Poprvé se zde na fernbyfilms.com, jsme hrdí na nejnovější verzi archivní materiál pro svůj potěšení. Režie: Warwick Twelftree, Sonfest 2002 je dokumentární film pohled na jeden z největších křesťanských hudebních open-air festivalů v Austrálii, na něž v roce 2002. Představujeme film je to originální, nesestříhané formát, ve čtyřech částech. Dnes Vám představujeme část 1.
"Pokud fakta neodpovídají teorii, změňte fakta."
- Albert Einstein
Tento týden FERNBYFILMS.COM
Pro všechny nové čtenáře, vítejte! Vzali jsme na vědomí, že spravedlivé většina našeho čtenáře základny pochází z velké země Německa, tak pro všechny, in Deutschland, my říkáme, velký Vítejte zu unserem Aufstellungsort, hoffen wir, dass Sie IHN genießen. Jasný z Google, takže pokud překlad není zcela správný, omlouvám se.
Poté, co minulý týden to neuvěřitelně úspěšné pohled na Pána prstenů, bereme věci trochu pomaleji, tady tento týden. Jen pár last minute on-line hodnocení přijít v pátek a sobotu: jsme vyzkoušet Alfreda Hitchcocka Psycho, a Ridleyho Scotta Království nebeské mistrovské dílo. Zbytek týdne bude přijato krok s nejnovějšími Nahrání z archivu v Fernby Films, tento měsíc, je to Warwick Twelftree koncert Doco, Sonfest 2002. Jsme pořád ještě spoustu archivního materiálu nahrát v příštích měsících, takže se nemusíte trápit! Března se podívat na nějaké originální nahrané přívěsy, stejně jako celovečerní film, Back To The Stix. Do té doby, užijte si Sonfest nahrát tento týden!
Tajná veverka je zpět ještě dnes se jeho pravidelné komentáře, tak se podívejte zpět, že den se rozvine. A jako obvykle, pokud je případně pozdní nejnovější zprávy nebo recenze tento týden, budeme nahrávat na ně okamžitě.
Nyní trochu smutnou zprávou. Zdá se, že náš kamarád a kolega Greg "Colin" Bowden, musel zrušit a jeho Big Fat filmového festivalu, který je škoda, protože jsme byli opravdu těšíme na přečtení několika recenzí těch filmů od něj. Proto jsme se vzít dolů CB3F stránku z webu a náš odkaz na jeho webových stránkách se čeká na kontrolu. Pro ty, následující po, možná byste mu přetažení čáry a přejeme mu hodně štěstí! V takovém případě jeho poslední příspěvek na letošní Oscary je zajímavá, a lze je nalézt na domovské stránce Oscara v postranním panelu na pravé straně. Vyzkoušejte to a získejte všechny nejnovější zprávy Oscara!
Pro ty následující podél byly nominace na Oscara ve čtvrtek oznámil, jen pryč, a když jste vynechal je (a přiznejme si to, měli byste se musí žít pod skálou, pokud si nebyli vědomi, že naše Heath byl nominován za nejlepší vedlejší herec!) si můžete prohlédnout kompletní seznam pomocí následujícího odkazu. Budeme jít do Oscarů trochu více do hloubky příští měsíc, jak se přiblíží události, ale dám vám tip horké nyní: Golden Globe vítězství Heatha pro The Dark Knight, on posílil jako oblíbené, aby ven Oscara, a já jsem pro jednoho, může se dočkat. Sentimentality pravidla kolem fernbyfilms.com úřadů, a je to můj pick vzít domů na gong. Přidali jsme naše speciální Oscar anketu do postranního panelu, takže vybrat svůj oblíbený film vyhrál Oscara za nejlepší obrázek v letošním roce! Dostat se do toho! Podívejte se na naše zbrusu zbrusu nový Oscar stránku stejně, kompletní s přívěsy z nominovaných filmů, plus odkazy na všech našich příspěvků a informací o velkou událost!
Mimochodem, na s týdnů příspěvky! Avante!
Rodney T - ředitel Fernby Films.
Takže co teď na světě Tolkiena? Po úspěchu Pána prstenů trilogie, a skutečnost, že vydláždil cestu pro legitimní fantasy zamést na velké obrazovce, New Line začala klusu se na koncepci vracet a filmování Tolkiens To první román, Hobit, které byly zmíněny jen stěží v Fellowship of the Rings. Hobit vypadalo jako přirozené návaznosti na trilogii, i když Jackson prohlásil, že "v současné době" žádný zájem na přehodnocení Středozemě tak brzy poté, co opustil ji.
Tření V New Line
Krátce po Pán prstenů zatáčky Oscara, pro něž v předchozím článku, Peter Jackson vzal bezprecedentní žalobu proti New Line Cinema pro předpokládaný nezaplacené honoráře z prodeje DVD ze Společenstva Prstenu a veřejně prohlásil, že studio bylo až dodgied knihy, význam Jackson byl mnoho milionů dolarů krátké. Zda je to pravda nebo ne, je předmětem další, mnohem větší smysl článku, ale stačí říci, že Bob Shaye, podněcovatel Pán prstenů trilogie v roce 1997, nebyl šťastný. On veřejně opovrhovat Jackson a pokračoval v záznamu, že "Jackson nikdy nebude fungovat v tomto studiu znovu", prohlášení, že by později přišel litovat.
V letech 2003 (kdy byl propuštěn Návrat krále) a nyní, byly New Line bohatství řekl, že se stává více a více ponuré, s řetězem pokladny duds řezbářské dláto hluboko do studia pokladny. New Line nutně potřeboval hit, a oni věděli, že bych si jedno, pokud se mohli dostat Hobita od země. Nicméně, tam bylo pár problémů, než by mohli dělat tak.
Mnoho měsíců dříve, byla práva na Hobita prodával MGM Studios, tvůrci filmů Jamese Bonda. MGM, když pochopila, že tam byly peníze, aby bylo v Tolkiena nyní, by se prodávat práva k MGM, takže New Line muselo závalu na požadovat, aby v koprodukci studio je pro nový film. Mnoho z obsazení původních filmů prstenů trilogie uvedla, že se nevrátí, pokud Peter Jackson byl ředitelem, Bob Shaye uvedení do kouta: buď musel zatáhnout jeho předchozí prohlášení nebo potenciální riziko vzpoury ventilátoru v případě, že si vybral jiný režisér. Shaye, nicméně, měl jednu klíčovou výhodu: je to opravdu nevadilo, který režíroval a hrál ve filmu, protože by to vydělat peníze bez ohledu na to, co.
Tlak Tolkien fan-základny pomohl síly nový řádek zpátky na svém prohlášení o budoucnosti Jacksona se značkou Tolkien, a to přišlo přibližně ve stejnou dobu jako soudní tahanice plateb byl urovnán ven dvoru. Shaye vyšel ven a veřejně prohlásil, že nebudou dělat Hobita, pokud Jackson byl zapojen, ale v uplynulých letech, Jackson se stal se zapletený s několika dalšími filmovými projekty, a už nemohl zavázat se k režii filmu.
I když to zklamání hodně lidí, studio přišel s alternativou: Jackson by produkovat nové filmy, a on mohl jmenovat ředitele podle svého výběru. Reakce fanouška na dva filmové dohody byla hluboká. První film by se filmová verze Hobita. Druhá byla zřejmě překlenovací filmu nastavení mezi událostmi v Hobitovi a ti Společenstva Prstenu. Přesně to, co by znamenalo, že byl a do jisté míry stále je záhadou. V každém případě, dva Tolkien-set filmy jsou lepší než jeden. Dalším úkolem bylo najít režiséra ochotný vstoupit do Středozemě stáda.
Jacksonova volba byla překvapivá jeden. Guillermo Del Toro, režisér filmů jako Princ bez páteř, Blade 2, Pana Labrynth a imitátor, byl oznámen jako muže, který by kormidlo nových filmů. Del Toro, který je skvěle nepříznivé filmů představovat věci jako skřety a elfy, mluvil dlouze s Jacksonem o jeho účasti, a Jackson přesvědčil Španělsko-rozený ředitele, aby to zkusit. Fan reakce byla okamžitá. Téměř všechny jsou v naprosté většině ve prospěch volby, a Jackson poskytování vůdčí světlo jako výrobce, cítil série byla ku prospěchu za to, že o podobnou kvalitu jako původní prstenů filmů.
V uplynulých měsících a letech, protože to všechno došlo, ventilátor spekulace byla hojná, kteří by hrát všechny role, ať už stejné obsazení může nebo by měla být použita v rolích, které si předtím dělal, pokud jsou použitelné. Gandalf byl zámek Ian MacKellan, kdo říkal, že on by rád hrát roli znovu. Část Bilba, hrál v původní trilogie Ian Holm, by nepochybně vyžadovalo mladší herce. Zmínka o Gimli návratu k portrétu, a možná dokonce i Legolas.
Ale co si myslet o druhém filmu, jeden se nezakládá na žádné příběhu především, ale konglomerace materiálů získaných z jiných zdrojů? Bylo by to zaměřit se na událostech vyprávěných v Silmarillion a posmrtný román od Tolkiena, který hovořil o pre-historie Středozemě? No, pokud připomínky Del Toro a Jackson jsou něco jet, asi ne. Tak co to nechat nás?
Šedých přístavů
Při pohledu do budoucna, je těžké vidět za původní hoopla okolní nové Tolkienových filmů. Co jiného by mohlo být provedeno?
