The film was made on total initiative of Andrey Romanov, and a group of intellectuals, on zero budget. It wasn't a movie at a traditional sense, it was a TV theater play. By 1991 most Soviet movie production was destroyed along with the country itself. Andrey (Diusha) Romanov was a former member of the famous rock band Aquarium, which was doing reasonably well in UK with the help of David Stewart. Mind the fact, the Lord of the rings was not even published in Russia at the time. So, it was a miracle the film was made in the first place.
It's not only the matter of zero budget. Such tv-performances were intended for kids. The age of the audience ranged between 5 and 10. That is why acting was rather simplistic and special effect unsofisticated.
@@darmasalla8015 besides, I used to know Romanov, as his band, Trililistnik was touring the North. He was a real fan of Tolkien. Keeping close to the text was the thing
Thank you for your review. To make the matters clear, it is NOT a movie. This kind of a genre was called 'telespektakl' or tv-theatrical performance. It targeted very young audience (between 5 and 10), hence simplified acting and special effects. And naturally it was never shown in movie theaters. It was intended only for TV. And, hold your breath, there was a Soviet Hobbit as well.
Товарищи иностранцы, это просто спектакль ,а не фильм мирового уровня много от него не ждите. Мне нравится простой, душевный, не напрягает как многие моменты голливудской версии. Вы ещё не видели театральную постановку где Торина играет женщина с синтапонавыми мышцами 🤭 А Смог называет Никротанта своим учителем 🤔
Hey everyone - this is my first foray into non-lore related content so I was somewhat hesitant on releasing it. I'm planning on branching out and doing more different types of video in the future, although I will say with 100% certainty that the lore videos will always take priority. And I can also say with 100% certainty that I won't be touching Amazon LOTR until there's actually enough information to work with. Hope you enjoy this, and do watch Khraniteli if you haven't.
This is not a film, but a theatrical performance adapted for TV. And this is not a major adaptation, but part of a show for kids like Sesame Street. Therefore, you should not criticize him so seriously, small children do not notice such shortcomings.
@@DarthGandalfYT Yes, but it's just a separate genre that should be considered a theatrical performance. In Poland it was called "teatr telewizji" (TV theater). That's why it's so dialogue-heavy. By treating it as a full-fledged movie you are just missing the point.
There was a lot of those extremely low-budget movies mostly shot on theatrical sets and using stage acting techniques on Soviet TV, to the point of being their own thing distinct from "normal" TV movies/series. This production not that horrible in that context*, like with any kind of theatre/screen media you don't really see the tropes and shortcuts as unrealistic or jarring if everyone is using them. (Real people's faces don't go blurry when they stop speaking.) The problem is, this particular show format had been dead for decades even in Russia, and everyone forgot what those common shortcuts were, or how to overlook them. * In fact they kinda splurged on the soundtrack, it's by a back-then famous Russian band, even if it's not one of their masterpieces. As for it sounding like рояп... That's just the 80s, everything sounded like that back then.
