Microphones in Middle-earth...the BBC Lord of the Rings

[Brian Sibley]

Originally Posted by davem

The Ring is Mine..... Indeed. Now, I don't know how well others feel the climax at the Sammah Naur is done. Frodo seems completely intoxicated by the Ring once he has claimed it fro his own, so that he does nothing to fight Gollum - even when Gollum actually tells him he is going to bite his (Frodo's) finger off...

I'm not sure about it - but it must have been an impossibly difficult scene to write & to perform. If you aren't going to have the Narrator describe the events (which would kill the dramatic impact of the events) how do you depict the events with voices alone? It doesn't work as well as in the book, obviously, but it is far, far superior to the silliness of the movie.

I'm not sure about it, either, and I think I wrote that episode!

As Dave says, it was an impossible scene to write aurally. I think worse options would have been Frodo saying: "Aaaaggghhhhh! He's bitten off my finger!" Or Sam saying: "Deary me! Nasty Slinker's bitten off poor Master's finger!" It is a scene that needs to be read not described by the participants in the action.

I also think that Peter Woodthorpe's magnificent performance of Gollum's exultation at finally winning the Ring back is so powerful that any slight sense of 'awkwardness' one might have felt at the lead up to it is forgotten. This is Gollum's moment & he should have the glory of that scene. Ian Holm's performance is superlative, once you accept his/the writer's decision that Frodo is so drunk with his surrender that he is incapable of registering what is happening.

I agree: Woodthorpe played his final moment superbly well.

During the recordings, Ian and director, Jane Morgan, got irritated by Peter's tendency to (how can I put it?) 'luxuriate' in his lines! Partly because the many ssssss that he added to words somewhat lengthened the running time (!) and, in Ian's case, quite often 'underscored' his own lines!

Personally, I always thought that Peter was thoroughly immersed in the character and, if (as he obviously did at times) he p***ed off one or two of his fellow actors that was very much 'in character'!

Ian's 'intoxication with the ring' was, I think, his interpretation and there was a moment where he almost became Woodthorpe's Gollum.

I remember the recording of this scene very vividly: two actors standing at a microphone, holding scripts and wearing ordinary clothes and specs. Suddenly, when it came to THAT line, Peter seized Ian's hand and forced it into his mouth. Fantastic! So when I hear those lines, that's what I see in my mind's eye!!

Glad you're finishing off this epic! Well done!!!

PS: Unlike Estelyn, I could have done without counter-tenor for eagles!!