Prsteny skladatel Howard Shore již nahrál hudbu z filmů v sérii koncertů a vydal téměř celistvost jeho autorem hudby na CD pro fanoušky, aby přístup. Rozšířené vydání, které byly vyčerpávajícím způsobem zálohovány hodin bonusového materiálu, bude pravděpodobně propuštěn na novém formátu disku HD až do konce světa, znovu a znovu vydělávat na úspěch.
By filmař někdy dost odvahy uvažovat Silmarillion jako filmový projekt? Složitost a nelineární vyprávění ve stylu toho, co je v podstatě biblické "Budiž světlo" původ příběh by bylo těžké převést na plátna kin v cestě, která byla stravitelnější pro publikum. Já říkám, že teď, ale nepochybně v příštích letech, bude někdo přijít s tak. Přesto, tady a teď, zdá se nepravděpodobné.
Publikace v roce 2007 z nové knihy Tolkien, The Children Of Húrin, nicméně, vzhledem k tomu důvod se zastavit a zvážit, zda bychom se měli snažit překládat zbytek Tolkiens pracuje na filmu. Blesk lahvového blesku, který byl prstenů trilogie nemohl opakovat, že? Na dobu neurčitou? Vzhledem k tomu, že Tolkien zemřel v roce 1973, je těžké si představit nic víc literatura pochází z pera jeho mocným. Tak kde nadále pro textů muže některé považuji za jeden z literárního světa obrů.
Je těžké si představit svět, ve kterém Frodo a jeho příbuzní nejsou obývají určité úrovně povědomí veřejnosti. Na nějakém místě, téměř každý v západním světě má číst, nebo mohla být vystavena, díla Tolkiena. Můžete si představit, tedy, že dožaduje filmu a TV funguje z jeho knih a publishings může být intenzivní, ale přesto se zdá, že tomu tak není. Hobit a jeho pokračování stranou, je to těžké vidět něco trvalý odkaz Tolkiens dále pracovat do budoucna.
Nedokončené příběhy publikace by bylo zcela nevhodné pro natáčení, protože je to eklektická a "nedokončený" příroda brání nic nestalo z těchto příběhů bez velkých manipulací ze statečného filmaře. Tolkienův syn Christopher, publikoval 12 Svazek sérii knih zkoumání celého dědictví autora, včetně nedokončených a alternativní verzí jeho dříve publikovaných prací. A je to těžké pochopit, studio, který má prasklinu v partou nedokončených obchodů pro film.
Proto je to moje přesvědčení, že jednou Hobit (a jeho pokračování), aby jej na velké obrazovce, bude nedostatek uceleného a soudržného příběhu materiálu, ze kterého filmaři můžete postavit kompletní celovečerní film, aniž by se uchylovat k "inspirovaný "slogan často používá, když se lidé řeznictví dalších letech práce. Zatímco mnoho veřejně prohlásila, že tam je tolik materiálu, aby se těžilo z děl Tolkiens, různé back-příběhy a druhého stupně znaků ve světě Země střední, je nepravděpodobné, že ventilátor reakce bude predikát takový úspěch jako bylo dosaženo Tři prsteny filmů. Vzhledem k tomu, by se mohlo zdát na začátku, že současná filmová produkce z Hobita bude poslední šance pro lidi vidět film Tolkien se na velkém plátně, což je důvod, jak se radovat a truchlí.
Není pochyb o tom však s popularitou světa Země střední, lidé najít způsob, jak pokračovat v dobrodružství Tolkiens světě, bez ohledu na to, jak jinak to může být. Fan fiction, populární žánr na internetu, je možná ideální místo pro lidi zkoumat témata a pozemky na Zemi Střední, používat jejich vlastní slova, vlastní fantazie, použití všeho, co Tolkien dělal k jeho vytvoření a jeho rozšíření, to mytologizující , vytvářet živé a různorodé extrapolaci práce původně začatý v pozdní Oxford Donu.
Rychlé pročtení na internetu prozradí dostatek míst fanfic, čeká na hardcore fanoušky, aby prozkoumala, a přesto, i když není možná komerčně přijata, nebo dokonce požehnal Tolkiens majetku, schopnost lidí, aby prozkoumala jeho svět na vlastní pěst, je Možná subtilní způsob vyvolání mýty Tolkien sám stěžoval jsou chybějící v anglické historii: v cestě, jeho začátek pokračoval na world wide web, přes tisíc lidí, kteří mají uklidňující se ponořit hlouběji do světa, který vytvořil.
Je těžké si představit, někdo psát více Středozemě romány, zejména bez příjmení Tolkien. Chcete-li vyzkoušet a udělat obchodní manévr z legendy velkého člověka, a dále se slova napsal, že v této době téměř za svatokrádež. Bylo by to jako někdo píše novou knihu Harry Potter, který nebyl JK Rowling. Přesto, snad v budoucnu by se autoři snaží proslulosti a oživit obrovskou poptávku po světě Tolkiens To, přidejte do mytologie a legenda ..... Koneckonců, není to, co Tolkien sám chtěl? Lidé psali o nové knihy Jamese Bonda, a po smrti Iana Flemmings, takže myslím, že všechno je možné v těchto dnech.
Bez ohledu na budoucnost může mít v jakékoli formě médií jde v: Pán prstenů byl za prvé a především, kniha. Použití osob fantazie k vytvoření jejich vlastní verze Frodo, Sam, temných jezdců a dokonce i Sauron, je možná silnější a silnější, než cokoliv režisér, kameraman, umělec nebo hudebník CG by mohlo vytvořit. A to se moji přátelé, aby nová verze opusu Tolkiens však stále zůstává konečný, nedobyté formát, aby si tento velkolepý příběh.
No, další rok uplynul nás, s mnoha skvělými (a ne tak velká), filmy v kinech ven po celém světě v průběhu posledních 366 dní, ale jaké byly a představení poznámky, která upoutala pozornost Akademie Motion Picture Arts & Sciences v roce 2008 (a část roku 2009)?
No, díky, náš nebojácný Rodney vůdce, máme seznam významných ocenění jsou prezentovány na slavnostním ceremoniálu 22. února.
Takže, pojďme začít s velkými ocenění:
BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR: I'm sticking with the form lead-up to the Oscars and picking Slumdog Millionaire to take the big one. American sentiment may end up pushing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button over the line, though. And in a year which saw a presidential election, Frost/Nixon is my dark horse.
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING: Very hard to pick this year as all the directors are exceptional, but if I have to pick one, I'll go with Gus Van Sant for Milk . Perennial nominee Ron Howard is back again with Frost/Nixon , and David Fincher is in with a chance for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button .
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Sean Penn. That simple. Proč? His performance in Milk is exceptional, and he's already won an Oscar, for Mystic River . Frank Langella as former US President Richard Nixon in Frost/ Nixon is my back-up. As for Brad? I'd have my “It's an honour just to have been nominated” speech polished up for the media…
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE : Brangelina will walk away with an Oscar. While Brad will be empty-handed, Angelina will snare the prize on the night. Clint Eastwood has been able to make leading ladies shine when given strong roles, as he did with Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby , and this is a truly commanding performance. The only actress who can knock her off would be Anne Hathaway, who won the Golden Globe for her performance in Rachel Getting Married .
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE : Two words: Heath Ledger. His role as The Joker in The Dark Knight dominates the screen. And, sad but true, the Academy is one for sentiment, so a posthumous Oscar is on the cards. But he was so bloody good, that he would still get it if were still alive. It's good to see Robert Downey Jr. back in the hunt for Tropic Thunder as “the dude playin' the dude disguised as another dude”. Should get an award for one of the best one-liners of the year: “I'ma lead farmer, motherf**ker!!!”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE : A tough call. Not having seen any of the films makes this even more difficult. But, I'll go with Marisa Tomei to snare a second Oscar for The Wrestler . I'll probably be wrong, though.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR : Oh, this is too good. Three brilliant films are up for the gong this year – Bolt , Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E . But only one will clean up. Literally. It's “ WALL-E!!! “
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM : The second award for Pixar Studios, with Presto the clear favourite, as the lead-in for WALL-E in cinemas worldwide, this was a true gem. Currently the best animated short film made by Pixar.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The fight will be between Happy-Go-Lucky (my choice) and Milk for the Oscar, with WALL-E as my dark horse.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY : I reckon this is between Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . But don't ask me to make a final decision on it…
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE & SONG) : I've put these two awards together as I reckon they will both go for the same film: WALL-E . Peter Gabriel's Down To Earth was a moving tune and the score was incredible.
Well, that's the major awards covered there. Souhlasíte s tím? Disagree? Post your comments and thoughts.
Good morning!
Well, by now we've heard the listings for this years Academy Awards nominations, and we've decided to list them all here, in one easy place. After this weeks Presidential Inauguration, it's a little strange to suddenly have the next big thing occur so soon afterwards, and I guess everybody's forgotten about the Nominations Announcement (they wont forget about the awards telecast next month though!)
Have a look at them, see which one's you think will win, and which won't. Admittedly, some of the below films have yet to see a big screen release here in Australia, however, taking that into account, over the next month, we'll give you a little bit of our own ideas on who and what we think will be successful on Oscar night. Feb 22nd , (actually Feb 23rd here in Australia, by the time the show is broadcast!) is the date with destiny for the below listed features: so sit back and enjoy the countdown to cinema's night of nights!! We'll have our tips on the winners closer to the broadcast date, and after the event we'll post the list of winners, and our response to yet another Oscar show, online in due course. Lot's of fun and games coming your way!!!
