found by two friends. One of which, was so enticed by the Ring's power that he killed his friend to gain control of it. Sméagol possessed the Ring for years, until it was discovered (some might say stolen) by the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
Several years later, in a land called the Shire, Bilbo is celebrating his 111th (or eleventy first, as it is called) birthday, on the same day that Frodo celebrates his 33rd birthday. (His 'coming of age') During his speech, Bilbo slips the Ring on, and confusion arrises as the party notices that their host has suddenly disappeared into thin air!
Gandalf the wizard, however, knows the truth behind this act. In Bilbo's hobbit hole, Gandalf tells him to leave the Ring for Frodo, but Bilbo seems unwilling to give it up. He does, finally, agree, and leaves the Shire.
Several years pass, and Gandalf learns that the Shire is in danger -- evil forces have learned that the Ring is in the possession of a Baggins. Heeding the advice of the wizard Gandalf, Frodo leaves his home, taking the Ring with him. He hopes to reach Rivendell, where he will be safe from Sauron, and where those wiser than he can decide what to do about the Ring.
In his journey he is accompanied by three hobbit friends, Pippin, Merry, and Sam. From the start they are pursued by Black Riders. Narrowly escaping these and other dangers and meeting other interesting characters en route they eventually come to Bree, where they meet Strider, another friend of Gandalf who leads them the rest of the way to Rivendell, through further hardships. Frodo is stabbed upon the mountain of Weathertop by the chief of the Nazgul, with a 'morgul blade' - as part of the knife stays inside him, he gets sicker on the rest of the journey.
At Rivendell, Frodo meets his uncle Bilbo who he had not seen since he left Hobbiton much earlier. Bilbo, Gandalf, and others argue about what should be done with the One Ring. Finally, Frodo stands up, and willfully volunteers to go to Mordor, where the Ring can be destroyed.
Frodo sets forth from Rivendell with eight companions: two Men, Aragorn and Boromir, son of the Steward of the land of Gondor; an Elven prince, Legolas; Frodo's old friend and powerful wizard, Gandalf; Gimli the Dwarf; and Frodo's original three hobbit companions. These Nine Walkers were chosen to represent all the free races of Middle-earth and as a balance to the Nine Riders.
Their attempt to cross the Misty Mountains is foiled by heavy snow, so they are forced to take a path under the mountains via Moria, an ancient Dwarf kingdom, now full of Orcs and other evil creatures, where Gandalf falls into the abyss after battling a Balrog.
The remaining eight members of the Fellowship then spend some time in the elf-haven of Lothlórien, where they receive gifts from the elf queen Galadriel that in many cases prove useful later in the quest. They leave Lórien by river, but Frodo begins to realize the Ring is having a malevolent effect on some members of the party, especially Boromir, who tries to take the ring from Frodo. In the process, Frodo puts on the ring to escape him. Later Boromir is attacked by Orcs while trying to defend Merry and Pippin, whom the Orcs capture.
Aragorn, Gimli the Dwarf and Legolas the Elf, tracking Merry and Pippin, come across the Riders of Rohan who tell them that they attacked the orcs the previous night and left no survivors.
However, Strider is able to find small prints and they follow these into Fangorn, where they meet a white wizard who they at first believe to be Saruman, but who turns out to be their wizard friend Gandalf, whom they believed had perished in the mines of Moria. He tells them of his fall into the abyss, his battle to the death with the Balrog and his reawakening.
The four ride to Edoras and persuade King Théoden that his people are in danger. In the process, Saruman's agent in Edoras, Grima Wormtongue, is expelled from the city. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas then travel to the defensive fortification Helm's Deep while Gandalf goes north in search of Eomer's men in Rohan to bring as reinforcements.
At Helm's Deep, they resist an onslaught of Orcs and Men sent by Saruman, and Gandalf arrives the next morning with the Riders of Rohan just in time. The fleeing orcs run into a forest of Huorn half-tree, half-ent creatures and none escape. Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Gandalf and the Rohan army then head to Saruman's stronghold in Isengard.
Hobbits Merry and Pippin escape from the Orcs who captured them when the orcs themselves are attacked by the Riders of Rohan. Merry and Pippin head into nearby Fangorn Forest where they encounter treelike giants called Ents. These guardians of the forest generally keep to themselves, but are moved to oppose the menace posed to the trees by the wizard Saruman.
Frodo and Sam discover Gollum stalking them as they try to reach Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. Gollum hopes to reclaim the Ring. Sam loathes and distrusts him, but Frodo pities him. Gollum promises to lead them to a secret entrance to Mordor and for a time appears to be a true ally.
