Part Twenty: The Game Attempts-Part Eighteen:
The next scenes begins with Gandalf explaining to Frodo what the relevance of the Ring is. The camera is centered on the Ring laying on Frodo’s table as he speaks. It then cuts to a side view of the two sitting at Bag End’s main dinner. Gandalf speaks with low tones as Frodo wordlessly serves them both up some tea. There is no background music at this point in the scene though it does pick up in just a bit. This scene is entirely reliant of the actor performances and setting to keep audiences interested. A character is played by Ian McKellan is sitting at this table, though, so it’s no problem.
Also, this is one of many Forced-Perspective shots. No computer effects were used to create the illusion of Gandalf and Frodo’s difference in size here. It’s just that McKellen is closer to the camera and Wood is more far off. The table is specifically constructed to look like it is one and the same despite being two different scales for the actors involved. The final result looks like a three-four foot tall guy serving tea toan average sized one. The effect is perfect in this scene. The only other angles used in this scene are fairly close shots of both actors.
Frodo tries to find some hope that this isn’t as bad as Gandalf is making it out to be by reaffirming that Sauron was destroyed…right? Right? Well, no, Gandalf is all too aware of the nature of the Ring and he begins explaining what we, the audience, already know in shortened form. They actually filmed the entirety of Gandalf’s version of the opening narration, as in the original cut that screen that went to screenings for the very first time had Bilbo’s “Concerning Hobbits” as the narration and the story of the Ring came out here at Frodo's dinner table in its full form. As previously stated, Jackson and co eventually decided that was too typical and recut the film.
Wood lets his eyes do most of the talking in this scene, as they go from just slightly afraid to dreading to mind terror. The Ring’s Theme slowly and quietly picks up and plays as it goes on, and only serves to add to the foreboding feeling.
When Gandalf finally makes it clear that Sauron will never cease looking for the Ring, Frodo grabs it and marches into his living room announcing that they will hid the vile band and never speak of it again. “Nobody knows it’s here, right?” After there’s no answer, he repeats the question, looking like he’s about one more fright away from a heart attack. Cue the revelation that Gollum knew the name Baggins and that he was from the Shire, and was captured by the enemy. Upon realizing this, Frodo tries to give the Ring to Gandalf, who backs up a few steps and insists that he cannot take it. After the young hobbit tries to pressure him again, he finally yells that he cannot be trusted with it. “I would use this Ring from a desire to do good, but through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.” There are several pauses in the dialogue that help stretch out the tension here already unbearably, by the way. Intercut between when Frodo is still trying to give Gandalf the Ring is a short sequence in which a hobbit is beheaded by a wraith passing on horseback. An excellent kick the dog moment to remind us that Frodo will be up against bad, bad people.
Anyway, Frodo finally mans…er, hobbits up and asks what he must do. From here, we cut over to a quick montage of Frodo preparing to leave The Shite altogether as Gandalf instructs him to head to Bree, by way of staying off of the road and leaving the name, Baggins, behind. Gandalf in the meantime will be meeting Saruman, the “wise” and powerful head of the Istari Order. Fortunately, Frodo replies that he knows how to cut across country and that he’ll be able to make no problem. This impresses Gandalf enough to comment on what resilient creature the hobbits are, and yet that it wouldn’t take more than a month to learn all of their ways. He says this with warmly and actually causes Frodo to smile and look calm for the first time in the sequence.
But then the two hear a noise at the oddly opened window. This always bugged in both the films and the book. Why by Gimli’s beard did Gandalf and Frodo leave any windows open?! I can understand why they were open when Younger Baggins returned home to find that Gandalf had broken in earlier in this film, but honestly! I guess both of them might have just got caught up in the momentum of the moment when the Ring’s true nature revealed itself. But it’s nowhere near being the problem it was in Bakhi’s version which had they loudly talking about in the middle of Hobbiton at night and thus interrupting…whatever the hell Sam was doing out there when Gandalf caught him.
That said, what was this version's Sam even doing here? In the original books, he, Merry, and Pippin were all part of a conspiracy that was onto Bilbo’s little disappearing acts and kept up on what the Baggins and Gandalf were up to. Since it was the middle of the day when Frodo and Gandalf made they plans about what to do about the Ring, he pretended to garden while listening in. However, while the film has the sense to keep Frodo and Gandalf in Bag End, the conspiracy never happens. So, why was Sam spying on Frodo in the middle of the night? Well, Jackson and co did have a version of the sequence which had all three of the other hobbits sneak into Frodo’s house and listen to the whole conversation before being discovered and forced along for the journey. Here, though? Well, we saw Sam a bit drunk earlier, so maybe he thought he would go night gardening, because hey, he was drunk and it sounded like a good idea at the time! From there, he overheard Frodo’s panicked raised voice and listened in.
