The first adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Hobbit was created in the Czech Republic in 1966 under
the supervision of American director of animated films Gene Deitch for American producer William Snyder.
Snyder bought the rights to the novel from
the Tolkien estate very cheaply while it was
still unknown. His plan was to produce a
"full-colour film" by 30 June 1966. The
project fell through, but after the explosion
in the novel's popularity, Snyder realized
that his contract had not required the film
to be of any length: he commissioned Gene
Deitch to create a 12-minute film so that he
could keep his rights. He later sold the rights
for around $100,000.
Gene Deitch, who has been living in the
Czech Republic for many years, is well
known for his animated series of Tom and
Jerry. He tells the whole story of making the
first Hobbit film in his blog
I love to see my name as director on the
screen credits of my films, but I I did not
want my name to be on such a chopped
down version of my script, even though,
thanks to Born, the film looked amazingly
good. Now, nearly 45 years later, I’ve finally
put my name back onto it. With the new
Peter Jackson mega-version coming out, I
can at least make an immodest shout that I
made the very first ever film version of THE
HOBBIT!
You can find the film in Gene Deitch’s blog.
TOM and JERRY
https://www.flickr.com/photos/70344776@N04/6387953335
Source: https://genedeitchcredits.com/roll-the-credits/40-william-l-snyder/
(K.B.)
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