Exactly. The same format was known in communist Poland and used there (and even after 1989). Basically it should be considered as theatre play. Watching it as a movie misses a goal
2:00 Some of my friends and I watched the Russian *Hobbit* film earlier today, which was my intro to the Russian tolkein adaptations, and rather than brave the auto-translated english subtitles we decided to add another layer of confusion by having youtube auto-translate them into *latin*. Extremely confusing watching experience 10/10 would recommend. But real talk, this film and the hobbit one are both so charming in such a bizarre way. 70% of the scenes feel like a community theater production, 20% of them feel like a fever dream, and 10% of them are tom bombadil. (Highlights of the hobbit one for me were the absolute orangeness of thorin and the *fantastic* smaug puppet)
Okay I completely agree with EVERYTHING you say here. I have zero argument with any of the qualms you bring up. But there’s one seriously important thing we have to keep in mind while watching this… The trilogy did not exist at this point in time, so we have to remember that these guys have ABSOLUTELY NO frame of reference (aside from the cartoon Lord of the Rings movie, which I think is incredible, but that’s beside the point). So I think their ridiculous attempt at this is both awesome in many ways, but most importantly, it’s awesome because whoever made this movie has got to be the BIGGEST God Damned Tolkein fan in the universe, funding and coordinating LITERALLY his own Lord of the Rings movie because nobody else in Russia would dare to do so at the time. And that’s fucking incredible, I’m sorry. I have SO MUCH respect for that. I love that you, sir, enjoyed this movie as much as I did and that you are also willing to watch any Tolkein nonsense you can get your hands on because we true fans are ravenous to consume anything Arda. Rock on brother and keep posting Tolkein! Thank you for the upload 😂
as someone already mentioned in the comments why it's the way it is, is because it's not a direct adaptation of Lord of the rings but just a little low budget screenplay inspired by it, mainly being it's creators interpretation of the book, I will add from myself that it's more likely than not aimed for young audiences that's why it tries to be silly and corny instead of serious and dark much like ninja turtles from the eighties
Sir, for the sake of linguistic correctness, I must say that the Russian letter/sound x that is traditionally given in English as kh, is not k by any possible means. It is rather h - but English h is glottal fricative, while Russian x is velar fricative. In short, English h is more ethereal, airy, puff-of-air-wise - Russian x is English h produced with more seriousness, so to say (like in Scottish CLASSIC pronunciation of ch in words like loch, younger Scots just pronounce it as k). But it never sounds like k! Khraniteli is rather Hraniteli (the accent falls on the first i, though - not on e). In Russian it means "Keepers".
@@DarthGandalfYT Also, as the man from the former USSR (not from Leningrad, though), I have to say that the movie you mention in your video was of a very low budget, and they honestly write in the screen that it was a "FANTASY, BASED ON the Tolkien's novel". It was a cinematic/theatrical product intended directly for the Soviet people of that exact time. For its time and its audience it was a great achievement. That movie did not pretend to be an eternal international blockbuster. You have to judge it by the context it was created within. Within that context it was a true masterpiece.
Bilbo would actually still look young at the beginning of Fellowship! He didn't change at all according to everyone who knew him (due to the power of the ring), so ageing him in Peter Jackson's trilogy (and having him appear as an old man at the beginning of this) is inaccurate! Technically Martin Freeman should have still been acting as 'present' Bilbo at the beginning and end of the Hobbit trilogy! But I understand they wanted to tie it in with Ian Holmes character from LOTR. Still, it bugged me. He's technically not an old-looking hobbit at the beginning of Fellowship!!
You aren't wrong. I guess the depiction of characters in popular adaptions ends up changing the way we perceive them. It's hard not to imagine Bilbo as anything other than Ian Holm, even though Martin Freeman did a fantastic job as him.
When I was a kid in the 1960s every weekday we had a programme called "Tales from Europe" on Children's Hour( yeah, that was a thing). We knew it was bollocks even then, but there was nothing else to watch. A particular hit was the East German "Singing Ringing Tree". ua-cam.com/video/WhVFcy4ZMIg/v-deo.html
so the most hilarious fact is that Elrond's clothing here is actually canon appropriate... Or at least it was the style of Doriath when he grew up, given Tolkien's one drawing of Elven fashion featured Beleg Strongbow with a tudor outfit, with the classic short pants, white long socks and doublet of that age. So it is possible that this fashion might have survived amongst some of the elves in rivendel in the books.
Huh...so this is what being exposed by a memetic hazard feels like. I wonder what Sauron would like if they bothered putting him. Perhaps a giant man in a tinfoil mask with a sledge hammer as a weapon.
Yeah I watched it also and it’s just striking how bad the production quality is for 1991. It’s like they shot it with one of those big VHS camcorders from the 80’s.
I watched this and loved every second. It really is like someone made a home-movie of LOTR. The absolute best parts are the hand-drawn fireworks and the scene where Gandalf casts a magic spell on Bilbo. The casting, the acting, the costumes and sets, it’s all so terrible and I loved it.