Anyway, Gandalf goes over to investigate the window and jabs Sam with his staff before hauling him into the house. He menacingly demands to know what Samwise was doing spying on them and how he heard. Sam, at first, insists he overheard nothing important, but then confesses that he overheard them and “[he] heard quite a bit about a dark lord, a Ring, and some about the End of the World!” I have to say that Sean Astin’s delivery was always hilarious to listen to right here. Especially the part about the end of the world! Anyway, he begs not to be turned into the Bakshi Samwise/something unnatural, and Gandalf mock-nefariously leans in and announces that he’s found a better purpose for Sam. Cue Sam making a “this isn’t going to hurt, is it?” face before it humorously cuts to the poor gardener trying to keep up with the wizard and his employer somewhere in the woods.
We cut to later with Gandalf warning them to be careful and that Sauron even has birds and beasts that have allied themselves with him. The wizard is leading a horse along while the two hobbits are without equestrian steeds. He turns around and asks if the Ring is safe. Frodo feels for it in his jacket pocket and confirms that it is. The old spirit gets on knee as to at eye level with Frodo and again warns him never to put it on and that all of Sauron’s servants will be drawn to it. Most times, when films get repetitive like this, it gets annoying, fast. Here, it actually works because Jackson and company are hyping up how important it is that Sauron never get his hands on the Ring again and it’s working. With that, Gandalf gets onto his horse and rids off, leaving the two to exchange, “We’ve really stepped into it this time” expressions before they head off in a different direction, towards Bree. Not much to say other than this is another well-done scene.
We are treated to some shots of them traveling before the scene sets on a cornfielf as the two are marching single file. Sam stops at a certain pace and looks around, nervous. He announces that in more step, he’ll be farther from home than ever before. Frodo reassures him with some words of wisdom from Bilbo and the two are off again after Sam takes that first dramatic step. I particularly like how that first one was a big deal for Sam, and its right out of the book. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but in the conversation with the traitorous Bill, the book does mention that Sam had a great wealth of knowledge of the geography both in and surrounding Hobbiton, up a few named precise points. I also like how that what Frodo uses to reassure Sam is a quote from Bilbo, also from the book: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you can’t keep your wits, you never know where you might be swept off to,”, showing that it isn’t just distance that makes a journey.
Next up is another scene that was deleted from the Theatrical Cut, and I can see why, though it is a nice scene. You might remember a screenshot of Frodo sitting in the fork of a tree with a pipe relaxing from the promotional material of the first movie? This scene is where it comes from. In fact, after the scene opens with the camera looking up at the sky and then panning down, that’s the first thing we see.
The two hobbits are preparing camp for the night, well, Sam is, anyway, when they hear elvish singing in the distance. Sam looks questioningly up at Frodo as the master of Bag End excitedly, almost like a child, exclaims “wood elves!”
Cut to the two running through the flora of the woods before they stop and kneel behind a log from a spot that looks out on the band of elves traveling to the West. Of yes, how could I forget to harp on this when I was reviewing Bakshi? Yet another plotline he left out entirely was that the elves and their magic were leaving Middle-earth, never to return. This is both largely a bittersweet happening, as the elves were the First Born of the Valor (the gods of Middle-earth) and they were responsible for laying down most of the foundations on which later cultures would be built on originally. Now they leaving the land which they dwelt on for such a long time behind and going to the Gray Havens, the Lands Beyond. The elves are essentially fighting the long defeat as they numbers dwindle and not from death on the battle field, though that happens, too. The elves had taken many a beating throughout the ages of Middle-earth and were passing onto a peaceful land that was exclusively for them to inhabit. Read The Silmarillion, you’ll see why they grew weary of the Middle-earth in its completion. You’ll also see why they have absolutely nothing to be proud of.
