J.R.R. Tolkien fans across the globe encountered the seemingly impossible last month: a film version of TheLordOfTheRings they’d never heard of.
just months before its collapse in 1991. It aired briefly as a televised children’s program before disappearing for 30 years. The two-part, two-hour-long production is enjoying newfound fame since its producer 5TV, formerly Leningrad TV, posted it online out of the blue. It has racked up a collective 2.3 million views on YouTube as a new generation revels in its accidental campiness and undeniable sincerity.
Shtil and Yevgeni Solyakov, the now 81-year-old who played Boromir, each currently appear in numerous productions a week at the esteemed Tovstonogovin St. Petersburg. Sergey Shelgunov and Valeriy Dyachenko are busy at the A. Bryantsev Youth Theater, a 15-minute walk away. It was popular in the Soviet Union to turn plays into TV movies, often just by recording stage productions without adding further cinematic frills.
Leningrad TV only gave the production three-hour windows to use its equipment and stages before clearing them out to make way for other programs. The cast was also on the clock. They could only work on “Khraniteli” in the gaps between the morning rehearsals and evening performances for their main theater jobs.
“Khraniteli” likely wasn’t subject to heavy state censorship because it was targeted at children and had a rather abstract fantasy plot. Director Serebryakova and many of the actors were known for their work on children’s programming and fairy tales. The art director of Shelgunov’s theater somehow managed to obtain a prohibited copy of “The Hobbit” about a year later. They began to prepare a theatrical version called “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins,” which opened in 1977 and ran for an entire decade. Leningrad TV adapted it into a TV movie in 1985, whose footage is still available online.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Broker, The Astronaut and The Vampire: Enter the mysterious world of Soviet watch collectorsWith pseudonyms like The Broker, The Astronaut and The Vampire, this global cabal of watch collectors specializes in Soviet timepieces dating back to the days of Stalin
Read more »
Princess Beatrice shares unseen look inside whimsical home with EdoardoPrincess Beatrice's house: The Queen's granddaughter shared a peek inside her home at St James's Palace where she lives with husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Read more »
Inside the Quest to Reach the UnvaccinatedIn many American communities, the puzzle of how to reach unvaccinated people intersects with the long list of reasons underserved communities get left behind.
Read more »
'Lady Marmalade': Inside the Vampy, Gossip-Fueling 'Moulin Rouge' Remake, 20 Years LaterHow Missy Elliott, producer Ron Fair and “four badass chicks from the Moulin Rouge” created a Number One smash that couldn’t be recaptured today
Read more »
Electric bike explodes in crowded elevator burning everyone insideA suspected faulty battery is believed to have caused the devastating fire, which resulted in a 5-month-old and four adults being hospitalized on Monday.
Read more »