Long before Peter Jackson transformed The Lord of the Rings into an epic saga, others dreamed of bringing the story to the screen. J.R.R. Tolkien himself, however, was an obstacle because he hated the idea of an animated version. Perhaps that’s why few fans know that there is an animated version of The Lord of the Rings that you can watch for free on November 14.
The forgotten Lord of the Rings film Tolkien never wanted to see, FREE at this Buenos Aires movie theater
The Lord of the Rings is a story that many tried to bring to the cinema, because of the story, the epic of the characters and one of its great obstacles, the technology to bring Tolkien’s world to the big screen. The closest project to materialize with Tolkien’s approval was that of director John Boorman, who imagined a mystical and dreamlike version. Later, directors like Steven Spielberg also showed interest, but in the 1970s, the technology was not yet ready to bring orcs, wizards and rings of power to life, until a daring filmmaker came along.
Ralph Bakshi’s gamble: hand-drawn Middle Earth
After Tolkien’s death in 1973, the producer Saul Zaentz, owner of the rights, decided to try anyway and summoned the filmmaker Ralph Bakshi . This director proposed something revolutionary: filming real actors and then tracing them in animation, a technique called rotoscoping.
The result was an intense, dark and strange film, where the epic battles of Helm’s Deep came to life with a realism never before seen in the genre. This first version of The Lord of the Rings was relatively successful and was not enough to finance the second part.
Therefore, the story remained unfinished and it was 25 years before Peter Jackson took up the dream of filming the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy.
If you are a fan of The Lord of the Rings and have seen all the films, we can tell you that the curious thing is that many of Peter Jackson’s narrative and visual decisions, from the staging of the battles to the arrangement of the characters, were directly inspired by Ralph Bakshi’s version. That is why this animated version of The Lord of the Rings that you can see for free in Buenos Aires is considered a cult piece that you cannot miss.
Where to see the first version of The Lord of the Rings free in Buenos Aires It’s a cult movie!
The animated version of The Lord of the Rings will be screened in Buenos Aires with free admission for Argentines and residents at the Centro Cultural Recoleta on November 14 at 6pm. Admission is free but you have to reserve your place at the theater on the Entradas BA website.
Don’t miss the opportunity to rediscover the first film version of The Lord of the Rings, free in Buenos Aires, the foray into Middle-earth that paved the way for everything that came after.
Centro Cultural Recoleta đź“ŤJunĂn 1950