The Hobbit (1977)
The Hobbit (1977)
I remember I was in middle school when I first was introduced to JRR Tolkien's classic children's novel The Hobbit, and soon after reading the book, I was introduced to the Rankin and Bass animated film adaptation of the novel. To me this is still the best film adaptation of Tolkien's beloved classic novel, it adds nothing to the story, and only takes out what it has to, in order to keep the pace moving, and to fit into the television time slot in which it aired. The was a beautiful adaptation, with beautiful artwork inspired by the artwork of Arthur Rackham, and an amazing cast of voice actors, and it keeps close to the book upon which it is based. The Hobbit tells the story of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who is recruited by the wandering wizard Gandalf, to be the burglar for a party of 13 dwarves who seek to reclaim their kindow that was taken from them by dragon. Along the way he has adventures and learns that there is more to him than he thought and found his courage. This story also helps to set up the events of The Lord Of The Rings, because of events that Bilbo set in to action when he found a ring in Gollum's cave of gloom.
The Hobbit was directed and produced by Arthur Rankin Jr and Jules Bass, with a screenplay by Romeo Muller. The film was based on the novel of the same name by JRR Tolkien. The film was animated by Topcraft in Japan, which would later close up shop and reform as Studio Ghibli under Hayao Miyazaki. The Hobbit was a made for television production that originally aired on NBC on November 27th 1977, and later released on homevideo through Warner Brothers. The film has become a beloved family classic, though it was originally released to mixed critical reception.
The Hobbit features the voice talents of Orson Bean as Bilbo Baggins, John Huston as Gandalf/Narrator, Hans Conried as Thorin Oakenshield, Brother Theodore as Gollum, Richard Boone as Smaug, Otto Preminger as the Forest Elf King, Cyril Ritchard as Elrond, Paul Frees as Bombur and Troll #1, Jack DeLeon as Dwalin/Fili/Kili/Oin/Gloin/Ori/Nori/Bifur/Bofur/Troll #2, Don Messick as Balin/Goblin/Lord Of The Eagles/Troll #3, John Stephenson as Dori/Bard/Great Goblin King, Thurl Ravenscroft as Goblin (singing voice)/Background voice, and Glenn Yarbrough as Balladeer. Many of the songs in the film were sang and performed by Glenn Yarbrough whose voice so beautifully fit the tone and the look of the film. The voice talents were perfect for their roles. Honestly I love everything about this film, and have nothing negative to say about it.
The Hobbit is a beautiful film from the distinctive art style that fans of Rankin And Bass are familiar with, the talented voice talents, the beautiful and memorable songs (most of which take lyrics directly from the novel), and the fantastic voice acting talents. I don't say this often but The Hobbit is about as close to being a perfect animated film as I have ever seen. When I was a kid I had a copy of The Hobbit on VHS, and I would literally watch it every day, to the point that the tape wore out, I used to sing along to the songs, and used to say all of the dialogue along with the film, there are very few films that I loved to that level.
If you have not yet seen The Hobbit, I highly recommend checking it out, this is definitely a must see animated film, and should be a part of every film collector's library. This is a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family, and even though there are definitely some parts that could be scary for younger children, I feel like the film is one that can be enjoyed at all ages. If you ever come across a copy of The Hobbit, I highly recommend checking it out, whether you are a fan of the novel, or even if you just appreciate a well made, and beautifully illustrated film, and the songs alone are worth listening to. This has always been a favourite of mine for a reason, and it is a film that everytime I rewatch it, I get this warm feeling in my heart. I wish that when Peter Jackson and company made the live action films that they could have captured the tone and the feel of this beloved classic, rather than trying to make it bigger and more epic than it needed to be, in my opinion by making the live action film so epic, that they lost the plot and ended up making something that really wasn't The Hobbit, which is at its heart a children's novel that Tolkien had wrote for his son. So even if it has been a while since you saw this beautiful film, I highly recommend revisiting it again.
Note: I couldn't find a trailer for the film, so instead I am sharing this beautiful song from the opening credits of the film.
The Hobbit was directed and produced by Arthur Rankin Jr and Jules Bass, with a screenplay by Romeo Muller. The film was based on the novel of the same name by JRR Tolkien. The film was animated by Topcraft in Japan, which would later close up shop and reform as Studio Ghibli under Hayao Miyazaki. The Hobbit was a made for television production that originally aired on NBC on November 27th 1977, and later released on homevideo through Warner Brothers. The film has become a beloved family classic, though it was originally released to mixed critical reception.
The Hobbit is a beautiful film from the distinctive art style that fans of Rankin And Bass are familiar with, the talented voice talents, the beautiful and memorable songs (most of which take lyrics directly from the novel), and the fantastic voice acting talents. I don't say this often but The Hobbit is about as close to being a perfect animated film as I have ever seen. When I was a kid I had a copy of The Hobbit on VHS, and I would literally watch it every day, to the point that the tape wore out, I used to sing along to the songs, and used to say all of the dialogue along with the film, there are very few films that I loved to that level.
If you have not yet seen The Hobbit, I highly recommend checking it out, this is definitely a must see animated film, and should be a part of every film collector's library. This is a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family, and even though there are definitely some parts that could be scary for younger children, I feel like the film is one that can be enjoyed at all ages. If you ever come across a copy of The Hobbit, I highly recommend checking it out, whether you are a fan of the novel, or even if you just appreciate a well made, and beautifully illustrated film, and the songs alone are worth listening to. This has always been a favourite of mine for a reason, and it is a film that everytime I rewatch it, I get this warm feeling in my heart. I wish that when Peter Jackson and company made the live action films that they could have captured the tone and the feel of this beloved classic, rather than trying to make it bigger and more epic than it needed to be, in my opinion by making the live action film so epic, that they lost the plot and ended up making something that really wasn't The Hobbit, which is at its heart a children's novel that Tolkien had wrote for his son. So even if it has been a while since you saw this beautiful film, I highly recommend revisiting it again.
Note: I couldn't find a trailer for the film, so instead I am sharing this beautiful song from the opening credits of the film.
I saw this the very first time it aired! My dad was a huge Tolkien fan!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's really awesome. It came out a few years before I was born, so sadly I didn't discover it until the early 1990s.
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