LotR1-FotR-Seq03

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

• Gandalf has not returned. Frodo, filled with foreboding, decides he must leave the Shire without waiting for Gandalf (either Gandalf proposed his plan earlier as in the book, or Frodo decides for himself to seek Bilbo and his Elvish friends in Rivendell).
• Frodo leaves just in time as he hears the Gaffer being questioned by a Nazgûl.
• Etc...

I'm just spitballing off the top of my head, but I think something along these line would be a little cleaner, and also make Frodo a stronger, more active character.

Does Frodo know that Bilbo has gone off to Rivendell? Is that stated previously? And Gandalf points Frodo to Bree, which I think would have been better if he were to point him to Rivendell after going though Bree ("I'll meet you at the Prancing Pony in Bree; if I'm not there, then try to make it onto Rivendell."). He could even have said something about meeting someone along the way who may help, kind of like the elves whom Frodo meets who put out the word that he's out and about.

And by the by, my statement regarding Gandalf smoking in the corner of Bag End was silly. Isn't that the exact way Frodo encounters Strider? The audience, seeing all of the repetition might start thinking that the smoking lobby was underwriting the film ("Good guys smoke in the dark..." or "By their smoke you will know them.").