Subject: Retrospective: Hobbit, The (1978) (TV)

From: Eric Walker <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 02:32:27 -0000

If you're one of the three people in the English-speaking world who
doesn't know the story of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings"
trilogy, you may want an introductory course before going to see Peter
Jackson's filmed version of the story.  Warner Bros., the distributor
of the upcoming movie trilogy (and "Harry Potter," too) is
capitalizing on this by re-releasing the previous attempt to bring
Tolkien's work to the screen.  In the late 1970s, Ralph Bakshi
produced an animated version of the first half of the "Rings" trilogy,
and the Rankin-Bass studio worked with Warner Bros. to supplement the
movie with TV "special feature" versions of "The Hobbit" (the prequel)
and "The Return of the King" (the second half of the story, which
Bakshi never filmed).  Of these three animated features, the best of
the bunch is probably their adaptation of "The Hobbit."

The story of "The Hobbit," of course, is well-known: it stars Bilbo
Baggins, a hobbit who finds himself on a quest to recover a fabulous
treasure from the evil dragon Smaug.  Bilbo is chosen by the wizard,
Gandalf, to accompany a band of Dwarfs (or dwarves, as Tolkien called
them) on their journey to the dragon's lair.  Along the way, Bilbo and
his companions have many adventures, as they meet ugly trolls,
friendly Elves, evil goblins, giant spiders, and other monsters from
the realm of children's nightmares.  Bilbo also discovers a golden
ring on his journey, and this ring becomes the centerpiece of the
later "Lord of the Rings" story.  But the original story of Bilbo's
adventures was written with young children in mind (Tolkien wrote it
for his own children), and it works quite well as an animated movie.
"The Hobbit" was written as a children's story, and the animated
adaptation of the story is one that will appeal to children of nearly
all ages.  (The youngest ones may not understand it.)  It was produced
as a TV movie, so it has a minimum of violence; the few times when a
character dies, the movie shows it in an abstract way that suggests
death but doesn't actually show it.  It's a faithful adaptation of the
book, and the few changes made to it (the elimination of Beorn the
shape-changer, for instance) should only upset hard-core Tolkien fans.

In these days of lavish computer-animated Disney feature films,
Japanese anime, and even high-quality Saturday morning cartoons, the
animation quality of "The Hobbit" seems archaic.  It's only a couple
of steps above the limited-animation fare of most Saturday morning
shows of the time, but Rankin-Bass do what they can to overcome those
limitations.  The pictures are lush and quite evocative of the
original Tolkien story, and few people are likely to complain about
the lack of movement in any particular scene.  The movie's biggest
flaw is the way the design follows the "illustrated radio" approach to
the animation, in that the dialogue and narration explains and
describes the action taking place.  In fact, a vinyl LP record of the
animated film was released shortly after the TV broadcast, and the
album consisted of nothing more than a complete audio recording of the
entire movie.  You could listen to the record and understand
everything going on, using only the album cover as a guide.  The
quality of the animation would have increased considerably if the
studio had taken more risks and let the images carry the story more;
but this was a common fault of the vast majority of made-for-TV
cartoons of the 1970s and 1980s.

But the important thing to ask when considering any filmed adaptation
of a book isn't whether it's an accurate representation of the book.
The real question is, "Is it an entertaining *movie?*"  And
fortunately for the viewer, this particular movie answers that
question with a satisfying "yes."  In spite of the flaws in the
animation, "The Hobbit" manages to be a good adaptation of Tolkien's
novel as well as being a decent movie.  The story doesn't feel rushed
or forced, and the voice actors are nearly perfect for their roles.
Orson Bean gives a lively performance as Bilbo.  John Huston (yes, the
same John Huston) evokes the image of a wise, old wizard; while Hans
Conreid (a veteran of the Jay Ward studio!) is suitably haughty as
Thorin Oakenshield.  The theme song, 'The Greatest Adventure,' was
catchy enough to be accepted by Tolkien's fans, and the other songs
(taken directly from the book) are also sung in a decent fashion.
(They're more acceptable than the ones in the BBC radio play
adaptation of the book.)

Most important of all, the animated "Hobbit" stands on its own as a
movie...which is more than can be said about Bakshi's "Lord of the
Rings" or Rankin-Bass's other followup, "The Return of the King."  The
faults in Bakshi's animated production have been pointed out numerous
times (the heavy dependence on rotoscoping, slow-moving plot, poor
characterizations), while "Return" picks up in the middle of the story
and leaves out several major plot developments, causing confusion and
making it difficult to enjoy the two movies as halves of one story.  
I'm hoping against hope that Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films
will be satisfying as *movies*, rather than simply as adaptations of
Tolkien's books.  But whether or not they turn out to be a success,
you can still prepare yourself for them with this animated version of
"The Hobbit."  While not the greatest adaptation of Tolkien's story
ever made, it's certainly a treat for young and old viewers alike.

--
		      First Online Church of "Bob"
			http://www.modemac.com/

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