Soviet 'The Lord of the Rings': Watch the Lost 1991 Film Here

For many years, the saga of "The Lord of the Rings" was believed to be impossible to adapt to the screen, big or small. Some high-profile filmmakers avoided the challenge or envisioned massive changes for their versions, although everything changed with Peter Jackson's adaptation between 2001 and 2003. However, there is a rare gem that was believed lost forever: the Soviet "The Lord of the Rings", intended for local TV. After spending 30 years gathering dust, a copy was digitized and published on YouTube, to the delight of fans.

From a certain point of view, the story of "The Lord of the Rings" presents an alliance of Hobbits, Men, Elves and Dwarves determined to face the darkness of a tyrant hidden to the east of the world. With that in mind, anyone would think Tolkien's works would be blocked by the censorship filters of the former Soviet Union... but the first "samizdat" copy appeared in 1966 (twelve years after the original publication), and the official translation of the first book debuted in 1982.

The relationship between "The Lord of the Rings" and the Soviet public was not limited to paper. In 1985, Leningrad Television did what many had not dared to do at that time: adapt "The Hobbit" to the small screen, in a compressed one-hour version called "The Fantastic Journey of Mr. Bilbo Baggins". Six years later, Leningrad Television doubled down with a new production called "Khraniteli", something like "Guardians (of the Ring)"... and today you can watch it on YouTube, complete:

Khraniteli: The Lord of the Rings, Soviet version

The most fascinating thing about all this is that the film was believed lost. Having been released in the year of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was not so far-fetched to think of a general destruction of material, and for many years, fans of the Tolkien universe in Russian lands believed so. Fortunately, the "heir" signal of Leningrad Television known as 5TV, shared on its YouTube channel the entire film, divided into two parts of 50 and 64 minutes respectively.

Khraniteli even had the luxury of including characters absent from Jackson's adaptation, like Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry. Some Russian fans admit they have searched for Khraniteli for decades, and its "debut" on the 5TV channel was decisive: Both parts already add up to two million views in two weeks.

The general quality of the adaptation is... exactly what we imagine. From the improvised costumes to the most basic visual effects, the conclusion on the Web is that it is a work "monstrous and magnificent at the same time". The rest, you will have to find out on your own. Both parts appear here, but don't forget that you can download YouTube videos and play everything locally.