''The Hobbit'' (, full title ''The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit, Across the Wild Land, Through the Dark Forest, Beyond the Misty Mountains. There and Back Again''; ) is a 1985

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television mov ...

, being a loose adaption of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

's 1937 book ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...

'' by Vladimir Latyshev. The play featured

Zinovy Gerdt Zinovy Yefimovich Gerdt (russian: Зино́вий Ефи́мович Гердт, which is a pseudonym, his real name being Zalman Afroimovich Khrapinovich (За́лман Афро́имович Храпино́вич); 21 September 1916 in Sebez ...

as "the professor" (a narrator stand-in for Tolkien), as

Bilbo Baggins Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of many of Tolkien's Middle-ear ...

, Anatoly Ravikovich as

Thorin Oakenshield Thorin Oakenshield (Thorin II) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel '' The Hobbit''. Thorin is the leader of the Company of Dwarves who aim to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon. He is the son of Thráin I ...

and

Igor Dmitriev Igor Borisovich Dmitriev (russian: И́горь Бори́сович Дми́триев) (29 May 1927 – 26 January 2008) was a Soviet and Russian film and theatre actor who specialized in playing aristocratic characters in costume productions ...

Gollum Gollum is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He was introduced in the 1937 fantasy novel '' The Hobbit'', and became important in its sequel, '' The Lord of the Rings''. Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit of the R ...

Smaug Smaug () is a dragon and the main antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', his treasure and the mountain he lives in being the goal of the quest. Powerful and fearsome, he invaded the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor 150 years prior ...

and the

Mirkwood Mirkwood is a name used for a great dark fictional forest in novels by Sir Walter Scott and William Morris in the 19th century, and by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 20th century. The critic Tom Shippey explains that the name evoked the excitement of t ...

spiders were portrayed by puppets. Missing in this version are the trolls,

Elrond Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Both of his parents, Eärendil and Elwing, were half-elven, having both Men and Elves as ancestors. He is the bearer of the elven-ring Vilya, the Ring of ...

Beorn Beorn is a fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien, and part of his Middle-earth legendarium. He appears in ''The Hobbit'' as a " skin-changer", a man who could assume the form of a great black bear. His descendants or kinsmen, a group ...

and the wood-elves. The

goblins A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on t ...

are human-like with little makeup, and were portrayed by dancers from the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, as are the inhabitants of Lake Town. The play was shot in 1984 as a teleplay and produced in the framework of the children's TV series ''Tale after Tale'' (''russian: Сказка за сказкой'') aired at the

Leningrad TV Channel 5TV is a television channel based in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alexey Brodskiy serves as the director general, with Ljubov Sovershaeva serving as the general producer. History Channel 5 succeeded the nationwide Leningrad TV channel dating back to ...

in the 1980s and the 1990s. It has also appeared on DVD, although the TV and DVD versions each contain material that the other does not. No subtitles were included, but fan-made subtitles have since appeared.

Cast

– narrator (

) * –

Ivan Krasko Ivan Krasko (real name Ján Botto, pseudonyms ''Bohdana J. Potokinová'', ''Ivan Krasko'', ''Janko Cigáň'', 12 July 1876 in Lukovištia (''Lukovistye'') – 3 March 1958 in Bratislava) was a Slovak poet, translator and representative of moder ...

–

Gandalf Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels '' The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a wizard, one of the ''Istari'' order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Nor ...

–

* Anatoly Ravikovich –

* – Kíli * Mikhail Kuznetsov – Fíli * – Balin * Nikolai Gavrilov – Dwalin * Kirill Dateshidze – Dori * Vladimir Kozlov – Nori * – Ori * Yuri Zatravkin – Glóin * Vladimir Lelyotko – Óin * Mikhail Khrabrov – Bofur * Yuri Ovsyanko – Bifur * Alexander Isakov – Bombur * – Bard the Bowman * – dragon

* Vladimir Martianov – spider (voice) * Igor Muravyov – spider (voice) * – leader of the goblins * Leonard Sekirin – goblin * Alexander Slanksnis – goblin

Versions

The film exists in at least two official versions, in each of which there are episodes that appear only in that version. The timing of the versions differs by 50 seconds.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobbit, The Films based on The Hobbit Soviet television films 1985 television films 1985 films 1980s children's fantasy films Films about dragons 1980s British films

Cast

Versions

See also

References

External links