The first film adaptation of The Hobbit was a Czech-made animated short: An American producer had hoped to make a full-length animated feature of Tolkien’s novel but never found the funding
… Most people know director Peter Jackson’s epic nine-hour, three-film version of “The Hobbit,” or the earlier 78-minute animated version made by U.S. company Rankin/Bass in 1977. But the almost unknown 1966 Czech version of the story clocks in at 12 minutes and is the first film adaptation of any Tolkien work.
The animated short was made by long-time Prague-based animator Gene Deitch and Czech illustrator Adolf Born. Both are well-respected artists; Deitch’s cartoon “Munro” won an Oscar in 1961 for Best Animated Short, while Born received the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters from France.…
❧