We are used to seeing Tolkein's characters presented in Western European Medieval garb but here costuming is based on Russian styles. The muttonchops are 19th Century. Watch War And Peace for examples. This is an interesting production and I commend the producers for making it on a budget lower than available on community cable. You rarely see weirdness like this.
Hilarious video. This looks to be in the class of Robot Monster so bad it s brilliant and like the epic SciFi classic, they were trying their best to make it well. I don’t think I will watch it though I don’t want to be imprinted with meth addled hobbits or a hill giant Bombadil
Heh, you haven't watched the soviet cartoons, did you?) I actually have a theory why soviet fiction is so effed up and artsy at the same time. Soviet life was total crap, but without quality booze or drugs to cope with it. Well, at least not common ones like acid or weed. That means only the utilitary obscure ones, like DOB, Tropicamide, Taren. they say this sht puts LSD to shame.
This is the greatest-worst film I have seen. And I speak enough Russian to understand a bulk of this what’s. A lot of dialogue is taken verbatim from the book, so the writers clearly did their homework. It’s just the casting department that shit the bed
For the people back than it must have been something special to watch. A glimpse into western society. Because in the comunist era you could see only comunist stuff on the tv and even that only for 2 hours. I know we were pirating with home made antennas to see some movies from other countries. I think it's a statement that people were sick of the comunist regim. I just hope it doesn't turn into a law suit scandal about copy writes.
In Soviet Middle-Earth, fellowship corrupts Sauron.
😂
Ok i died :D
That is fucking classic bro
🤣🤣🤣 Very creative, the hobbits created a Soviet and overthrew their wizard rulers. There was no Shire any more, it became an Oblast.
Gollum: "The ring is mine!"
Soviet Lotr: "You mean OUR ring"
If the world ends tomorrow, then this will be the only time Tom Bombadil was ever depicted on screen...
Well, that's tragic.
Nope: ua-cam.com/video/MM2c-qe-Pss/v-deo.html
I think the Finnish TV adaptation Hobbitit also has Bombadil.
Considering what all was going down in the Soviet Union in 1991 it's remarkable there was anyone around able to endeavor on such a project.
zero dollars = zero rubles line killed me
"their friend just died"
GANDALF IS LITERALLY RIGHT THERE LMAOO
‘The hobbits come across as drug fueled gremlins’ lol
To be fair that is a somewhat accurate description of merry and pippin
The film was made on total initiative of Andrey Romanov, and a group of intellectuals, on zero budget. It wasn't a movie at a traditional sense, it was a TV theater play. By 1991 most Soviet movie production was destroyed along with the country itself. Andrey (Diusha) Romanov was a former member of the famous rock band Aquarium, which was doing reasonably well in UK with the help of David Stewart. Mind the fact, the Lord of the rings was not even published in Russia at the time. So, it was a miracle the film was made in the first place.
I believe the Andrey Kistyakovsky translation was available in Russia at the time.
It's not only the matter of zero budget. Such tv-performances were intended for kids. The age of the audience ranged between 5 and 10. That is why acting was rather simplistic and special effect unsofisticated.
@@darmasalla8015 it was the school of acting in ussr, not many could perform according to Stanislavsky standards, so a compromise was made.
@@darmasalla8015 as far as the age, the book itself isn't the easiest one
@@darmasalla8015 besides, I used to know Romanov, as his band, Trililistnik was touring the North. He was a real fan of Tolkien. Keeping close to the text was the thing
You know, there's a soviet Hobbit adaptation too
We needs it!
yeah and it is better then this lotr ones, like the animation
Thank you for your review.
To make the matters clear, it is NOT a movie. This kind of a genre was called 'telespektakl' or tv-theatrical performance. It targeted very young audience (between 5 and 10), hence simplified acting and special effects.
And naturally it was never shown in movie theaters. It was intended only for TV.
And, hold your breath, there was a Soviet Hobbit as well.
Товарищи иностранцы, это просто спектакль ,а не фильм мирового уровня много от него не ждите. Мне нравится простой, душевный, не напрягает как многие моменты голливудской версии.
