Before the iconic Orson Bean-voiced and Rankin/Bass produced 1977 version of The Hobbit came to light, there was a very different film adaptation of this classic tale. As recently revealed in the blog of animator Gene Deitch, film rights to the classic Tolkien tale were actually first owned by a fellow named William L. Snyder way back in 1964, who had bought the rights from the Tolkien estate on the cheap, as The Lord of the Rings had yet to hit big.
Those rights would expire in 1966, though, unless Snyder succeeded in making a film. And thus begins an...unexpected journey.
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