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I was poking around Tolkien Gateway today, and I stumbled across the fact that there was a little-known movie based on The Hobbit way back in 1966! You can read more about it here.

To say that they "took some liberties" with the plot is an understatement!

Slag the Dragon ransacked the city of Dale, taking all of their treasures for himself, including the precious Arkenstone. Only General Torin Oakenshield, Princess Mika and a lone, unnamed watchman (who had been asleep when Slag attacked) survived. Desperate, they turned to the Wizard Gandalf in his tower. He pointed them to a prophecy of the Dragon's death, for which they needed a Hobbit. Bilbo Baggins initially refused, but after some persuasion from Gandalf and the princess, joined the three on their quest.

Soon, they encountered two "Groans", monstrous creatures that turned to trees when exposed to sunlight. Bilbo's companions were captured, but Bilbo tricked the two into a fight until the sun rose. They continued their journey, and General Oakenshield and the Princess started to appreciate their burglar. But suddenly, Bilbo disappeared. He had fallen though a crack in the mountain, and fell past the "Grablins" into the lake where "Goloom" lived. He found Goloom's magic ring, and dashed away through the tunnels. He hid behind a rock, and allowed Goloom to overtake him so he could find his way out.

After traveling through Mirkwood Forest, Bilbo came to the Lonely Mountain. He stole the Arkenstone, crafted a bow from mining tools, and shot the Arkenstone through Slag's heart. Slag was killed, and Dale restored. Bilbo returned to Hobbiton with Princess Mika as his wife.

Yes, I've known about the 1966 Hobbit. It was more of a proof-of-concept for a full-length movie that never got made. The animated short was directed by German animator Gene Deitch, who also directed a series of Tom and Jerry cartoons (the cat & mouse duo) a few years earlier. Having seen the short, I can well believe that the production was very rushed.

I have never seen that excerpt from Mr. Deitch's book, though. It might be a shame that the full-length movie never got made; it sounds like it might have been very interesting despite the divergences from Tolkien's book. It is interesting that the screenplay was written with no knowledge of The Lord of the Rings, but it also makes a certain amount of sense in light of the changes to the story.

By the way, elements of The Hobbit came close to making it into Disney's Fantasia. Walt Disney considered incorporating imagery based on Tolkien's book into a 'tonal poem' for Fantasia. I'm not sure if he couldn't obtain the rights or if he simply dropped the idea.

Very interesting and fascinating, Otaku! I see that the short is on YouTube (which shouldn't be a surprise). I'll have to check it out!

Thanks, Majestic, for highlighting this movie!

This "film" is a real curiosity. Probably every watcher has to know this first:

The film was approximately 12 minutes long and was only created so Snyder could extend his license for The Lord of the Rings and sell it back to Tolkien and his publishers, which he did for $100,000.

-from the Wikipedia on it.