Вы ещё не видели театральную постановку где Торина играет женщина с синтапонавыми мышцами 🤭
А Смог называет Никротанта своим учителем 🤔
Hey everyone - this is my first foray into non-lore related content so I was somewhat hesitant on releasing it. I'm planning on branching out and doing more different types of video in the future, although I will say with 100% certainty that the lore videos will always take priority. And I can also say with 100% certainty that I won't be touching Amazon LOTR until there's actually enough information to work with. Hope you enjoy this, and do watch Khraniteli if you haven't.
Hello
@@lsbc9666 Hi.
Where would I find Khraniteli?
Keep up the good work
@@cathrynbyrnes8737 UA-cam!
This movie sounds more like a parody made to be a Russian comedy.
*"In Soviet Arda pipe weed smokes you!"*
I could not stop laughing through the first 6 minutes of this video. It is just great
From Russia with love!
Mutton chops are the facial adornments of the gods
The Eragon joke was great. Absolutely killed me!
When I saw Aragorn in this version. I actually thought he was Legolas. That honestly was a strange casting choice
This is not a film, but a theatrical performance adapted for TV. And this is not a major adaptation, but part of a show for kids like Sesame Street. Therefore, you should not criticize him so seriously, small children do not notice such shortcomings.
It's all in good fun. I'm glad it exists.
@@DarthGandalfYT Yes, but it's just a separate genre that should be considered a theatrical performance. In Poland it was called "teatr telewizji" (TV theater). That's why it's so dialogue-heavy. By treating it as a full-fledged movie you are just missing the point.
How grand is that entrance though, Chad Gandalf knows how to make an entrance
There was a lot of those extremely low-budget movies mostly shot on theatrical sets and using stage acting techniques on Soviet TV, to the point of being their own thing distinct from "normal" TV movies/series.
This production not that horrible in that context*, like with any kind of theatre/screen media you don't really see the tropes and shortcuts as unrealistic or jarring if everyone is using them. (Real people's faces don't go blurry when they stop speaking.) The problem is, this particular show format had been dead for decades even in Russia, and everyone forgot what those common shortcuts were, or how to overlook them.
* In fact they kinda splurged on the soundtrack, it's by a back-then famous Russian band, even if it's not one of their masterpieces. As for it sounding like рояп... That's just the 80s, everything sounded like that back then.
Exactly. The same format was known in communist Poland and used there (and even after 1989). Basically it should be considered as theatre play. Watching it as a movie misses a goal
"It's so bad that it's good". Welcome to trash cinema.
Love this man this was hilarious. I love your take on middle earth in general and listening to this had me laughing the whole time
The topics are one thing about your videos, but your humor just makes the difference and its really great. Really love to see more videos like this!
2:00 Some of my friends and I watched the Russian *Hobbit* film earlier today, which was my intro to the Russian tolkein adaptations, and rather than brave the auto-translated english subtitles we decided to add another layer of confusion by having youtube auto-translate them into *latin*. Extremely confusing watching experience 10/10 would recommend.
But real talk, this film and the hobbit one are both so charming in such a bizarre way. 70% of the scenes feel like a community theater production, 20% of them feel like a fever dream, and 10% of them are tom bombadil. (Highlights of the hobbit one for me were the absolute orangeness of thorin and the *fantastic* smaug puppet)
Okay I completely agree with EVERYTHING you say here. I have zero argument with any of the qualms you bring up. But there’s one seriously important thing we have to keep in mind while watching this…
The trilogy did not exist at this point in time, so we have to remember that these guys have ABSOLUTELY NO frame of reference (aside from the cartoon Lord of the Rings movie, which I think is incredible, but that’s beside the point).
So I think their ridiculous attempt at this is both awesome in many ways, but most importantly, it’s awesome because whoever made this movie has got to be the BIGGEST God Damned Tolkein fan in the universe, funding and coordinating LITERALLY his own Lord of the Rings movie because nobody else in Russia would dare to do so at the time. And that’s fucking incredible, I’m sorry. I have SO MUCH respect for that.
I love that you, sir, enjoyed this movie as much as I did and that you are also willing to watch any Tolkein nonsense you can get your hands on because we true fans are ravenous to consume anything Arda.
