A Russian film adaptation of the classic “Lord of the Rings” is currently going viral on YouTube. Spectators praise the telespectacle as funny and “cult trash”, others have criticism.
St. Petersburg ·
To the delight of fantasy fans, Russian television has released a film adaptation of John Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” that was broadcast 30 years ago and was believed to be lost. On YouTube, the first of two parts of the film “Chraniteli” (German: “Protector”) already had more than 1.6 million views on Saturday. The version, which was only shown once on Soviet television on April 13 and 14, 1991, was found and digitized again in March, as announced by the TV broadcaster Pjaty Kanal (Kanal 5) in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad).
Without special effects, but obviously great fun
The station found the telespectacle, which was produced in the Soviet times with very little money by enthusiasts in the Leningrad television studios, in its archives on a roll of film. The TV channel described the find as a “world sensation” because it was the first television adaptation of the classic. “Chraniteli” can only be seen in Russian so far – without English subtitles. Unlike the famous Peter Jackson trilogy, it only stayed with the first part of the saga.
According to Russian media, the writer and director of the Soviet version, Natalia Serebryakova, said she was ready to make a sequel. At that time, she found the actors, sets and costumes for the project, which was largely without special effects, but obviously a lot of fun, in Leningrad theaters. Andrei Romanov from the rock group Aquarium composed the film music and led the story as a narrator.
A lot of praise, but also criticism
“We played it with great enthusiasm at the time,” said the actor Valery Dyachenko, who played the hero Frodo, of the Izvestia newspaper. The conditions were very simple. “There were only four horses that were shown twice to make it look like eight horses,” said the actor.
The reactions to the two-parter, which has been available online since two weeks ago, are different. Some viewers praised the telespectacle as fun and “iconic trash” that was closer to the original than Jackson’s movie. Others criticized the cheap implementation with a Gandalf who had neither a hat nor a beard, and with hobbits, which were played by men of a more mature age.
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