The Hobbit (1966)

Movie
Original title	The hobbit
Country of production	USA , Czechoslovakia
original language	English
Publishing year	1966
length	12 minutes
Rod
Director	Gene Deitch
script	Gene Deitch
production	William L. Snyder
music	Václav Lidl
camera	Zdenka Hajdová
occupation
Herbert Lass : Narrator

The Hobbit is an English language drawing story from 1966 , based on the book The Little Hobbit by JRR Tolkien .

The film adaptation, which is not particularly true to the factory, is the first film adaptation of the book. It was only published on a very small scale in 1966 and only served to process a profitable licensing deal.

action

In the time of Middle-earth , an imperial treasure is kept in the city of Thal , nicknamed the city of golden bells, the most valuable piece of which, the Arkenstein , is the white "heart of the lonely mountain". But then it happens that a monstrous servant of evil, the dragon Schlacke (English literally: "Slag") destroys the city to the ground and carries away the treasure along with the Arkenstein. Only three residents of Thal survive: a guard who slept through the dragon attack, the garrison general Thorin Eichenschild and the princess "Mika Milovana". Together the three look at the empire lying in ashes. Only the great magician Gandalf can help, General Eichenschild finally realizes.

The three of them reach the lonely tower of Gandalf the Gray, ragged and exhausted. The great magician receives them and immediately realizes that everything has happened as the prophecy in the great book foretold. The time of the hobbit had come. Gandalf leads the three survivors to Hobbiton , where the hobbits live in comfortable caves in the earth. One of these hobbits is Bilbo Baggins , who, unlike the great, great, great, great hobbit, is not looking for dragon adventures. Suddenly Gandalf and the three people seeking help are standing in Bilbo Baggins' room. Immediately they begin to serve themselves. They consume the hobbit's food supplies. tell him about stolen gold, dragon fire and death. Gandalf further explains to the hobbit that he is the chosen dragon slayer who will lead the group to the dragon. At first, Bilbo Baggins refuses to join the group. But when the princess emphasizes that she will go alone if necessary, Bilbo Baggins agrees in shock. The next morning, Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, the sleepy guard and the princess set out. Gandalf, who knows what horrors lurk in front of his companions, stays behind to watch everything from a distance.

With just a few rations of food, barely as much as the average hobbit consumes as a snack, the companions set off. You leave Hobbiton behind and follow the route of an ancient map. The path leads you over mountains that are difficult to pass. Unsuspecting, the travelers approached two "groans" who were roasting a stolen lamb by a campfire. Legends about these troll creatures , with a bark-thick skin, say that they have to be in their caves before sunrise, otherwise they would take root in the ground as dry trees. For the two groans, whose favorite food is human flesh, the lamb merely stimulates the appetite. For the hungry companions, the tasty smell of the lamb is irresistible. Without caution, Bilbo runs off. His three companions immediately followed his example. However, they are faster, larger and do not pay attention to the hobbit. As they run, they push Bilbo to the side so that he spins into a tree trunk. In no time the three starving people reach the campfire and in no time they are grabbed by the two groans and tied to a roasting stick. One of the two groans, who had previously roasted the lamb, hangs the three companions tied to a roasting stick over the fire to roast. The other Groan does not like this and complains angrily. He demands that the new victims should be cooked. Then the first groan angrily knocks the roasting spit aside and yells at the other groan. He should be happy to have so much human flesh at once. Due to the outburst of anger, the three companions are now on the other side of the campfire and are at least saved for the time being. But the night is far from over. Bilbo realizes that if the argument should end, so will his comrades. He realizes he has to keep the two Groans fighting to save them. Bilbo imitates the voice of the Groans, the hollow tree trunk amplifies its voice with the wording: "Oh sure you control me and eat more than I do." The first Groan then adds: "You are only talking stupid things, you stupid." both groans begin to fight wildly. You forget everything, the food and ultimately the break of dawn. The rays of the sun hit them and they take root and freeze in place. Bilbo tricked her. Bilbo and the three remaining ones continue their way over the high mountains. Biblo's companions have a higher opinion of him after the incident. Thorin Eichenschild suspects that Biblo might turn out to be useful in the end. But suddenly Biblo has disappeared.

