Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Hobbit - bravo !

I am not a great tv viewer. I watch the news most nights if I am home and occasionally cooking programmes by people I especially like - Nigella, Jamie, Rick - and NZ cooking programmes by Al Brown, Annabel Langbein and occasional others. I do not watch drama at all - not even the hugely acclaimed Downton Abbey - because I get my drama from reading books.

BUT tonight I watched TV from 4.30pm to 7.30pm viewing the build-up and excitement to the world premier of the movie The Hobbit. It was captivating and I offer my congratulations to TV3 and their whole team for such an impressive and enjoyable coverage of this event which was going out around the world. Well done........You made me feel proud to be a Kiwi.

For my own part I am not going to see the movie but I am going to read the book again some 50+ years after I read it the first time. In spite of this long gap I can still recall the magic and dramatic excitement of the book and I am keenly looking forward to reading it again.
It is 75 years since it was first published in 1937 and I suspect it has never been out of print. Quite an achievement.


4 comments:

Mark Hubbard said...

You're not even tempted to see the movie?

Beattie's Book Blog said...

I am slightly tempted Mark but because of many previous disappointments I have a rule never to see a movie when I have loved the book on which it is based.

Elaine Housby said...

You're not missing much in refusing to watch 'even the hugely acclaimed Downton Abbey'. It is in fact one of the worst dramas in the history of British television. The writer, Julian Fellowes, acknowledges that Coronation Street is the show he admires most, and Downton is just Coro in fancy dress, except that the standard of the script and acting is well below Coro. Its popularity sums up everything that's wrong with modern Britain, and I'm saddened to hear that Kiwis have fallen for this tosh as well.

Anonymous said...

So pleased to see someone else express that opinion on Downton Abbey as well.......I also can't see the attraction and found - when I watched 1 and a half episodes - that everyone was having a particularly bad time as well!!
Bookbrainz.
PS We will let you know Graham - maybe The Hobbit will be worth watching.