The Making of the Film & Techniques
Much of the film used live-action footage which was then rotoscoped to produce an animated look. This saved production costs and arguably gave the animated characters a more realistic look. For the live-action portion of the production, Bakshi and his cast and crew arrived in Spain where the rotoscope models acted out their parts in costume.
Many of the actors who contributed voices to this production also acted out their parts for rotoscoped scenes. The actions of Frodo Baggins, Bilbo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee were performed by Billy Barty.
Following the live-action shoot, each frame of the live footage was then broken down into individual frames, and then printed out, and placed behind animation cels. The details of each frame were copied and painted onto cels.
Some critics found the sections of the film with rotoscoped animation inferior in quality to "normal" animated films.
Reception
Critics were generally mixed in their responses to the film. Roger Ebert called Bakshi's effort a "mixed blessing" and "an entirely respectable, occasionally impressive job ... [which] still falls far short of the charm and sweep of the original story." Vincent Canby of the New York Times called the film "both numbing and impressive." Film website Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 50%.
Despite criticism, the film was a huge hit, grossing $30 million at the box office (the budget was $8 million), but United Artists, who wrongly believed the film to be a flop, refused to fund a sequel which would have completed Tolkien's story on film.
Follow-up
In an attempt to "finish" Tolkien's story and make it more complete for audiences, the Rankin-Bass animation studio (fresh on the heels of the success of its previous TV adaptation of The Hobbit) produced an animated TV special based on the final part of The Lord of the Rings. Their adaptation of The Return of the King finished the story and answered most of the questions raised by Bakshi's animated film.
However, several unresolved story developments between The Lord of the Rings and The Return of the King were left unresolved, especially the betrayal of Frodo by Gollum, and the attack of Shelob the monster spider-creature.
Warner Bros. (the rights holder to the post-1974 Rankin-Bass library and most of the Saul Zaentz theatrical backlog) has released The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Return of the King on VHS and DVD, both packaged separately and as a boxed-set "trilogy" of films.
Despite the release of Peter Jackson's recent film trilogy based on Tolkien's work, many fans of Bakshi's work still want him to complete Tolkien's story in his own style.
Cast
Crew
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Screenplay by Peter S. Beagle and Chris Conkling
Produced by
Nancy Eichler .... assistant producer
Saul Zaentz .... producer
Original Music by
Cinematography by
Film Editing by
Denise O'Dell .... production supervisor
John Sparey .... assistant director
Madlyn Zusmer .... paint technician
Jim Henrikson .... music editor
Stephen Katz .... stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Curt Schulkey .... adr editor
Curt Schulkey .... dialogue editor
Dan Sharp .... assistant sound editor
Cathy McKelvey .... assistant sound editor (uncredited)
John Post .... sound effects editor (uncredited)
Janet Cummings .... color modeler
James W. Riley .... visual effects producer
Stunts:
Stan Barrett
Dale Baer .... layout artist
Billy Barty .... animation stand-in: "Bilbo Baggins", "Samwise Gamgee" and "Frodo Baggins"
Carl Bell .... key animator
Ralph Ferraro .... orchestrator
Brad Frost .... assistant animator
Steven E. Gordon .... animator
Kevin Hanna .... layout artist
Ray Harris .... assistant animator
Mentor Huebner .... layout artist
Sam Jaimes .... animator
David Jenas .... layout artist
Manuel Perez .... animator
Richard Raynis .... background illustrator
Joe Roman .... animator
Phil Roman .... animator
Martin Taras .... animator
Tom Tataranowicz .... animator
Barry Temple .... assistant animator
Henry Tucker .... animator
Louis Zingarelli .... layout artist
Tim Burton .... inbetween artist (uncredited)
Daryl Carstensen .... xerox checker (uncredited)
Hollis Trainer .... costume supervisor (uncredited)
Trivia
- Rotoscoped action scenes were filmed in Spain.
- Cel animation was produced and shot for this film, but was cut out at the last minute. Except for the cel-animated shot of the hobbits at Bilbo's birthday party, the final product is entirely rotoscoped.
- Bakshi's film sparked enough interest in Tolkien's work to provoke not only the Rankin/Bass Return of the King, but a complete adaptation of The Lord of the Rings on BBC Radio. For this broadcast, Michael Graham Cox and Peter Woodthorpe reprised their roles of Boromir and Gollum, respectively.
External links
- The Lord of the Rings at IMDb
- The Lord of the Rings at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Lord of the Rings at Ralph Bakshi.com
- a detailed review at Epinions.com
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