Rock on brother and keep posting Tolkein! Thank you for the upload 😂
Looks like a Jodorowsky movie...
The Balrog was honored by not being shown. They'd probably have depicted him as the Cowardly Lion with wings.
my favourite character has to be the narrator... and btw; subbed.
Easily one of the most revered films here in Ithilien.
It is simply fantastic and i did enjoy Eragons cameo
0:24 "Adaptation"
5:00 looks like 4 hobbits stumbled into the middle of the movie Deliverance
Is Boromir carrying a LIT MATCH in Moria?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
as someone already mentioned in the comments why it's the way it is, is because it's not a direct adaptation of Lord of the rings but just a little low budget screenplay inspired by it, mainly being it's creators interpretation of the book, I will add from myself that it's more likely than not aimed for young audiences that's why it tries to be silly and corny instead of serious and dark much like ninja turtles from the eighties
Every supporting character wants the hobbits to sleep. The only difference between the good guys and the bad guys is whether or not it's a ruse.
Sir, for the sake of linguistic correctness, I must say that the Russian letter/sound x that is traditionally given in English as kh, is not k by any possible means. It is rather h - but English h is glottal fricative, while Russian x is velar fricative. In short, English h is more ethereal, airy, puff-of-air-wise - Russian x is English h produced with more seriousness, so to say (like in Scottish CLASSIC pronunciation of ch in words like loch, younger Scots just pronounce it as k). But it never sounds like k! Khraniteli is rather Hraniteli (the accent falls on the first i, though - not on e). In Russian it means "Keepers".
I think Tolkien would be very proud of this comment given his love of linguistics.
@@DarthGandalfYT Also, as the man from the former USSR (not from Leningrad, though), I have to say that the movie you mention in your video was of a very low budget, and they honestly write in the screen that it was a "FANTASY, BASED ON the Tolkien's novel". It was a cinematic/theatrical product intended directly for the Soviet people of that exact time. For its time and its audience it was a great achievement. That movie did not pretend to be an eternal international blockbuster. You have to judge it by the context it was created within. Within that context it was a true masterpiece.
7:47 "...and is possibly still in high school, so he's gotten a lot done..." :D
How to spot person who has never been in theather. It was low budget childrens theather show for kids of 3-8 year old. :D
И вы не заметили,что Саруман похож на профессора Квирола из Гарри Поттера?!
Bilbo would actually still look young at the beginning of Fellowship! He didn't change at all according to everyone who knew him (due to the power of the ring), so ageing him in Peter Jackson's trilogy (and having him appear as an old man at the beginning of this) is inaccurate! Technically Martin Freeman should have still been acting as 'present' Bilbo at the beginning and end of the Hobbit trilogy! But I understand they wanted to tie it in with Ian Holmes character from LOTR. Still, it bugged me. He's technically not an old-looking hobbit at the beginning of Fellowship!!
You aren't wrong. I guess the depiction of characters in popular adaptions ends up changing the way we perceive them. It's hard not to imagine Bilbo as anything other than Ian Holm, even though Martin Freeman did a fantastic job as him.
To me, young Bilbo is cuter but I see both Holm's and Freeman's portrayals as one character.
@@DarthGandalfYT I find it hard to imagine Bilbo as anything other than how he was portrayed in the Rankin/Bass animated film.
When I was a kid in the 1960s every weekday we had a programme called "Tales from Europe" on Children's Hour( yeah, that was a thing). We knew it was bollocks even then, but there was nothing else to watch. A particular hit was the East German "Singing Ringing Tree". ua-cam.com/video/WhVFcy4ZMIg/v-deo.html
so the most hilarious fact is that Elrond's clothing here is actually canon appropriate... Or at least it was the style of Doriath when he grew up, given Tolkien's one drawing of Elven fashion featured Beleg Strongbow with a tudor outfit, with the classic short pants, white long socks and doublet of that age. So it is possible that this fashion might have survived amongst some of the elves in rivendel in the books.
