Russian Language Version of The Hobbit (1985)

http://youtu.be/6m0l3Yr1B50

According to Tolken Gateway, this Russian language version of The Hobbit (translated title, “The Fabulous Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit”) was created as an unlicensed television children’s film. In the 1980s and 1990s, it aired on the Leningrad TV Channel.

This children’s film featured Zinovy Gerdt as “The Professor” (a narrator stand-in for Tolkien), Mikhail Danilov as Bilbo, Anatoly Ravikovich as Thorin, Ivan Krasko as Gandalf and Igor Dmitriev as Gollum. Smaug and the Spiders were portrayed by puppets. Missing in this version are the Trolls, Elrond, Beorn and the Wood-elves. The Goblins are human-like with little makeup and portrayed by dancers from the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (as were the inhabitants of Lake Town).