The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit (1985, directed by Vladimir Latyshev)
Eight years after Rankin-Bass’ take on The Hobbit, Leningrad TV released a live-action adaptation for children. The TV film has been released online by 5TV, which owns Leningrad TV’s assets. As of this writing, the online video only provides Russian subtitles. A variety of copies are available elsewhere online with English subtitles.
I have discussed “the Soviet Hobbit” in detail elsewhere, so I won’t say much here. Whichever version you see, this movie has developed a notorious reputation. The limited budget meant much of the action occurs on stages with either painted or bluescreen backdrops. Some of these effects have aged poorly—such as the mechanical puppet used for Smaug. Still, as Open Culture observes, “it does retain a kind of handcrafted charm.” The movie’s props and puppetry lack the skill of something like The Dark Crystal but remain refreshing for anyone tired of CGI.
There’s also an attempt to capture the story’s music with two (more bizarre than graceful) dancing sequences utilizing ballet dancers. Like the background songs in the Rankin-Bass The Hobbit or the singing orc sequences in the Rankin-Bass Return of the King, they feel more like songs shoehorned into the plot than something naturally arising from the material.
The one element that works well is the Gollum scene. Rather than sinister, this film presents an overly theatrical Gollum, chewing the scenery for all its worth. It’s off-putting for viewers raised on Andy Serkis’ sinister portrayal, but not necessarily wrong-headed. We don’t generally consider Gollum a comic figure, but his fawning attitude and quasi-effete speech pattern (“My love… my precious…”) can be humorous. Without knowing his murderous backstory or his plans to kill Frodo and Sam, Gollum could pass as comic relief. Thus, this campy Gollum is akin to watching Adam West’s Batman after watching Christian Bale’s Batman: so much silliness, but genuinely appealing.
Come back next week for part 7, where we look at the 1991 Russian adaptation of Lord of the Rings.