CHANGE OF HOBBIT

Last week’s honoree was a dragon, so…

Monster-of-the-Week: …let’s do another dragon, namely…

…"Slag the Terrible” (that’s right, Slag, not Smaug) from this version of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, a little-known, twelve-minute cartoon adaptation of the tale from 1966. It was designed by graphic artist Adolf Born & directed by Terrytoons veteran Gene Deitch—creator of the Tom Terrific shorts for Captain Kangaroo—who explains in this fascinating section of his website that it was made as a ploy so that producer William Snyder, then the holder of the film rights to the book, could extend them & thus sell them back to Tolkien’s reps for big bucks in the wake of the ‘60s-era craze for Tolkien’s work.

The film can be watched in its entirety here; the animation is limited & no doubt the major liberties taken with the story would qualify the filmmakers for burning at the stake as far as Tolkien freaks are concerned. But I really like the cool retro look of it; part Jay Ward, part William Steig.