All the hobbit parts looks like they were played by Noddy Holder.
Huh...so this is what being exposed by a memetic hazard feels like.
I wonder what Sauron would like if they bothered putting him.
Perhaps a giant man in a tinfoil mask with a sledge hammer as a weapon.
Ultimate battle og baffels!
Russian LoTR vs Star Wars Holliday special!
Yeah I watched it also and it’s just striking how bad the production quality is for 1991. It’s like they shot it with one of those big VHS camcorders from the 80’s.
8:35 Staring Mr. Bean as Frodo
Cheers
It has since been captioned in English and can be found on here on youtube ua-cam.com/video/hZh7nwEUOeg/v-deo.html
So... at no point did you consider calling her Le-girl-as?
I'm unfortunately not that smart.
I watched this and loved every second. It really is like someone made a home-movie of LOTR. The absolute best parts are the hand-drawn fireworks and the scene where Gandalf casts a magic spell on Bilbo. The casting, the acting, the costumes and sets, it’s all so terrible and I loved it.
We are used to seeing Tolkein's characters presented in Western European Medieval garb but here costuming is based on Russian styles. The muttonchops are 19th Century. Watch War And Peace for examples. This is an interesting production and I commend the producers for making it on a budget lower than available on community cable. You rarely see weirdness like this.
Hilarious video. This looks to be in the class of Robot Monster so bad it s brilliant and like the epic SciFi classic, they were trying their best to make it well. I don’t think I will watch it though I don’t want to be imprinted with meth addled hobbits or a hill giant Bombadil
It was possible because even the Tolkien family had no power to claim their copyright on the Soviet Union :D
I liked samurai-Borrowmir in the Finnish adaptation
In Soviet Middle Middle-earth, *Roast Mutton* can only be translated as *Roast Mutton-chops* !
But did it contain a killer Howard Shore-like soundtrack?
10:56 😂😂😂
If you want to write a "mine"-"ours" joke, please dont, its already 30% of comments here xD
1:08 The russian adaption of LOTR is not real it can't hurt you,
The russian adaption of LOTR:
The cultiness of this movie exceeds any rational limit.
At least we now know that the TV show won't be that bad.
oh my sweet summer child...
This was not sfw! I laughed too much!
Did they have that girl play Legolas, hoping no one would notice? Or was Legolas actually portrayed as a female character?
They just used female actor for this role, expecting everybody to ignore this fact
Apperently it was the directors daughter, thats why.
Le-girl-lass appears with very feminine eye meakeup in a scene or a few, so it was very much a she LOL.
It’s pronounced “hrah-NÉE-tyell-eve.
Now review the Finnish 1993 version: ua-cam.com/video/kHFKdgjEugs/v-deo.html
There's a reason why it was never released lol)
I thought it was!
@@spencerfrankclayton4348 lol no) some nerds who search and digitalise rare vintage films found it in the archives that weren't approved for release.
0 USD = 0 RUB
Heh, you haven't watched the soviet cartoons, did you?)
I actually have a theory why soviet fiction is so effed up and artsy at the same time. Soviet life was total crap, but without quality booze or drugs to cope with it. Well, at least not common ones like acid or weed. That means only the utilitary obscure ones, like DOB, Tropicamide, Taren. they say this sht puts LSD to shame.
This is the greatest-worst film I have seen. And I speak enough Russian to understand a bulk of this what’s. A lot of dialogue is taken verbatim from the book, so the writers clearly did their homework. It’s just the casting department that shit the bed
this is so wierd
For the people back than it must have been something special to watch. A glimpse into western society. Because in the comunist era you could see only comunist stuff on the tv and even that only for 2 hours. I know we were pirating with home made antennas to see some movies from other countries. I think it's a statement that people were sick of the comunist regim.
I just hope it doesn't turn into a law suit scandal about copy writes.
Seems like most of mediocre fairytyles where I live lol, maybe little worse
EDIT: OK, Maybe far worse
The sarcasm and vitriol directed at it seems a tad overdone for a TV film made for kids on a zero budget at a time when the economy was collapsing.