During the last 20 years, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy has been enshrined as a wintertime favourite by these craving spectacle and a comfy time on the sofa. We will (and have!) debated if the movies are greatest served by one vacation or one other, however each fantasy nut appears to agree: The combination of Misty Mountains snow and an timeless flicker of hope for a brighter future is a treatment for the winter blues.
However I’ve a brand new suggestion for Rings followers who would possibly wish to shake issues up, or put an all-ages-friendly spin on the custom: 1977’s The Hobbit.
Produced by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, the duo behind stop-motion Christmas classics like Rudolph the Pink-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to City, in addition to the hand-drawn Frosty the Snowman, The Hobbit TV film’s repute is… poor. Critics of the time noticed it as gradual and overly whimsical. However after a latest reread of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, and a rewatch of the movie (it’s streaming now on Max), these negatives really feel like an necessary a part of the Rankin/Bass system that has stored the corporate’s vacation shorts so indelible 60 years later. In truth, The Hobbit would possibly really feel proper at dwelling alongside Rudolph in a Christmas rewatch slate.
Animated for Rankin/Bass by Topcraft, the anime studio that Hayao Miyazaki would ultimately name dwelling, the 1977 movie was tailored by Romeo Muller (the author behind all of the Christmas specials) with the utmost faithfulness. Very like Tolkien’s guide, the movie wastes no time in introducing Bilbo Baggins to Gandalf, Thorin Oakenshield, and Thorin’s band of dwarves, who require Bilbo’s assist to infiltrate and recapture the Lonely Mountain from the gold-hoarding dragon Smaug.
Picture: Warner Bros. Footage
The get together ventures off and hits all of the acquainted beats, from an encounter with trolls to a showdown with the Goblin King, a fateful assembly with Gollum, and a barrel experience on the way in which out from the elven kingdom. Anybody acquainted with Jackson’s almost nine-hour tackle The Hobbit shall be thrilled to see Muller gracefully thread Tolkien’s story right into a 78-minute TV film bundle. The one sufferer of cuts is Bilbo and firm’s stint with Beorn the shape-shifter, whose facet journey even appears like trimmable fats within the guide (sizzling take?).
Topcraft’s animation is especially lush all through the movie, constructing on manufacturing design by Rankin, who was closely impressed by illustrator Arthur Rackham’s watercolors. The laborious traces, shadow work, and earthy coloration palette really feel extra like idea artwork than cel animation. In comparison with the studio’s work on Frosty, Topcraft outdoes itself with the character performances. The dwarves’ worn faces create a historical past to Center-earth and each monster is full nightmare gasoline (however… in a kid-friendly means). I might watch Bilbo and Gandalf puff hand-drawn smoke rings all day.
Much like their Christmas films, Rankin and Bass lean closely on songs to sew the motion collectively. Within the absence of conventional carols, their go-to composer, Maury Legal guidelines, wrote a few of the most Nineteen Seventies folks bops conceivable, together with “The Best Journey (The Ballad of the Hobbit),” carried out by Glenn Yarbrough, who went on to make an honest residing touring with Christmas music. The soundtrack provides Bilbo and the dwarves’ perilous journey a sure fancifulness that isn’t current in Tolkien, but it surely’s leveled out by the casting: You don’t solid John Huston as Gandalf to make issues gooey. Everybody on this film is barking and continually at one another’s throats, true to the supply materials.
Picture: Warner Bros. Footage
Picture: Warner Bros. Footage
In rewatching The Hobbit across the Christmas season, I couldn’t assist however see the dedication to Tolkien’s plotting as downright theological, a type of religious reverence that was current within the Christian-leaning Christmas specials. Some consider that Tolkien’s time writing letters within the voice of Father Christmas led him to create Gandalf within the first place — watching a bearded dude and a bunch of dwarves might actually conjure the picture of Santa at his manufacturing unit. However even past the floor, there’s a sure Yuletide glow to Rankin/Bass’ Hobbit, the concept this nice fantasy have to be dedicated to display in all of its unattainable glory. The tales of Center-earth really feel like scripture as Muller items collectively the important thing set-pieces. If Tolkien didn’t write it, it’s probably not on this model of The Hobbit.
Living proof: Jackson devoted a whole film to the Battle of the 5 Armies, whereas Rankin and Bass take a extra Tolkien-esque method of saying the upcoming battle, sprinkling in a couple of spurts of motion, then reducing to black when Bilbo will get knocked out. The hobbit wakes up because the mud of struggle settles. Everybody hugs it out and goes dwelling. That’s what occurred, that’s what we get, and that’s all we actually want.
That brevity is within the title of being downright non secular concerning the textual content. Bilbo’s riddle-filled face-off with Gollum takes the type of a biblical parable. Smaug growls with fireplace earlier than going full Previous Testomony on Lake City. A closing burst of greed from Center-earth’s warring factions is met with a pure coronary heart by Bilbo, who convinces man, elf, and dwarf to place variations apart and create a brand new future for the continent.
It’s epic, and stuffed with pleasure. And when you spend your Christmas on the church of Lord of the Rings, 1977’s The Hobbit could be an surprising deal with.
The Hobbit is streaming now on Max.