Re: “SEVENEVES at Legendary”

On Sun, 11 Aug 2024 01:51:40 -0700, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Aug 2024 10:51:09 -0700, Paul S Person
<psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>

I was mostly irate at the movie version of Lord of the Rings since one
of the scenes they filmed but left on the cutting room floor was the
death of Saruman (who a lot of people considered a rip-off of the
death of Mussolini) after the fall of the Dark Tower.
>
No question it was my favorite LoTR scene though the "Speak Friend and
Enter" scene was the funniest from the books.

>
I wasn't aware that Saruman died by landing on the Wheel of Fortune at
Isengard.

>
Har har har....
>

In the version of /LOTR/ that /I/ read, he dies much later in the
Shire.
>
Now /that/ entire sequence would have been worth seeing!

>
The source I read long ago said they had actually shot that scene but
that they had been given a fixed run time and preferred the scenes in
the Grey Havens to the death of Saruman. Wouldn't be surprised if it
was an 'extra' in the DVD version but I'm guessing - not basing it on
anything definite.

I take it that by "that scene" you mean Saruman dying at Isengard. I
don't remember anything about the Scouring of the Shire being filmed.

This was not included in the ones I bought [1]. And eventually stopped
watching, as I /really/ prefer JRRT's version of the story.

That it would not fit (or halted the film or broke the continuity or
some other excuse) may well be; /ROTK/ was significantly longer than
the first two, and seemed even longer due to its false endings.

Although, given their length, the idea that there was an actual
contractual time limit is doubtful. Had there /been/ a time limit it
would have been two hours. Longer films can't be shown as often during
the day, and so make less money per day than shorter films can.

[1] /FOTR/ included a "special feature" that compared LOTR to
/American/ history. /TT/ included a "special feature" where the
Rohirrim were referred to as "Rohans". Which says a lot about the
reading comprehension of the filmmakers. Nothing stands out from the
"special features" of /ROTK/ but, by then, I may not have been paying
a lot of attention, as it was clear that they were "special" only in
the sense of being "especially stupid, ignorant, and ill-informed".
This are all the original DVD of the theatrical version.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"