The Lord of the Rings
Short description
Ralph Bakshi's animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel follows the hobbit Frodo Baggins, who inherits a ring with a dark history. The ring belongs to Sauron, a powerful enemy who wants it back, and it can be destroyed only in the fires of Mount Doom, deep in his territory. Guided by the wizard Gandalf, Frodo sets out from the Shire with a group of companions drawn from hobbits, men, an elf and a dwarf, while dark riders pursue them. The film covers the first half of Tolkien's story, ending before the quest is resolved.
The screenplay was written by Chris Conkling and Peter S. Beagle, with Saul Zaentz and Nancy Eichler producing. Among the voice cast are Christopher Guard as Frodo, William Squire as Gandalf, Michael Scholes as Sam and John Hurt as Aragorn, with 24 credited cast members and 47 credited crew.
Bakshi directed the film between Wizards and American Pop, the fourth of the eight features listed in his filmography. It was released in cinemas on 15 November 1978 and runs 132 minutes. Made for 8 million USD across British, Spanish and American production companies, it returned 30 million USD worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.2/10 from 39,000 votes and on TMDB 6.6/10 from 1,092 votes, while a critics' rating of 5.4/10 from 46 reviews sits below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Peter Jackson’s introduction to the world of Middle-earth came through this very film, and some scenes in his film trilogy are directly inspired by Bakshi’s film. In one such scene, Frodo and his companions hide from the Black Rider under the roots of a huge tree. Jackson used a similar shot here, although he filmed it from a different angle (and in Tolkien’s book, Frodo hides separately from the other hobbits). In another episode, the camera slowly rotates around Aragorn and the hobbits on the summit of Amon Sûl as they stand back to back, while the Black Riders approach them. In a third case, it concerns how Gollum loses the One Ring in the prologue. Both films tell the same story, but the book has no prologue, and everything unfolds differently than Tolkien wrote. Another episode relates to the meeting of Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli with Gandalf.
- Tim Burton worked as an animator on this film, but he is not credited in the cast. It was his first film project.
- Once, director John Boorman intended to fit the entire trilogy into a film lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes. Ralph Bakshi heard about this, and, being a fan of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and Tolkien’s work in general, was horrified. Boorman’s attempts to adapt Tolkien’s novels to the screen were unsuccessful, and Bakshi turned to Tolkien’s daughter with a proposal to film the trilogy as animated films. Tolkien’s daughter very much liked Bakshi’s cartoon “Wizards” (1976), so he obtained the rights to film “The Lord of the Rings.” Bakshi filmed “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Two Towers” (which together formed a single 2.5-hour film) and planned to film “The Return of the King,” but never completed the trilogy.
- Director Ralph Bakshi initially dreamed of using music by Led Zeppelin in the film, but was unable to secure the rights. The members of Led Zeppelin are ardent fans of “The Lord of the Rings,” and some of their compositions (such as “Misty Mountain Top,” “Over the Hills and Far Away,” “The Battle of Evermore,” and “Ramble On”) contain references to Tolkien's works (1892-1973).
- The first project created entirely using rotoscoping (a technique where an animated or combined segment of a film is created by tracing over filmed live-action footage with real actors and sets).
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