Gandalf Reviews Fellowship of the Ring
Sir Ian McKellen

What to tell you about The Fellowship of the Ring which I have now seen in a private screening room in New York? Certainly a great deal less than you would like, but then the audience of 40 who were invited by Mark Ordesky (Executive Producer/New Line Cinema) were expected to be discreet about the movie’s content. After all it wouldn’t do, would it, to give away any details of the plot of the most-read book of the twentieth century!

Over the months, I have leaked a few secrets, one of which now turns out to have been misleading, so perhaps I should in all fairness correct it. The Fellowship of The Ring does after all begin with a prologue sequence, which sets the scene and story of The One Ring before the adventures proper begin. This is done so expeditiously and excitingly that it is almost like a film of its own with glimpses of the Dark Lord and the forging of The One Ring. It is narrated by a female voice (guess whose) and leads you into the world of Middle earth confidently as if Peter Jackson had taken you by the hand and personally led you there. There you remain for about 2 hours 45 minutes, although I thought it was less than an hour, the journey was so entrancing. It’s the film equivalent of “not being able to put it down till I’d finished”. The promise of two more movies to come completes one’s satisfaction rather than thwarts it.

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