"The Fellowship of the Ring" aired for the first and last time on Russian television in 1991, the year the Soviet Union dissolved and the performance vanished into the archives of state TV. Recently rediscovered and painstakingly restored the production is so bad I only got 5 minutes in before bailing. But if you are a Tolkien fan and a native Russian speaker you may find some amusement. The video is subtitled (part 1 only) but it probably loses something in translation.
Yes, this is Gollum
The NY Times has a nice article about this production:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/10/world/europe/youtube-fellowship-of-the-ring-russia-5tv.html"Online, the production has found an audience, despite, or perhaps because of, its hapless special effects, confusing editing, operatic acting and seemingly nonexistent budget. On YouTube, Parts 1 and 2 have been watched almost two million times. After reporting the film’s rediscovery this week,
The Guardian also appraised it (“the sort of LSD freak-out you saw on after-school public information films in the 1980s”). The BBC, Vulture and Entertainment Weekly followed suit."
“It’s so bad it’s good,” said Dimitra Fimi, a senior lecturer in fantasy and children’s literature at the University of Glasgow. “It’s a weird concoction of stuff — some of it is really close to the narrative and other bits are curtailed somehow.”
The giant eagle mentioned in the article
Part 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vquKyNdgH3s with English subtitles, click the CC button for subtitles
Part 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLevCLNnLmg in Russian only
Menu suggestion: Russian vodka and caviar.
