Tolkien’s epic fantasy “The Lord of the Rings.”įor the first time in decades, audiences can now watch this adaptation of the first volume in the trilogy, “The Fellowship of the Ring,” which aired for the first and last time on Russian television in 1991, the year the Soviet Union dissolved and the performance vanished into the archives of state TV. What’s unmistakable over two hours of video is the golden ring that can make people disappear: This messy, low-budget odyssey is both a time capsule of Soviet TV and, until recently, a little-known version of J.R.R.
And the growl of an actor painted green does sound - sort of - like he might be saying “gollum.” One man is clearly a wizard, though the special effects are, at their best, not very good. The hobbits and elves are familiar, if the Soviet folk-rock is not.