So, without further ado, here are the nominations for this years Academy Awards:
Best Picture Nominations
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Visual Effects
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Song
Best Original Score
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Animated Short Subject
Best Documentary Short Subject
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Costume Design
Best Makeup
Peter Jackson's version of The Lord Of The Rings wasn't the first time somebody had attempted to bring Tolkien's vision to the big screen. Back in 1978, a filmmaker named Ralph Bakshi had delved into Tolkien's world to present an animated version of Frodo and Sam, Gandalf and Strider, all with the use of a rather unique form of storytelling: rotoscoping. We thought, in the interests of a more complete review of Tolkiens' massive tale, we'd quickly touch on the original film version, as released by United Artists, back in the late 70′s.
Bakshi, known for the x-rated film Fritz The Cat , as well as other projects like Coonskin and Heavy Traffic , signed up to direct a retelling of the first part of Tolkien's epic, based upon events of Fellowship of the Ring and portions of The Two Towers . After the success of a previous film, Wizards , which told of a post-apocalyptic Earth transformed by mutants and humans duking it out, Bakshi had a fair idea of what he wanted to achieve with Tolkien's massive opus. Initially though to be unfilmable, especially in live-action, Bakshi decided to make the film in a format that could do the mystical and wonderful effect justice: animation. However, not your standard Disney-esque animation, this would be different. Bakshi would shoot all his action in live action, using real actors for each role, and then rotoscope animation on top of them, using merely the movements to accommodate his storytelling. The fluidity of the animation, over the top of live elements, meant a more… well, realistic feel for the film.
Hobbits. Sweet.
Rotoscoping, for the uninitiated, is the art of painting out, or in, an image over the top of a pre-existing film element, to convey an image that wasn't captured in the original film frame. Mainly known (at the time) for removing wires and cable used to make actors fly or swing through the air, stunt wires etc, the rotoscoping art was a painstaking form of animation that required dedication and expertise from the artisans performing it. More often than not it was tedious, mind-numbing work, and an unlikely form to use as the main source of technique in a film proper.
Still, Bakshi went ahead with his audacious plan, seeing it as the only way to be able to do Tolkien justice. The magical world of Middle Earth, with it's goblins, Hobbits, wizards, dragons et al, were suitable only for the technical limitations of film at the time, which meant that real-live actors and sets, locations and effects, were not able to deliver the story in a way deemed acceptable.
Assembling a cast that included Christopher Guard, William Hurt and even a pre- Star Wars Anthony Daniels, Bakshi set about filming the sequences in live-action first, then sending the frames to be animated. Not all the voice cast was used for the live action filming, however, as some extras and stand-in's were used for this work. Key sequences of battles, in which hundreds of people are seen on-screen, were filmed live, then animated, a process which was painstaking in the highest, although the end result was a level of detail much more cost effective to achieve than animating from scratch.
The Fellowhip meets Galadriel in Lothlorien.
After years of production, the film, entitled with the laborious moniker of JRR Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings , was released, to financial success around the world. Even though it was panned by many critics, who didn't like the freely edited story and the rather unique (but somewhat disconcerting) style of animation.
Indeed, Bakshi's Lord Of The Rings , which uses elements of Fellowship and Two Towers , is an inaccurate moniker, as the film is only the beginning of the story: it ends after the battle for Helm's Deep. Due perhaps to time and money constraints, the original text of Tolkien is used in a minimalist way, with most characters given short thrift in the final film, reducing the powerful elements of the story to simple, five-second bits in amongst a series of stylised, and utterly empty, vignettes. Compared to Jackson's versions, Bakshi's original film is almost a Readers Digest version, slashed to bit's by a studio and audience incapable (at the time) of enjoying such a powerful story told in full. It's almost a crime to consider that this film was some people's first look at the world of Tolkien. What must they have thought? Perhaps a little bit of “what the?” at the film ending so abruptly, without a definitive ending of the story.
Hobitín. Nebo, možná, vesničce z Šmoulové. Nejsme si jistí ....
Ve snaze přinést populární román na plátna kin, a tak ukojit touhu milionů fanouška celého světa, kteří chtěli vidět příběh předvolání velké na veřejném vědomí, studio zálohování projektu, sjednocení umělci (není aktuální verze energetického štítku, myslí si, ale originál) a producent Saul Zaentz se snažil přinést určitý styl výhledu do projektu! téměř nikdo nevěděl, co dělat s příběhem Tolkien, jako bylo to komplexnost a epický rozsah, a tak ( zřejmě) prostě pokrčili rameny a dovolil Bakshi, aby jeho film tak, jak on viděl záchvat. Nicméně, studio baulked při představě, že uvolnění film s částí 1 křižoval na konec (který byl Bakshi originální nápad, protože druhá část by být propuštěn a ve vhodnou dobu) a následně, publikum vůle byla rychlá a zběsilá. Lidé šli do kina v domnění, že bych si celý příběh, který nebyl případ. United Artists si myslel, že přidáním část 1 k názvu filmu by snížilo to přijmout, protože lidé by nechtěl vědomě vidět film, který řekl jen polovina příběhu. S ohledem na znění Jacksona a trilogie úspěch, je snadné vidět, že ve zpětném pohledu, snad Spojené mýlil v tomto ohledu. Nezapomínejme, že by se film musel stát na to sami, bez ohledu na titul na obrazovce, a v tomto případě, Bakshi je verze vlastně dělal právě to.
Black Rider pronásleduje Hobitů.
Přesto, že byla oprávněně kritizována pro své nedostatečné dodržování původního příběhu Tolkiena a shromaždiště myšlenky do uceleného příběhu naprosto zoufalé pro ty, kteří neměli tušení, co Tolkien a jeden prsten šlo. Pro mě, film zůstává přístupný jen za to, že jsem četl knihy. Kdybych ne, pak je možné, že Bakshi je verze by letěli přímo přes hlavy většiny. V každém případě je poněkud spletitý a vymyslel příběh z ještě horší nedostatkem emocionální tahu a vývoj charakteru dána i ty ústřední postavu.
Zatímco Bakshi je verze Pána prstenů by mohl být považován za klasiku v dnešní době, je to ještě není tak dobrý film, založený na moderním očím. Příběh je uspěchané, charaktery napůl pečené, témata přehlíženy ve stylizované a trapné animace proces, který, jak by se mohlo vyzkoušet, nemůže pojmout elegantní a silný charakter vyprávění. Možná nejambicióznější věc, o filmu, není animaci, ale způsob, jakým jsou velké kusy příběhu odstraněn ze světa Tolkiena, a přejel přes v co nejstručněji módy v posledním filmu. Celé části původního textu prstenů byly vyřazeny, odsunul stranou s krátkosti jeden řádek dialogu jako: "Frodo a Sam měl mnoho dobrodružství, než se dostali na Mount Doom", který, když ho vařit, znamená "studio Nemůžeme si dovolit udělat celou věc tak jsme prostě vzít nejoblíbenější kousky a animovat je ".
Gandalf v akci ....
Takže je Ralph Bakshi verze Pána prstenů dobrý film? Upřímně řečeno, jako někdo, kdo píše filmové recenze pro hobby, nemohl jsem to najít v sobě najít něco pozitivního psát o zde. Můžu to zkusit odůvodnit tvůrčí rozhodnutí učiněná na tomto filmu a extrapolovat do pozitivního na věci, ale to je tak ze své podstaty stupidní film, který jsem nemohl udělat pro vás, věrné čtenáře. Frodo a Sam, hodně miloval znaků na celém světě, jsou redukovány na jednoduché šifry chybí hloubka a charakterizace, která má ospravedlnit jejich dobrodružství: ve skutečnosti, já bych jít tak daleko, že říkají, že pokud Bakshi a studio si myslel, tento film byl lásky Dopis Tolkien a svět stvořil, pak chudák musí jistě být předení na jeho hrobě. Je to znesvěcení všeho film měl být, jak narativně i stylisticky. Animace je v pořádku, ale není náplast na non-rotoscoped tradiční věci.
I když stála po dlouhou dobu jako jediné filmové zpracování příběhu Tolkien, nyní, že máme Petera Jacksona verzi, můžete Bakshi je odběr jen stát v pozadí a vzdálené brýlí na to, co bylo dosaženo, stejně jako zbytek z nás.
Balrog Bakshi. Myslíme si, že je to lev.
Jako vedlejší poznámku, od filmové verze prstenů byl finanční úspěch, ABC a Warner Bros se rozhodla oživit závěrečné části příběhu, v jejich tradičně animovaném formátu verze Return Of The King. Rankin / Bass, kdo, v roce 1977, produkoval video verzi Hobita, byly znovu využit k výrobě verzi návratu, takže myslím, že v podstatě celý Tolkien příběh, v jedné etapě, se dostal do obrazovka před Jacksona, ale v nesourodým způsobem v žádném případě o kvalitě spojené se záměry autorů původní. Nemohu se vyjádřit ke kvalitě těchto ostatních verzí, protože ani Hobit ani Rankin / Bass Návrat krále jsou k dispozici v Austrálii na DVD, nebo umístitelný na VHS, v době, kdy tento článek jde do tisku.
Ve spěchu, jak vydělávat na úspěchu a historii epické povahy filmové trilogie, Peter Jackson, naštěstí měli dost prozíravosti, aby si uvědomil, že tento projekt by se stal jedním z nejúžasnějších filmových jízd kdy zachycené na videokameru Handycam. He envisioned a DVD to accompany the films that would give the viewer amazing backstage access to the creation of the three films, from opening scripting and history of the story, to the final film's Wellington premiere in 2003, and it's subsequent Oscar sweep, and eventually to the creation of the Extended Edition of the film, seeing his work bow out into history as one of the most celebrated film trilogies of all time.
The Mounth of Sauron arrives.