In the next scene, we see the two hobbits trying to get some sleep out in the woods as Sam comments that something’s poking into his back no matter where he tries to lie down. Frodo suggests imagining he’s back home, but after a moment, Sam whines that it isn’t working. A short, humorous scene. Shame it was lost, as the theatrical versions never touch on how hard this trip is on the hobbits until much later. The camera also positioned so that it faces Frodo, who is on his side so that his face is facing the camera. He is one the right side of the screen while Sam is further back at he left side, allowing us to see both of them. The two actors then just act out the scene. This kind of filmmaking shows a restraint not scene in any films lately.
Now the film cuts away from the pair and focuses on Gandalf. He is on horseback going at full gallop across the across the Middle-earth countryside. As it shows him doing this, we get a voice over from Christopher Lee, “Smoke rises in the east…” blah blah, “…and Gandalf the Gray reads to Isengard, seeking my council.”
And Isengard looks…well, about as gorgeous as a tower that looks like it was made with the sorrow of others can be. This thing is pure black with nasty jagged edges and all manner of otherworldly designs carved into it. Only a madman would want to live here. The very design of this place, aside from the casting being Christopher Lee as Saruman, probably tipped even the most unfamiliar with Tolkien that this was a bad guy Gandalf was talking to. Back to the tower: I remember marveling at how real it looked in the theaters back in 2001. Then I found out it kinda was. The tower you see in each and every shot? A model added into the scene in Post-Prod.
As for the acting and interaction between Gandalf and Saruman: it is as brilliant as you’d expect what with having two master actors like Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee on screen together. McKellen plays the scene as genuinely as always, being a friend in need of advice about the current situation. With Lee as Saruman, when Gandalf isn’t looking, we catch glimpses of contempt and superiority cracking through the mask of friendship he puts on. Both of these performances are perfectly in-characters for who they are playing. Anyway, the two talk about how the Ring has been found. Gandalf is optimistic that they can still stop Sauron dead in his tracks if they don’t waste any time before acting. Saruman is less positive and asks what time does Gandalf think they still have.
Cut to the interior of Isengard. We see both Gandalf and Saruman have taken to some archives which has papers littering a table Saruman is sitting at while Gandalf stands and listens to the White wizard’s update on what Sauron’s forces are doing. All the information is explained clearly enough that the audiences gets the idea. Plus, Lee is a master enough actor (nicknamed “Mr. One-Take”, for his ability to absolutely nail his dialogue and acting on the first try most of the time) in order to be able make this sound credible. At the end of his update, Gandalf asks how he could possibly know what all Sauron is up to. Saruman turns to the chamber where the palintir is kept, saying, “I have seen it.”
Cue Gandalf rushing into the palintir room, uttering that these things are dangerous. Saruman arrogantly asks why they shouldn’t use them and takes the cloth which had been covering the thing off. Gandalf takes the cloth and covers it again, stating that they’re really playing with fire here while Saruman takes a seat at a throne, also in the chamber. Yeah, a spirit brought to Middle-earth for the sole purpose of protecting it taking up a throne. This was another of Tolkien and Jackson’s ways of showing us how far he has fallen, and it works. Hell, it foreshadows how far he’s fallen and he wasn’t even announced his betrayal yet! It is moments that so greatly and subtly tell the story that make it all the more heartbreaking in moments when the trilogy falls short of greatness.
Saruman then announces that the wraiths have entered the Shire and will kill Frodo and Sam. Gandalf hastens to leave, but is stopped by his superior closing all of the doors in the chamber with his mind. Insert Venture Brothers joke here. Saruman then gloats that Gandalf couldn’t seriously have considered the notion of hobbits resisting the will of Sauron and states that it’s a useless gesture to oppose the dark lord and that they must bow to him. Lee is genuinely creepy with his dark stare and that voice. It gives the air of insanity, arrogance (can never leave that word out when describing Saruman), and superiority. McKellen’s Gandalf shows absolute disgust and disappointment with his rebuke, “Tell me…friends, when did Saruman the Wise abandon wisdom for madness?”
That was evidently enough of a slight to send the tainted robed wizard into a rage as he then uses his staff to send Gandalf against the wall. Also, this is done without a fireworks display like with what Bakshi would have done. Here, a wizard casts magic, and the desired effect just happens. And I tell you, it is a lot more effective cinematically for it. He drops Gandalf who retaliates with his own magic and soon the two wizards are holding no hold barred magic beatdown, but alas. Saruman is the more powerful wizard and wrenches Gandalf’s staff from him and sends him at velocity through the roof (literally).
Note: I decided on a smaller update than promised, because I found a perfect place to leave off that wouldn't leave a mountain of text.
