Product: The Hobbit [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 5.0
the best fantasy film--so far
I caught this when it was first run on television, in 1978 or 79. I was thirteen or fourteen, and literally by chance I switched on the tube just as this film--of which I had never heard--was beginning. I was enthralled, and when I discovered that the film was based on a book, well, you can guess the rest. Read, read, read.But as to this film. I still maintain it is the finest fantasy film ever made. The storyline, of course, is excellent even considering the elements in the book that are missing from the film. The animation is, well, about what you'd expect--better than modern cartoons, but nowhere near the level of a Disney (or, these days, Dreamworks) film.And the voices--with the exception of the elven king (as another reviewer noted--what's up with the elves here?)--are superb. For my money, John Huston's Gandalf cannot be topped. Huston's delivery has just the right amount of artificiality--rather like Shakespearean dialog--to seem both real yet somehow elevated.I can't comment on the DVD's technical screw-ups, as I have only the VHS, which I got years and years ago. From the sounds of things, I think I'll stick with it.