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Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man
But it seems to me that the real sense of suspense, for a book reader who has read The Hobbit, comes from the gradual realisation, during a fairly lengthy chapter, of the true nature of the seemingly innocent magic ring that Bilbo discovered on his travels.
A film viewer who has not read The Hobbit does not have the background knowledge to make such gradual realisation effective as a means of suspense. Even had the prologue merely told of Bilbo's discovery of the Ring, rather than revealing the true nature of the Ring, the film viewer would not have had the familiarity with the back story to make the revelation, when it came, particularly striking. Moreover, given the need to move the story on more quickly, the film would not, in any event, have had the book's luxury of being able to dwell on the revelation.
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I still don't understand here, because The Hobbit doesn't reveal anything about the true nature of the Ring. And the prologue recapitulates what you learn in the Hobbit.
But I see the point about moving the story forward more quickly. The movie prologue was certainly good for this, since as I say, the full story is only learned at the Council of Elrond (this was a great section in the book, with its recounting of the full background, while in the movie it focuses only on the issue of who will take the Ring).