Bilbo falls through a crevasse deep into a mountain, the tunnel of which is mostly populated by hateful grave loops (literally: "Grablings"), which like to kill and eat out of sheer malice. After his fall, Bilbo finds himself at the bottom of a deep tunnel. A creature whose name is Gollum lives in said mountain tunnel . Gollum had found a valuable ring many years ago and then crawled with it into the depths of the mountain to hide it. Gollum had been alone with the ring for so long that he was now talking to himself . Gollum senses that someone has entered his tunnel that could take the ring away from him. Gollum goes in search of the potential thief in order to kill him. Meanwhile the ring has already found its way to Biblo. The ring is the One Ring of Power , a magical ring that Gandalf has been looking for for a long time. Bilbo immediately feels the magical power that now emanates from the ring on his finger. Gollum approaches the hobbit to crush him. Bilbo jumps to the next ascending tunnel with his broad hobbit feet. Gollum fears that Bilbo could soon find the way out of the mountain. Bilbo, who doesn't know the way to the exit, follows Gollum through a tunnel path in which none of the grappling loops are. Bilbo runs after Gollum, further and further up and finally meets the soothing sunshine outside the mountain. Shortly afterwards, Bilbo meets his companions again. You are now beyond the mountain barricades. Now the next obstacle to travel lies before the companions, the dense, impenetrable bleak forest. A dense, endless forest, the mist of which is as poisonous as its plants. Famished and exhausted, they reached the edge of the forest and the even more dangerous Lonely Mountain .

The dragon slag has completely devastated the immediate area around the lonely mountain. He wants to sleep in a large hall in the gem mine in Thal. It rests on the gathered treasure of Thals, which also includes many precious stones that were originally mined in precisely these mines. If he has slept in, he will destroy other countries, possibly Hobbiton too. The little hobbit Bilbo sneaks up to the dragon lair . He discovers the heart-shaped arken stone between the gemstones, which gives him an idea. The growing love for the princess encourages Bilbo. He sneaks up to the Arkenstein. The dragon may not notice him because he still carries the powerful ring with him. Bilbo seizes the Arkenstein and drags it away. Together with his three companions, he then builds a large crossbow. They attached the heart-shaped Arkenstein to a crossbow arrowhead. Together they shoot the crossbow at the sleeping dragon. The arrowhead penetrates the hard dragon armor, the Arkensteinspitze hits the heart of the dragon and kills the screaming dragon. Bilbo succeeded in his plan, just as Gandalf had predicted.

Bilbo and Princess Myka become a couple. They let Thal rebuild and rule it together. Finally, they return to cozy Hobbiton together. They live there until the moment when Gandalf the Gray next knocks.

background

The producer William Snyder had bought the Tolkien filming rights cheaply. The original attempt to win further investors for the film implementation failed, however. Shortly before the license expired, only a few film sketches and a script for the planned feature film existed. In the meantime, Tolkien's work had become more widely known. The film rights had increased significantly in value. The license agreement that was concluded provided that if Snyder produced a color film for the Hobbit book by June 30, 1966, he would receive the filming rights to the Tolkien book The Lord of the Rings on favorable terms. The quality of the film was not further specified. It didn't have to be an animated film and the length of the film wasn't specified either. Snyder hardly had any time left, but nevertheless he decided that the planned film should be made very simplified and greatly reduced within the remaining time.

The previously created script by Gene Deitch, which was hardly true to the work, was supplemented with references to the Lord of the Rings and otherwise severely shortened. Only a few people were involved in the production of the film. The main work took place in a Czech animation studio. The drawings, including the scene, are apparently by Gene Deitch and Adolf Born . The short film was brought to New York by director Gene Deitch immediately after its completion . Gene Deitch arrived with the film just before the end of June. Snyder had rented a small screening room. Gene Deitch invited passers-by to watch the film. After the screening of the film, the test viewers were asked to sign a document stating that they had seen the film. As a result, Snyder was able to secure the Tolkien licenses. He sold the rights back to Tolkien and his publisher for $ 100,000.

Web links

• The Hobbit in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The Hobbit in the online movie database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hobbit short film from 1966 , dated: January 10, 2012, accessed: February 9, 202
2. ↑ The translation of the English word "slag" is "slag". See dict.cc English-German, entry: slag, accessed on: January 13, 2020
3. ↑ The full name is difficult to understand acoustically in the film. You could also hear “Mikamillavarna”, for example. Gene Deitch published the correct spelling on his homepage. See Gene Deitch Credits. 40.William L. Snyder and: Tolkiengateway Mika Milovana , each accessed on: January 16, 2020
4. ↑ The name “Groans” is apparently intended to indicate the “groaning” and “sighing” traits of these beings. See dict.cc English-German, entry: groan and Rhenish dictionary: gronen , each accessed on: January 13, 2020
5. ↑ Cf. dict.cc English-German, entry: grab accessed on: January 14, 2020
6. ↑ GeneDeitchCredits. The 65 Greats behind the scenes! 43. Jiří Trnka , accessed on: February 9, 2020
7. ↑ Hobbit short film from 1966 , dated: January 10, 2012, accessed on: February 9, 2020
8. ↑ GeneDeitchCredits. The 65 Greats behind the scenes! 40. William L. Snyder or Googel translation