J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit was adapted into an animated television movie by Rankin/Bass Productions in 1977. It manages to economically retell most of the story within its 78-minute duration. An LP with the soundtrack and dialogue from the film was also released in 1977 by Disney through its Buena Vista Records label, although by popular demand an edited version, along with accompanying "storyteller read-alongs," was later issued for the Mouse Factory's Disneyland Records imprint. A second album by Glenn Yarbrough of music "inspired" by The Hobbit was also released.
Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit was just minding his own business, when his occasional visitor Gandalf the Wizard drops in one night. One by one, a whole group of dwarves drop in, and before he knows it, Bilbo has joined their quest to reclaim their kingdom, taken from them by an evil dragon named Smaug. The only problem is that Gandalf has told the dwarves that Bilbo is an expert burglar, but he isn't.... Written by Murray Chapman
