For fans of The
Lord of the Rings
, this adaptation was a legend.
Then the legend became a myth.
For 30 years, no one heard of
Khraniteli
, a Soviet TV movie without the ruble covering Tolkien's saga with the means at hand.
Until, by chance, a Russian TV channel brought out the cinematic artifact on YouTube.
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According to the
Guardian
, the feature film had only aired once in 1991 on Leningrad Television, the oldest Russian channel still active and now renamed 5TV.
The film came out of those archives three decades later.
With more than a million views in a few days, the two parts of
Khraniteli
-
The Guardians
in the language of Molière - did not fail to appeal to lovers of Middle-earth.
"
Fans searched but could not find this film for decades,
" wrote the Russian specialist site
World of Fantasy
, relayed by the
Guardian
.
"
There should be a statue to the glory of the person who found and digitized this,
" said another fan, again according to the British media.
However, the Soviet version of The
Lord of the Rings
shines more for its historical aspect than cinematographic.
Oscillating between special effects barely worthy of the
1967
Star Trek
first season
and theatrical sets, the DIY TV movie suffers, to put it mildly, when compared to the trilogy made by Peter Jackson less than a decade later. .
Russian
speakers
and the most attentive observers will, however, recognize in
Khraniteli
the great moments of the books, sometimes adapted very freely.
Enough to titillate the zygomatics of fans a little while waiting for 2022 and the new Amazon series taking place in the universe of JRR Tolkien.