New Line gave Jackson unprecedented carte-blanche to go back and insert unused footage back into his original cuts of all three films. While Jackson claims that the original theatrical versions of the films are the intended versions, it's fair to say that fan attention on his Extended Editions have been overwhelming to the point where they are now considered the canonical versions over what was originally shown in cinemas. We're going to take a brief look, if we may, at the differences and editorial changes made for the Extended Editions, and how they change the structure and narrative flow of the Theatrical Versions.
Bilbo loses something.
A Longer Fellowship
Pozdní v roce 2002, kdy byl propuštěn Divadelní DVD Fellowship of the Rings, že obsahuje nápovědu, záblesk, o tom, co by bylo známé jako rozšířeného vydání filmu, s více nepoužitých sekvencí vložených zpět do správného filmu. Podporovány jako re-představovat si původního filmu, by vložen materiál prostě být náhodná sbírka vymazaných scén, ale naprostá předělávají materiálu tak, aby odpovídaly záběry již používá. Nová hudba byla napsána, aby se přizpůsobila změnu úpravy, jako nový záznam buď prodloužena, nebo naprosto změnil původní verze. mnozí kritici a fanoušci za původní divadelní verzi, že je téměř nemožné zlepšit, a viděl, manipulace s filmem jako "stanovení" Mona Lisa. Jinými slovy, co by mohlo být provedeno na zlepšení film? A dodal bych délku a další scény k ní vytvořit něco lepší, nebo horší.
Je to docela sázka na jistotu říci, že většina fanoušků filmů by zvážit rozšířené vydání každého filmu zlepšení na původní verze. Přidáním v některé další záběry, které se otevře, prodlužuje a v podstatě z dřeně, charaktery a motivace stanovené tradice, dostanete plnější, hlubší, smysl toho, co Tolkien a Jackson se snaží dosáhnout.
Mějte však na paměti, že by Jackson se na Zemi Blízkém nemůže být klasifikován jako definitivní. Ve skutečnosti, režisér sám uvedl v rozhovoru, že se cítí příběh je jen jeho vlastní pohled na věci, a že byl někdo jiný, aby verzi Pána prstenů, bezpochyby by to bylo jinak tonálně než jeho vlastní.
Takže pro ty, následující po, Rozšířená verze Společenstva dokáže osvěžit a vyplnit několik drobných mezer v divadelní verzi, která sice není přidávat zcela nové sekvence, přidejte trochu hloubku toho, co jsme již poznali. Podstatném rozšíření ve Společenstvu se vyskytuje na samém počátku, s delší verzí otevření samomluva / preambule, včetně další záběry z atentátu Elendil, a to teče přímo do scény zahrnující Bilbo psát své příběhy v Červené knize, která je odkazovat na jiné Tolkienových děl.
Frodo a Sam sledovat odchod Wood Elves.
K dispozici je slušné množství extra materiálu, který se nachází v Fellowship Extended Edition, a to především zvýšením charakter Frodo a události, které ho obklopují: velmi Lothlórienu záběry, bitva záběry a dialogy sekvencí, které všechny slouží k detailnímu rozpracování světa Tolkien, přidejte další emocionální Drama na již přeplněný vyprávění. Frodo a Sam se průzkumy dřevěných elfů opouštějí Středozemě, například, ve kterém Sam říká, že to z něj dělá "smutný", není co dodat k hlavnímu příběhu o zničení jeden prsten, ale rozšiřuje rozsah Středozemi, dovolit něco vytvořit z našich hlavních postav, aby jim soudržnější, vrstvené emocionální pouť. Čím více víme o lidi, tím více máme tendenci je rád, jako obecné pravidlo, takže pokud Jackson nám dává více podrobností o způsobu myšlení našich hrdinů a morální struktury, tím více můžeme vcítit, soucit a péči o ně, když se věci začnou jít špatné později.
Díky přátelství nastavení události řekl v Dvě věže a Návrat, tu méně kritický materiál závit v celé rozšířené filmu, a více se zaměřením na rozvoj osobnosti, něco jsem vždy velkým zastáncem.
Jak tedy Společenstvo Rozšířená jít proti Divadelní verzi? I když určitě déle, je přidána languidity a prostor pro pohyb otevřený film pro zvýšenou kritiku? Ano a ne. Nejednoznačnost stranou, se Extended verze byla považována většinou kritiků a fanoušků, že zlepšení, byť jemné jeden na divadelní verzi. Strukturálně, film se nemění příliš mnoho, protože postavy stále setkávají na stejné překážky a emocionální překážek v delším filmu jako oni cestují dál. Tam je stále stejná emocionální obchůzky ve filmu, stejné emotivní vzestupy a pády odst. Gandalf je zřejmé, smrt, například na rukou Balrog je důvtipně rozšířit pomocí více dialog materiál před konáním akce, a to zejména, předzvěst nebezpečí jako Gandalf varuje Froda mít na pozoru před nebezpečím v rámci Spolku .... a pohledy se jako Boromir putuje minulosti), který prostupuje edit, postavy nemění podstatně liší od předem stanovených norem.
Boromir slaví vítězství.
Vyšší Towers
Druhý film z trilogie, Dvě věže, tak se stal lepší film jako Extended Edition, moreso, než by mohla jako divadelní úpravy. Problém, jak je uvedeno v hlavním článku o filmu, se dvěma věžemi je, že nemá definitivní začátek nebo závěr, je to příběh už začal a ne zcela hotové, tak Jacksonova obtížnější vstup a výstup z filmu je pouze zvýšen přidáno materiál v rozšířené verze filmu. Opět, stejně jako divadelní vydání, Rozšířená verze věží je plná problémy, které se to začíná, a stejně jako předtím, jsme snímek do hlubin Morie přes stěnu hory, a liší se na jinou cestu, než jsme se setkal v Společenstvo. Ve věžích, dostaneme mnohem více Stromovous záběry, prodloužená Helmova žlebu bitvy (pokud je to vůbec možné!) A mnohem více politické drama s Théoden, Saruman a Aragorn. V podobném duchu se Extended verze je Fellowship, věže se více spoléhá na přidanou materiálu vyplnit nějaké šíři a šířkou do vyprávění jako celku, a ačkoli přidanou věci není podstatné, pro vaše potěšení z filmu, při srovnání, Towers Je mnohem lepší film, že je to zdlouhavější verzi.
Tam byla vždy hodně fanoušků odst. ATIC) nenávisti k vidění Jacksona ze dvou věží, a to především pro jeho nedodržování původního příběhu Tolkien v míře, že by se ukázala úplně revizionismus. Postavy a události, které probíhají Tolkien nikdy nenapsal o tom, jako je Jackson přepisování hodně z knihy střední práce Tolkiens ". Nicméně se domnívám, že pokud "duch" z knih je vlastní to, co je na obrazovce, pak pravdivost příběhu ve srovnání s původní (biblický?) Text, který ne vždy musí být přímo rovnoběžné.
Pro mě je rozšířená verze věží je lepší než verze: je to vyšetření Théoden jako král, a extrapolace Éowyn jako dominantní ženské postavy, z toho je příliš málo od Tolkiena) jsou skvělé tady, jak se skutečné charaktery s emocionální cesty, jak se výrazně zlepšil do té míry, že jejich příběh v Návratu krále je všechno, mnohem víc uštěpačný.
Denethor a Boromir ve scéně se vrátil do Dvou věží.
Nicméně, pro většinu, věže To zářivé světlo v tom je rozšířený formát je zahrnutí klíčové scény představovat Boromir, Faramir a Denethor, otce dva. K dispozici je sekvence, která ukazuje sejít z bratrů s jejich otcem, a rodinná dynamika, která by pokračoval být důležitý vývoj v Návratu krále. Skutečnost, že tato posloupnost zbylo z divadelní verze je zklamáním pro mě, protože jsem cítil, že to vytvořil nádherný moment, prubířský kámen a dynamické dramatické kroucení, pro ty, kteří neznají Tolkien. Fanouška by měli být vědomi tlaku Boromir byl pod nést příjmení, stejně jako se snaží dostat zpod jeho otce dominující područí, a Faramir, kdo opovrhoval mladší syn, aby se pokusila vyhrát jeho otce milovat tím, že dělá dobře skutky a ukazují jeho "opravdové kvality." Denethor reakce v této jednoduché, jediné scény, vysvětluje hodně o Boromira ve Společenstvu a nastavení se děje co se děje v návratu. John Noble, hrát Denethor jako dominantní a lehce upovídaný starý muž, chytil se hrdostí a ctí až poslední, máte podezření, je krčit stojí tady (v dobrém slova smyslu, to je), a můžete okamžitě začít nenávidět charakter. Jackson je zjevné zobrazení Denethor jako šílený a beznadějně zklamaného otce v jeho filmu snad, že je v rozporu s původně psaný v textech Tolkien, nicméně dodává poměrně značný emocionální váhu na to, co přijde později.
Stručně řečeno, tato jediná scéna umožňuje rozšířeného Dvě věže 'formát mnohem lepší než film, je to divadelní bratrance.
The Black Gates Of Modor týden
Návrat Epic
Na něco málo přes čtyři hodiny, můžete si být odpuštěny pro uvažování Návrat krále Extended verze je cvičení v močového měchýře kontroly a divácké mučení. Upřímně řečeno, film je ohromně vzrušující, když trochu vratkou ve vyprávění v IT je pozdějších fázích (s některými bemusing a matoucí omylů v logice v příběhu, čas a prostor, jako bitva Pelennor se koná) zkušenosti. Návrat Král je masivní vyprávění události, různé prameny příběhu soupeří o prostor pro pohyb v rámci filmu, který je na hranici narcistický v tom je délky. Opravdu, byl Jackson kritizován za zakončení filmů více, z nichž je mnoho, za zjevně nudné a zbytečné (tím nesouhlasím, abych byl upřímný!) A to bylo cítil, že se film byl lehce zdobené, může to být ještě lepší ! Považuji to divné, když vyhrál za nejlepší film v roce 2003 Oscara, poprvé fantastického filmu nikdy dosáhnout tohoto výkonu.
