MIDDLE-EARTH TIMELINE
Sagan om ringen is a Swedish television film for children, broadcast by Sveriges Television on TV1 in two short episodes, the first on December 2, 1971. It is the earliest known screen adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, made while Tolkien was still alive.
Produced by Urban Lasson, it was built around the music of Bo Hansson, whose album Sagan om ringen (later released in English as Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings) had come out in 1970. Actors were filmed and set over drawings by Peter Lindblom, while the narrator Evan Storm tells the story.
In about half an hour, it covers the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring, from Bilbo's birthday party to the departure from Rivendell, including Old Man Willow and Tom Bombadil. SVT has since made it available again in its open archive.
Bilbo leaves the Shire, Frodo inherits the Ring and flees with his friends to Rivendell, in a short Swedish children's film set to the music of Bo Hansson.
