Complete credited cast: | |||
Orson Bean | ... | Bilbo Baggins (voice) | |
Richard Boone | ... | Smaug (voice) | |
Hans Conried | ... | Thorin Oakenshield (voice) | |
John Huston | ... | Gandalf The Grey (voice) | |
Otto Preminger | ... | The Elvenking (voice) | |
Cyril Ritchard | ... | Elrond (voice) | |
Theodore Gottlieb | ... | Gollum (voice) (as Theodore) | |
Paul Frees | ... | Bombur / Bill Huggins - Troll Leader (voice) | |
Jack DeLeon | ... | Dwalin / Fíli / Kíli / Óin / Glóin / Ori / Nori / Bifur / Bofur / Bert - Troll #2 / Goblin / Orc / Spiders / Wood Elves / Lake People (voice) (as Jack De Leon) | |
Don Messick | ... | Balin / Tom - Troll #3 / Grinnah - The Goblin / Goblin / Orc / Gwaihir - Lord of the Eagles (voice) | |
John Stephenson | ... | Dori / Bard / Great Goblin (voice) | |
Glenn Yarbrough | ... | The Balladeer (voice) |
Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit was just minding his own business, when his occasional visitor Gandalf the Wizard drops in one evening . One by one, a whole group of dwarves drop in, and before he knows it, Bilbo has joined their quest to reclaim their kingdom, taken from them by an evil dragon named Smaug. The only problem is that Gandalf has told the dwarves that Bilbo is an expert burglar, but he isn't.... Written by Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
This was what introduced me to the Lord of the Rings, back in '77, when I was in 6th grade, it got the kids in my class to reading the trilogy and etc. Personally, I was all up for watching this, in the fall of '77, then the local TV station ran something else(MULLIGANS' STEW?!?) in its place. We were crushed in my family. I DID buy the record/sound track instead and listened to it to Death. Loved it-the voices and artwork both.
Didn't actually See this til '85...though had caught parts here and there...my thinking then and now is the same--Rankin-Bass did a fine job with it. Yes its done by Japanese animators, and No it isn't outta Allen Lee or whomever else' kind of drawing. But they stuck some interesting spins on what elves, dwarves, Wizards, Dragons and Hobbits look like, along with trolls and whatever, personally I found it to be interesting.
And how can you knock the voices-I mean-John Huston? Hans Conried, Cyril Ritchard, Theodore Bikel, Richard Boone, Don Messick, Orson Bean-and last but not least-Otto Preminger. Some legends here guys, esp. Otto and JHuston. I loved it! Rankin-Bass did make it more for kids, definately, and took some cuts here and there-Beorn and the Arkenstone bye-bye, for example, and no one is claiming the animation is up to, say, 'Aladdin' standards, but on its own, it works fine.
*** outta ****, pretty good, actually.
And Where is Leonard Maltin's review? somehow he missed this one...