Nicméně, většina lidí se shodli, že Extended Edition je vynikající zlepšení, co se již oslavován jako skutečné obrazovky klasiky (opravdu, je to Oscar osudy by ukázaly, že je to "klasika" status dávno) a pokračoval tak, aby dokonale uzavřít masivní příběh a jízda předchozích dvou verzích EE.
Saruman je bodnut Wormtongue.
Return Of The King’s Extended Edition is the least narratively expanded of all three films: instead, the extra footage is a combination of dialogue sequences, action (especially in the Pelennor Field's battle) and wholesale revision of the original storyline. All our major characters get a lot more screen time and character development (which can only be a good thing, surely?) and the battles and conflicts are expanded and improved significantly. The charge of the mumakil in Return is expanded, with a longer sequence of the carnage caused by these massive beasts. There's greater import in the Mouth Of Sauron sequence, deleted from the Theatrical version since it brings up a logical loophole in the audience's journey: it's re-inclusion is genuinely dramatic, and altogether creepy….. if slightly too short. The Mouth Of Sauron, the spokesperson of Mordor, who appears when Aragorn leads the remnants of his army to the Black Gates, is played by Aussie Bruce Spence, who most will recognise from his many and varied roles in cinema, including Mad Max , and as the Trainman in The Matrix Trilogy . His CGI enhanced features are genuinely scary, and extremely well done. When he torments Aragrorn, Merry, Pipping and Gandalf with the supposed death of Frodo and Sam, it's a genuinely moving moment. Although, given the fact that we, as the audience, know the pair are actually okay, you can see why Jackson removed it for the theatrical version… it's redundant to a certain degree, and perhaps not really applicable for the climax of the film at that stage… which it was.
The digitally enhanced Mouth Of Sauron.
For me, though, there's plenty to enjoy about the Extended Return Of The King . The originally excised death of Saruman, which was controversially dropped from the theatrical version (much to the dismay of both fans and star Christopher Lee) is restored, allowing us to see the final fate of the evil wizard. Lee was publicly fuming over the removal of what he considered a key scene, the death of the main antagonist from Two Towers, from the second and third film. At the end of The Two Towers , we would have seen his demise once Aragorn, Theoden, Gandalf and Gimli showed up at Isengard after leaving Helm's Deep…. however, this was to be held over to film three. Once the edit on film three began to take shape, Jackson quickly realised that the scene, in which Lee plunges to his death after being stabbed by Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) on the top of the tower of Isengard, was not the best way to open a film… “killing the second film's antagonist in film three is just wrong” Jackson is quoted as having said. So, Saruman's death scene was removed from the theatrical version, much to the disgust of Lee. However, in the Extended Edition, the scene is returned in all it's glory, and it finally gives us the satisfaction of seeing the Betrayer in his last moments, get what was coming to him…. it's glorious.
Honestly, Return suffers a little more for it's added length as a film than the other two, since the action seems to take an eternity to get to, this time around. However, for the weight and depth of the character development that Return now contains, you'd be hard pressed to be overly critical of what was put back in. I think, as far as the trilogy goes, that Return Of The King is the film that towers above all others for it's extra content.
Flag of Gondor.
Which is better, Theatrical or Extended?
As any film fan, and they'll tell you that the Extended Editions of the trilogy are perhaps the single greatest work of art produced by one director, with the possibly exception of The Godfather Trilogy . Lord Of The Rings represents the highest quality of craftsmanship, workmanship and directorial skill to bring to life: the unfilmable novel has finally been filmed in a way that will never be equalled in our lifetimes. While the original Theatrical versions are no doubt classic film in their own right, the Extended Editions allow the viewer to integrate themselves fully into the mental landscape of Tolkiens world, to fully appreciate the scope of this massive film project, and to get a deeper understanding of what the characters, who are the most important thing of the whole show, are thinking, feeling and experiencing.
It's my humble opinion that if you have never seen the trilogy in it's extended format, then you simply haven't seen it.
By the time Peter Jackson's film version of The Return Of The King was due to hit cinemas across the world in 2003, most people were either confident in the director's skill to bring the story of Frodo, Sam and Gollum to a satisfactory conclusion, or terrified he'd stumble at the final hurdle. The two previous entries in the Lord of The Rings film trilogy, Fellowship of The Ring and The Two Towers , had been massive commercial and critical successes. Most people wanted the trilogy to work: however, the Hollywood law of diminishing returns meant that, technically, sequels of successful films generally made less money, and were not as good as, the film they spawned from.
That said, people needn't have worried. When Return Of The King was unleashed upon the world in December of 2003, all fears proved unfounded. Jackson's (or ours, depending on how you look at it) luck had held firm. Return Of The King was an unparalleled success.
With the first two films of the trilogy safely tucked away, with both Theatrical and Extended DVD editions available to the public, Jackson's full focus was now on bringing the gargantuan story to a satisfying climax, and emotional resolution. With Frodo and Sam, along with Gollum, still to traverse the despairing wastelands of Mordor, to the steep slopes of Mount Doom, you got the feeling that the film had a fair amount of material to cover.
My preciousssssss!
Broadening The Story
Conversely to Tolkien's original story, Return Of The King the film was the longest of the three in the series. Clocking in at nearly 3 and a half hours, it's a monster; both in terms of storytelling power and narrative excitement. The novel, in it's original form, is barely half, if not a third, the length of series originator Fellowship . When reading Return Of The King , it's clear to see that Tolkien's initial love of long exposition within the text body had waned a little, perhaps as the story sped up, he felt the need to compress his writing. The published novel of Return is almost able to be divided in half again, the first part being the body text, the second being the Appendices, the vast supply of information and back-story to a lot of what occurs in The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings . Was Tolkien “rushing” his final book? Was he pressed for time, and forced to condense the final act of his work into a story that was limited and mediocre by comparison to what had come before?
Tolkien was initially reticent to publish his work, The Lord Of The Rings , in three separate volumes. He figured that since it was all one piece of literature, it should therefore be published as one piece of literature. It's commonly known now that his publisher was able to convince the author that to publish all three parts in one collective volume would be both prohibitively expensive, and almost impossible to market (since the page count was inordinately high) so the story was broken up into the three novels we've come to know today, Fellowship Of The Ring , The Two Towers , and the final chapter, The Return Of The King .
Dark, dangerous and deadly... but MAN what a view!
With Fellowship , Tolkein spent a great deal of time setting up the world, the characters, and the idea of the Ring and Sauron, and what had to be done. His passion for this world is evident in almost every line and paragraph, the detail with which he scribes his ideas is staggeringly exquisite. The journey from the Shire to the sundering of the Fellowship on the shores of the Rauros takes place over many pages, and The Two Towers , while substantially compressed for detail, posits a large quantity of information in a short literary work, relatively speaking. The Battle for Helms Deep, for instance, takes only a chapter of The Two Towers , however the film version last almost half the movie. With Return Of The King , however, everything goes pear-shaped quite quickly. The carefully constructed world and language Tolkien had developed is given short thrift in the novel, instead allowing the War of the Ring to come to a head, be fought, and won or lost in a few pages. The battle at Minas Tirith, on the plains of the Pelennor Fields, is described in the book in rather brusque detail, for Tolkien. Tolkien appears to blanch from the intricacies of detail he used in previous instalments, instead seeming to want to paint sweeping vistas with large scale carnage and action in it's place. Whereas before you could almost smell the forest and trees of Lothlorien and hear the whistle of arrows in Helm's Deep, in the literary version of Return you merely get a sense of it all, almost as if the detail is lost as the reader tries to look in multiple directions at once. It must be noted, I feel, that it would appear that Tolkiens' language in Return Of The King is surprisingly elegiac, a mournful dread hangs across proceedings, as it must, I guess, when times are darkest. Tolkien writes Return almost as a poem, a kind of lamentation to horror unfolding and lives lost, as if he's painfully aware of the agony Middle Earth is enduring as the forces of evil sweep the land. As such, the fine detail accounts so brilliantly written in Fellowship are somewhat less so conspicuous here, instead the broad brushstrokes of a writer trying to accommodate the bulky, weighty story he so accurately developed until this point into a cohesive, understandable narrative. To me, and this is just my opinion, Tolkien appeared to want readers to be less inclined to follow individual stories and more interested in the world-view aspect, the birds-eye look down as God would upon the landscape, assessing all aspects virtually simultaneously.
Eowyn moons for Aragorn
Jackson and his writing partners, Philipa Boyens and Fran Walsh, expanded and structurally deviated from the written word of Tolkien, continuing the moulding and manipulation of time and place within the context of their established film format. The Battle of Pelennor Fields, and the War Of The Ring, take up almost two thirds of the film. Intercutting that with Frodo and Sam journeying up the mountainside and though the brimstone-wracked landscape of Mordor, the political machinations of Rohan, and Aragorns internal struggle to accept that he is destined to become King of Gondor, and Return Of The King becomes a film bogged down with so many plot developments and character storylines, it's amazing the whole thing doesn't collapse under it's own weight. What is great about Return , and about the previous films as well, is that they are essentially ensemble pieces, and so the audience now expects to be following multiple stories and characters. The audience is willing to follow the characters we've grown to love over the years as they now struggle through their darkest moments. Except for Gimli and Legolas, whom again become the light-hearted humour in the film.
The problem with ensemble films generally is that somebody, somewhere, gets short thrift in terms of character arc: as with Fellowship and Towers , Return manages to shoehorn everybody's character into the film and still give you a decent development of each one. And aren't there a plethora of characters!
A reflective Gollum. Ha. gettit?
Frodo and Sam, and Gollum in his own way, required the most massaging from Jackson and his writers for their character development, as the journey to destroy the Ring is the key part of the film, and the whole purpose for the story in any case. Frodo's descent into madness, his resurrection from despair and emotional obliteration is one of the film's strongest points, analogous to the despair we all feel at times during our lives, when things seem darkest, and there's no way forward. His light, his touchstone of hope, you might say, is Sam, whom carries Frodo when all seems lost. Figuratively, and literally, Sam is the real hero of Return , moreso than the Rohan warriors riding into the swollen armies of Sauron, moreso than Eowyn standing to face the Witch King of Angmar on her own, sword in hand. Moreso even than Aragorn turning, anguish on his face as he thinks Frodo is dead at the last, and despairingly imploring his troops to charge against the gates of Mordor in a last effort to defeat evil. Sam is perhaps the bravest soul in Middle Earth, not for any physical ability, not in the least. For his courage to lift his friend up when he falls, to take the burden that is slowly killing Frodo and assume it himself; not out of jealousy or anger, but because he knows that he's the only one who can. Frodo, weakened by the power and influence of the Ring, is unable to bear the burden any further, as they lie, soot-stained and exhausted, on the side of Orodruin, being Mount Doom. His gasping, raspy voice quavers as he seeks faith from Sam, pleading with him to justify this madness, this journey, and why they must continue. Frodo is wrecked beyond accounting, his body scarred and battered from his burden, his fight with Gollum and his battle with Shelob. It is when Frodo is at his weakest, both in body and mind, that Sam steps up. Jackson and Walsh, along with Boyens, have delivered a hero unlike any we've seen before on screen: a hero who isn't the main character. Ultimately, Frodo is unable to finish his task. His resolve is so weakened by the time he stands above the fires of Mount Doom, on the precipice looking down into the lava, he cannot abandon the Ring. It is a mirror upon the same resolve of Bilbo, who was threatened with obliteration by Gandalf in order to give up the Ring's power. Both Bilbo and Frodo, members of the same family, are ultimately both unable to do what must be done, alone. They require help, and in Sam, Frodo has his strength.
Absolutely gorgeous.
Gollum, meanwhile, continues on his own pathetic, sad journey. It's not the character itself which is sad, or even pathetic, but when one realises the level of despair and loneliness Smeagol/Gollum has experienced through life, he almost becomes a sympathetic character. He's not driven by a list for power (at least, not as told on-screen – in the book, Gollum wants the Ring for himself so he can continue killing and scheming in the depths of the mountain) so we attach ourselves as viewer to his plight in that he's simply a beast of instinct. Gollum's overriding schizophrenia is simply awful, you can see the twitches and quivers of his resolve and motivations as his Smeagol (good) side internally wars with his Gollum (bad) side throughout the film. It's Jackson's handling of Gollum that turns him from being simply a good director, to being a great one. The script allows us to feel Gollums torment, his anguish, the desire unlike any other to claim the object of his position in life: without the Ring, Gollum feels empty, unable to be himself. Perhaps the greatest pity of Gollum is that the Ring is the thing that caused him to become who he is in the first place, and it's here the sympathy of the audience is generated. In the back of our mind, all the while, is the fact that at one point, Gollum was just like you or I. A normal, sensible person, who is overcome with lust for an object capable of giving him power that he was deprived of in his early life. The power to become invisible, while certainly never expanded upon in the films at all (all we see is the alternate-world view experienced by Frodo in Fellowship ) is a juicy, divisive element within Tolkien's landscape. Tolkein saw that particular power as perhaps a way of dealing with his own problems at the time: after all, if one could simply vanish, would that mean one's problems did too? In a world wrecked by war, Tolkien must surely have wished himself invisible, perhaps he was unable to come to grips with the death and destruction around him, and he sought escape in his literary works: inside of which he felt somebody had to feel as he did. Gollum's journey in Return , which began so brilliantly in Towers , is again magnificent. His is a character with depth; in almost any other film, he would have been a one-dimensional character lacking in emotional depth and merely a cipher for the Hero to do his thing.
Not quite as gorgeous as Liv Tyler, but, I guess, attractive in his own way....
Aragorn, to my mind, is perhaps the least accessible of the characters in Return Of The King . His journey began so well with Arwen back in Fellowship , and he became a leader in Towers when he battled at Helm's Deep, however, he appears to lose his way in Return . Suddenly, Aragorn is beset with fear as to his heritage, his lineage telling him one thing and yet his heart saying another. He needs more convincing, apparently, and doesn't relish the idea of ruling over an entire country. One might say this is a decent quality: the best rulers are those who do not seek to rule, who will govern fairly without prejudice or favour, however the more cynical might say that the best rulers are those who want to rule, for the pride and valour in leading people through tough times and good will bring out your best qualities. To me, however, I see Aragorns' journey through Return as a little wayward, a little out of character. Aragorn never struck me as a character who would sit and think about things for too long, being all indecisive. His character always appeared in control and above conflict, he knew what to do every step of the way, made decision quickly and resolved a situation with little fuss. Perhaps, then, he needed to be indecisive, needed to feel insecure in his decision making to grow as a character. Like Frodo, Aragorn takes a little prodding from a good friend (in this case, Elrond, who returns the remade Sword Of Elendil to him) to sort himself out. But on screen, it's not convincing. It's almost like Jackson and Co didn't quite know how to handle this part of the story, so they made Aragorn a little angsty, a little teen-rebellion all of a sudden. He kicks all manner of ass in Helms Deep, and then starts to doubt himself? Who is he kidding? Still, his storyline in the final act of the film, where he leads an army across the plains to confront the armies of Mordor streaming from the Black Gates, is powerful, genuinely emotional stuff. He loses his way a little in the middle of the film, but gets back on the horse at the end.
Hiding in corners always worked for me too....
The character development of the other Hobbits, Merry and Pippin, is a substantial bonus for the film. In the novel, they're underused and only really mentioned as ancillary members of the story at the point Return kicks into gear. In Jackson's version, he expands their stories into a more rounded, well developed and natural way.
Merry, who returns to Rohan with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, befriends Eowyn, the niece of Theoden. When called into battle, Merry wants to take part, however Theoden requests he stay behind, as he see's Merry more as a liability. Merry, pouting slightly, utters one of the film's best lines: in which he describes himself as an inhabitant of Middle Earth as well, and wonders what will happen to the Shire should Sauron defeat the armies of Men. It's a far cry from the Merry of Fellowship , more in tune with stealing carrots and potatoes and cooking up mushrooms. As the tone of the film becomes more and more grave, we see less of Merry's natural humour, and more of his serious side: a sense of honour and faithfulness to the cause that we had ne'er before seen in the young Hobbit. He refuses to bend to Theoden's will, and, with a disguised Eowyn carrying him on her horse, he joins the Battle of Pelennor Fields and finds his courage. The idea of self sacrifice, embodies in a variety of ways through every character in the film, is one Tolkien espouses greatly within Lord Of The Rings , due in no small part to the “for the greater good” mentality during the World War's that plagued the Earth in the early half of the 20th century. One man's sacrifice might very well save hundreds of others, so no thought was given (at the time) to one's own life, instead, in the defiance of evil, you became part of the mob, part of the whole, like a wave of humanity sweeping onto the beach of War, erasing the footsteps of tyranny in the sand before you. Here, in Merry, we see a similar sentiment, in that he wants to fight, even against incalculable odds, an almost unwinnable battle in a land that isn't his own. Sounds awfully familiar, I think.
The ugly guy from The Goonies gets more work....
Pippin, almost parallel to Merry, develops as a character as well. While he may not become involved with the Battle directly, he does so in an indirect fashion, as he hides in Minas Tirith to draw Sauron in that direction, whilst Frodo and Sam continue their quest from another. Pippin becomes the Poker Face of the War, Sauron's focus is on him when it should be elsewhere. Pippin, while also a joker at the start of the story (with his resolve hinted at during a frightening moment in Fellowship where the Black Riders almost catch Frodo with the Ring… “Buckleberry Ferry? Right, follow me!” he says, his eyes set.) develops into an emotional, pragmatic and almost egalitarian soul, who learns (painfully) that the world is not all green grass and mushrooms. The script allows Pippin to learn these lessons through both the actions of Gandalf and Denthor, the former being the kind and wise wizard who take Pippin under his wing, and the latter a bitter, mentally destroyed old man bent on conforming the world to his own will, not accepting that things are changing.
Perhaps the other key character in the film who requires a little prose is Eowyn, the younger niece of Theoden, King of Rohan. Eowyn represents the feminist movement in Middle Earth, her character buffeting against the tide of male dominated affairs with her people; women of Rohan are not allowed to fight, something she opposes quite strenuously, although Theoden forbids it. Regardless, when the fight begins, Eowyn joins the battle, and eventually strikes a decisive victory against the armies of Mordor, as she slays the Witch King of Angmar in hand-to-hand combat. Her moment, her shining light in the battle, is a moment in the film which will make you punch the air with a “that's the way!” cry. Eowyn, played wonderfully by Miranda Otto, is one of the major players of this film, although I feel her part is slightly underdone by Jackson in terms of emotional content. Her scenes with Merry, as she carries him to war and stands by his side as they fight Orcs on the ground, are particularly powerful, however I think Jackson short-changed the character a little in his initial cut. The Extended version, all of which will be explored further in a separate article, expands her role somewhat, although only marginally.
The calm before the storm.
Jackson and Co managed to expand the characters from the written page of Tolkien's text into people with depth, a sense of purpose and logic behind them. By delving into the appendices, and taking anecdotal and ancillary material from other texts the author wrote over his lifetime, Jackson was able to find more detail about the characters that weren't immediately apparent in the body text of Return . The expansion of Denethor, for one, was an element that I felt was overdue, however, the handling of this part of the story was a little off-key. Denethor is a complex character, for sure. His inability to handle the death of favourite son Boromir is the catalyst for the lack of preparation (and Gandalf's subsequent subversion of his troops) for the approaching War. His mind is broken, and I can see how Jackson has tried to portray that on screen: for me, though, it rings a little hollow. Perhaps its the slightly garrulous acting style of John Noble, who seems for all the world a little lost in his characters oblivious mumblings, but I just felt that Denethor's role, and the way it was handled by Jackson, wasn't as well rounded as it perhaps could (or should) have been. But, at least they tried. It's a testament to Jackson that any of this worked at all, let alone a single failing in the character department make this film fail miserably. One of the advantages of an ensemble film is that if one character is shallow or undeveloped, there are others to pick up the slack. Of course, that being said, it could also be conversely construed that if one of an ensemble fails, then it drags the rest down too. Thankfully, this did not happen in Return .
The storm.
The final battle at Pelennor Fields, before the walls of Minas Tirith, is expanded substantially by Jackson from the original text. While mention is made of almost every element on screen within the original text, Jackson has taken that mention and created entire sequences out of them. Case in point: the mumakil . The giant elephant creatures, or mumak’s in Tolkien's language, advance upon the armies of Rohan who have taken the field on horseback, stomping and sweeping aside all who get in their way. In Tolkien's original text, they are mentioned as follows:
“And now the fighting waxed furious on the fields of the Pelennor; and the din of arms rose upon high, with the crying of men and the neighing of horses. Horns were blown and trumpets braying, and the mumakil were bellowing as they were goaded to war……..”
“…….But wherever the mumakil came there the horses would not go, but blenched and swerved away: and the great monsters were unfought, and stood like towers of defiance, and the Haradrim rallied around them…..”
“……and both Duilin of Morthond and his brother were trampled to death as they assailed the mumakil , leading their bowmen close to shoot at the eyes of the monsters.”
Such was the limit to which the Mumakil entered the battle, and it was something to which Jackson felt aggrieved, perhaps. The charge of the Mumakil in Return Of The King , and the subsequent battle in the immediate aftermath of that charge, is akin to nothing you've ever seen on screen before, or even since. It's ferocity is only outmatched by the calm with which Jackson directs the event, his camera lurking around the feet of the giant beasts as they stomp their victims into oblivion. Jackson even instigates a moment with Legolas, where he single-handedly brings one of the giant creatures down, a moment of partial comedy and “Legolas is one mo-fo you don't want to mess with” heroism that, in it's inherent value, almost mitigates the lives lost by those brave soul who ventured out to battle the beasts and perished: the Riders Of Rohan lost large numbers of their own in order to bring even one of the beasts to it's knees. Still, for the greater good, they say. Little tips of the hat like that, while initially quite cool, resound with a definite un-Tolkien-like bravado that almost strikes against the heart of the film.
The mumakil attack.
Still, it's a colossal effort from Jackson to create a story out of what could have been an utter mess of a narrative: with so many characters and events all clamouring for screen time, a less hardy director would have been reduced to a blithering wreck.
I'm sorry, but you just can't come.
Telling The Story
Return picks up almost immediately where The Two Towers left off. Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, along with assorted members of the Rohan force from Helms Deep, journey to the Tower Of Orthanc, where a defeated Saruman has holed himself up, guarded by Treebeard. There, they come across Merry and Pippin, both safe after their adventures in The Two Towers , and smoking pipeweed. Meanwhile, Frodo, Sam and Gollum have continued their journey towards Mordor, with the deceitful Gollum planning his revenge upion Sam and the taking of the One Ring. In Return of The King , we see a flashback at first, prior to current events, in just how Gollum was “born”. A young hobbit-like creature, known as Smeagol (and hinted at by Gandalf in Fellowship ) see's his brother Deagol find the Ring at the bottom of a river, whilst they are fishing. Jealous and consumed with desire to have the Ring for himself, Smeagol kills Deagol, and takes the Ring from his brothers dead hand. Smeagol, now outcast from his family and friends, hides up in the mountains, in the deep darkness, away from prying eyes who might otherwise want the Ring as their own. The long, sad history of the Ring continues, as we know Gollum eventually loses the Ring to Bilbo (as seen in the opening monologue of Fellowship ) after a long period of darkness.
This flashback, fronting the film, segues into the story proper, as we rejoin our various cast members on their respective journeys. Gollum leads Sam and Frodo on a perilous journey close to an enemy stronghold, Minus Morgul, to a stairway leading almost vertically up and over the mountains into Mordor. However, the scheming ratbag knows of a hidden danger in the cave system at the roof of the mountaintops, Shelob, the giant spider. There, he plans to dispose of Sam and Frodo by allowing Shelob to eat them, and then he plans to steal the Ring back for himself. However, the friction between Frodo and Sam over the fate and trustworthiness of Gollum leads to a falling out, with Frodo sending Sam packing, in one of the film's most heart-wrenching scenes (among many, many others).
The Rohirrim form up.
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli return to Rohan with Theoden, the King of The Golden Hall, to await Gandalf's word of things in Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor, the most powerful of nations. There, we find an utterly insane and paranoid Denethor, intent on refusing to acknowledge that Sauron's forces are mounting, and that outright War is coming to Middle Earth. Denthor, who is the father to both Boromir from Fellowship , and Faramir in The Two Towers , plays a pivotal role in emasculating his son Faramir, whom he see's as a failure and not worthy of the family name. Denethor is utterly mad, by now, the loss of Boromir in Fellowship coming as such a blow it's driven him insane with anguish. Which is a concern, given that Denethor is guardian of the throne of Gondor, to which Aragorn can rightfully claim…… a claim that Denethor denies vehemently. Gandalf see's in Denethor the utter madness that will ultimately claim his life, however, sine Denethor is the ruler of Gondor in the King's absence, he must acquiesce to his laws. Pippin, whom Sauron thinks has the Ring and thus is taken to Minas Tirith by Gandalf for safekeeping, binds himself to Denethor with an oath of allegiance in a moment of regret over the death of Boromir, and Denethor accepts it. Soon, however, the forces of Mordor will approach, and Gandalf knows he must take more decisive action.
Meanwhile, across Middle Earth and in the hall of the King of Rohan, Aragorn must somehow persuade Theoden to commit his forces to battle when War begins, lest the future of man, elves and dwarves (and, we cannot forget, the Hobbits) be swept asunder by Sauron and his battalions into an era of darkness and despair. Theoden, bitter that Gondor's forces did not attend Rohan in it's hour of need at Helm's Deep, is reluctant to do so, however, the prospect of a cataclysmic annihilation doesn't sit well with him, and eventually he comes around to fight.
Frodo, his mind slowly being crushed under the weight and influence of the Ring, finds himself increasingly angry and desperate within himself and his mission to continue, that he lashes out at those dearest to him: in this case, his best friend Sam. Adding to this pressure, is the slimy weasley insinuations of Gollum to turn him against Sam, something that Frodo eventually does in a moment of madness (referred to above). However, Sam is a better person than that, and can see that it's not Frodo talking, but the Ring. And Sam knows, just knows , that Gollum is a traitorous deviant to the last, desperate only for one thing; attaining the Ring. When Gollum leads Frodo to Shelob, and Frodo is captured by the giant spider after a fierce fight, it is Sam who comes to his rescue. It is Sam who defends his masters' honour in the darkest hour. However, Sam must carry the Ring for a time, as Frodo is taken to a dark tower by some nasty Orcs, whom seem intent on both eating Frodo and returning the Ring to Sauron…. or perhaps even keeping the Ring for themselves. Jackson captures the desperation of the situation well: all dark, shadowy, creepy, evil and dank, wet slurry-filled despair reeks from the screen as Shelob skulks about her cave, preying on her hapless victims with her poisonous spike.
Rage of the Mumakil.
Jackson manages to intercut the story in places that create a sense of “oh wait a minute, what's going to happen next?” in the viewer, almost like soap-opera cliffhangers at the end of a season. The battle of Pelennor, ripe with potential to become a Saving Pirvate Ryan shemozzle of bodies, limbs and blood, is actually a relatively gore-free affair, except where absolutely required. People get stomped, crushed, sliced, slewn, hacked, chopped and mowed down by horses, mumakil and the Nazgul in this epic, revolutionary setpiece, which will unlikely be topped in modern cinema during our lifetime. Not only is this true cinematic spectacle of the highest order, this is simply a filmmaker showing up just how damn awesome Tolkiens' world can actually be. Minas Tirith, its crested walls and battlements glimmering white against the black clouds forming around Mordor and the advancing army, is a beacon of man's last hope against tyranny, against evil. The sheer scale of the battle is something even the most competent director would have thought twice about: but still, if you're going to make a film with a ginormous battle sequence squarely in the centre, you might as well go all out.
The bombast of battle is often countered with the more subtle, character driven moments, which the audience is thankful for, since the conflagration of Middle Earths finest in combat is often too much to witness, and must be divided with moments of relative peace. Frodo and Sam, staggering through Mordor and up a steep mountain (with lava inside and all around, no less!) are also in a fine pickle, however, theirs is more dialogue and character than any true action. It's a refreshing change to cut to them for a few moments of heartbreaking emotional content. And indeed, their eloquent, and often desperate, dialogue is the film's key pivot; it's this reason that the forces of evil are fighting for, so this is important stuff. And Jackson makes it work. He refuses to engage in rapid-fire editing, he's confident enough of the performances and scripting to allow the story to tell itself without help. There's a languidity, a relaxed sense of occasion, that accompanies Jackson's work on Return Of The King , a sort of refusal to bend and buckle under the narrative pressure by Jackson to simply cut stuff to reduce the film's runtime. The film is long, to be sure, but it's required to be so, simply because the story demands it.
Minas Tirith, in the aftermath of War.
One of the most critically questioned parts of the film is the ending – or rather, the multiple ending's Jackson employs. A full twenty minutes after the Ring and Gollum end up in the lava of Mount Doom, and our two small Hobbits escape certain death by millimetres, the film is still going, winding up all the loose ends and plot developments. Frodo and Sam are saved from Mordor by Gandalf, there's the obligatory reuniting with old friends, the coronation of Aragorn as King Of Gondor, and the return of the Hobbits to the Shire, which appears for all the world that it never even knew of the War of The Ring. While many critics regard this multiple endings' sequence as fanciful and unnecessary, if you step back and look at the film as a conclusion of a trilogy rather than a film on it's own, you'd see that the concluding moments of the film are actually required. While the Scouring Of The Shire chapter (of the original text) was excised from the script for the sake of it being somewhat anticlimactic for a film, Jackson has crafted a worthy, and emotional heartbeat for the film to bow out on. The end of twelve-plus hours of film cannot simply be concluded with a single, lingering sequence wrapping things up neatly. The Ring has been destroyed, fair enough, but we need to see just how the story has affected our characters. Frodo is a ghost of his former self, more mature and wiser, yet somehow empty of the light he had within himself at the beginning of Fellowship . The return to the Shire, which is filled with elation for our heroes, is tinged with a melancholy that they won't be the same again. Like They say, you can never go home again. And the same is true here. Frodo and Bilbo, together with Gandalf, leave the shores of Middle Earth with the last of the Elves, never to return. When I first read Lord Of The Rings , I took the Grey Havens to be some sort of representation of an ascent into Heaven.
Now I know that it's simply people leaving Middle Earth on a boat, sailing out in search of white shores, and a far green country under a swift sunrise.
The Shire.
Stunning Digital Effects: How To Tell a Story Via a Computer
With the development of computer software able to handle the intricacies of planning and executing large scale battle sequences, with digital characters on screen, all interacting and bouncing off one another, WETA Digital had one of the most formidable weapons in it's arsenal to deploying Peter Jackson's ideas into the film. The Return Of The King , perhaps the single most ambitious film made since Ben Hur or Cleopatra , relied heavily on the use of the MASSIVE computer programme. Essentially, MASSIVE allowed the filmmakers to take a single digital entity, say, an Orc or a Rohan soldier, and place him into a virtual world of their choosing. Then, using a sophisticated artificial intelligence generator, make that digital entity interact with said environment: in the case of Return , make that soldier or Orc warrior fight with another. This gave the filmmakers so much freedom to create massive, panoramic vista's of battling creatures, that it freed up the CGI boys for the rest of the film's staggering effects. MASSIVE managed to do what all of George Lucas' digital lads couldn't in those abominable Star Wars prequels: help tell the story well.
In Return Of The King , and for that matter, the other two films as well, Jackson's vision relied heavily on a large quantity of special effects. From the simple effects like the differing sizes of our characters, to the large scale epic ones like the Pelennor battle, with hundreds of elements to incorporate, it would be easy for the audience to become lost or jaded to the fact that computers were used in the creation of these films. It goes without saying that most films these days have some kind of computer enhancement, or even CGI, in them. Even the most staid drama can have elements of it that contain a computers' vast binary power. In most cases, the filmmaker seems to think that if they use that shot as a “hey look at us and how much money we spent to make this shot” moment, which pulls the audience out of the film and back into the cinema.
The party was advertised on Facebook and went from there....
I have to say, I'm going to use the George Lucas school of thought here, to emphasise my point and to make it clear just how brilliant Jackson's use of technology was in The Lord Of The Rings .
George Lucas, in his revision of the Star Wars Original Trilogy in 1997, went in and added a whole slew of digital creatures and additions that in no way served the story, or assisted in telling the story. Additional background characters, robots, a bizarre dance sequence in Return of The Jedi , all added up to somebody who had the power do do this stuff, but no idea how to integrate it into a story well. And when Lucas started his Prequel Trilogy, starting with The Phantom Menace , we knew film-making as an art form was lost to him. Lucas' predisposition to doing things digitally had a negative effect on his stories. His prequel films served not as an addition to S tar Wars canon, but merely as a platform for how cool his special effects team could make things look. Flashy, derivative effects over a wafer thin, undercooked storyline, made the Prequel Trilogy instalments the laughing stock of fans of the series across the world, and highlighted just how poor a storyteller Lucas really was. He might have some great ideas, but he couldn't create any sense of excitement (even the second and third Star Wars films were more exciting than the original, because Lucas wasn't directing them!) or understand character development at all. Now, I know I sound like I'm bashing George Lucas here, but well, he started it. The Phantom Menace , shot almost entirely on green-screen save a few moments in the desert, and featuring one of the worlds worst all-digital CGI characters in Jar Jar Binks, managed to serve up to the world a steaming pile of crud unlike any we'd seen in years. The flavour of the original Star Wars films had been diluted in a blazing stream of digital tomfoolery that was never going to be able to enhance the storyline at all.
Hot to trot.
Unlike Lucas, Jackson recognised in CGI and computer effects the ability to enhance his story, help him tell it, rather than be the story itself. Too many effects films rely on the effects for the story, rather than the story for the effects, and with Jackson, he ran the risk of falling foul of the same idea. Instead, Jackson spent more time developing his script, developing his characters, and designing them realistically, so that when people saw them on screen, it wouldn't matter whether they were a puppet, a digital creature, or a man in a suit: you'd buy into it and believe it was real.
Gollum, particularly, was a stand-out of Jackson's. When people first heard that Gollum was going to be an all-CGI character, flashbacks of Jar Jar Binks and the horror that surrounded him came flooding back. But the proof, you see, was in the pudding. WETA, plus Andy Serkis, plus a great script, meant that Gollum as a CGI creation would have more texture and layering as a character than the all the combined might of a Star Wars Prequel trilogy together. The Nazgul, winged riders of Mordor, the charge of the Rohirrim, the mumakil , the ascent to Mount Doom, Shelob and the armies of darkness: all were created using the power of a computer, however the key with their success, and Jar Jar's failure, is that they were characters first, and digital creations second.
Jackson knew where to put the effects in. His reliance upon computers to serve the story, rather than enslaven him to it, was key. And to his credit, Jackson achieved more in a single hour of Return Of The King than Lucas could in 3 Star Wars films.
Nooooooooooooo!
The End Of All Things
“It's a clean sweep: the winner, the Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King”. – Steven Spielberg, 76th Academy Awards.
When Return opened to rave reviews and a critical acclaim unlike almost any film before or since, you felt something special was in the air. Peter Jackson had accomplished something nobody had attempted before: to tell the story of Tolkien's world with live action, successfully, making money along the way. And fans across the world breathed a collective sigh of relief. The pressure and hype surrounding Return Of The King had been enormous, although if you asked Jackson, he'd smile and say that everything was under control.
It was a hype that continued until the Academy Awards, where Return was nominated for 11 Oscars. It won all eleven, forever standing next to Titanic and Ben Hur as the most awarded films of all time. Return still holds the record as the second highest money-making film of all time, behind Titanic , a feat that is unlikely to be broken save the release of the forthcoming Hobbit film.
It's unlikely that Tolkien would have appreciated all the attention Jackson's films received, all the hype and publicity; I would suggest that perhaps Tolkien himself might have smiled a little, but be more rewarded with the acceptance of his story onto a stage unlike any he'd been able to envision while he was alive. The legion of fans of the story, both novel and film, will only grow over time, as more and more people encounter these films on DVD, BluRay or even TV. This is what Tolkien would have preferred, I think, no matter the medium, no matter the cultural barriers of distance and politics.
With Return Of The King , Jackson vindicated Bob Shaye's assertion that the story required three films, and gave Hollywood a quality of film-making that perhaps would never again be equalled.
We know what YOU'VE been up to!
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Kathleen Byron - (1921-2009) Photo (C) Wikipedia
I want to bring to your attention today the passing of stage and screen veteran Kathleen Byron, an English actress best known for her portrayal of Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus , a film from 1947 portraying the lives of a group of Nuns in a mountainside convent. Starring opposite Deborah Kerr, David Farrar and Jean Simmons, Byron won critical praise for her work ojn the film, and continued to find herself in demand throughout her career.
In recent times she had a small role in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan , as the elderly Ryan's wife, in the film's two gravesite bookends. As well as a small role in 1996′s Emma , with a young Gwenyth Paltrow, and the non-musical version of Les Miserables from '98, Byron had continued to work in TV and on stage right up until her death.
Kathleen Byron and David Farrar in A Small Black Room.
She gained fame as Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus , and consolidated this with appearances in films like A Matter of Life And Death (as an angel) and The Small Black Room . During the 60′s and 70′s she concentrated primarily on her television work, and in 1980, appeared in David Lynch's seminal work, The Elephant Man .
Vale, Kathleen Byron.
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