Just seen a great post over on TORn, where Voronwë has cross-posted this topic...

Reuel has basically made the same points I was trying to in my post, only he manages it a hundred times better.... [I wish I was more articulate sometimes... ]

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There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes

Yes, it was a great post, as I said over there.

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

As I said in my "review", I didn't think that the effect of the Ring on Bilbo was overplayed. In the end, it did not dominate him, and his basic goodness did show through. Of course, it remains to be seen what happens in the next film. The contrast between the Ring's effect on Bilbo and the treasure's effect on Thorin was nicely done.

One thing that I didn't anticipate, but should have, was how they used the Ring to use for transitions to the Necromancer storyline. I thought that was also nicely done.

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

Call me an idiot, I didn't catch any of those transitions at all!

Maybe I imagined them. (Actually, I'm sure of at least one, and maybe that is all there was.)

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

I believe one of those transitions occurred when Bilbo sees the "eye" while wearing the Ring inside Erebor (which causes him to take it off), which leads to a quick transition to Sauron in Dol Guldur. I think...

That section of the film was so zanily intercut, that's it hard to remember what happened where, and when.

I think that is what I am thinking of. If I see it again, I'll check.

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

It was the earliest incidence that caught my eye...the first time we cut back to Dol Guldur directly after Bilbo is fingering the Ring and musing over its nature - was that during the stay at Beorn's, or just before they enter Mirkwood? I forget already...

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There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes

There were three. The first was when Bilbo first looks at the Ring (and starts to become attached to it) in Beorn's house. It then cuts to a voice (Sauron's) reciting the Ring poem in black speech, and cuts to the Necromancer instructing Azog. The second is in Mirkwood, which cuts to (I think) Dol Guldur. And the last is in Erebor, when Bilbo is wearing the Ring and the Eye flashes, and he takes it off (presumably just in time).

By the way, I am not convinced that Smaug actually knew about the Ring. I think that he just sensed that Bilbo had something that was gold, and of great power. But I could be wrong.

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

That's how I interpreted it.

I mean, PJ's not that subtle. If he wants you to think that Smaug knows about the Ring, he'll make it very clear!

At this point, I am quite pleased with how they have portrayed this. Bilbo's "mine" after killing the little crab spider was a beautiful bit of acting from Freeman, and set the stage all the way to Bilbo's confrontation with Gandalf at the end of the long expected party.

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

I especially like the way he is so deeply disturbed by himself afterwards, and the way that he struggles so hard with lying to Gandalf. The fact that Bilbo is so uncomfortable with the way the Ring affects him highlights his fundamental decency.

Exactly! Thank you for saying that so well!

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

This was definitely one of the highlights of DOS for me. But then, every scene focusing on Freeman is a highlight.

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I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
-The Decemberists

Indeed! Although in this film, I felt that he was merely the most standoutish of a number of standout performances (Stott, McKellen, Evans, Pace, Armitage, Cumberbatch, Lilly, Persbrandt).

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

But due to the narrative, DOS was probably McKellen's least standoutish performance across the five films. He mostly makes ominous pronouncements, casts a few spells, and runs.

Though he does all that exceedingly well!

I wouldn't disagree with that. But I would include him in the list of standout performances nonetheless, if for no other reason than his delivery of the lines, "Good! That's good! You'll need it." As well as his expression as Bilbo struggles to decide whether to tell him about the Ring. And also his expression when he reveals that the great bear that chased them into the house they were taking refuge in was their host. And most of all for convincing me that he was a worthy, though outmatched, opponent of Sauron's.

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

I thought I would revisit this thread now that the journey is complete. Bilbo's use of the ring at the BOFA is appropriately limited; I'm glad that they didn't try to work in any additional ring-angst. The most important thing that they do in BotFA is address the question of Gandalf and his lack of knowledge of the One Ring being found by Bilbo. I was quite pleased by how they inserted the discussion of Bilbo's finding a "magic ring" (the first and only time that the ring was described that way in the films) into the iconic final exchange between him and Gandalf about luck and him being a very small fellow in the wide word. Gandalf's look of puzzlement and concern at Bilbo's obvious lie that he had lost the ring was nicely done, although it does still leave open the question of why it takes 60 years for the puzzlement and concern to come to fruition. However, we can presume that Bilbo settles down in the Shire, and the stirrings in the East do not start rumbling until around the same time that Bilbo decides to leave the Shire. In other words, pretty much just like the book!

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'

I'm interested in seeing if the EE adds any more to that parting scene. Gandalf's line about knowing all along that Bilbo had found a magic ring makes absolutely no sense, unless we are supposed to believe that wizards are all-knowing, which is obviously not the case - particularly as you point out, it takes Gandalf 60 years to work out said ring is the One Ring. In the book Bilbo tells Gandalf a less than truthful version of how he came to have the ring, but he does actually TELL him, along with the other dwarves, of course, (much to Balin's relief!)

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There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes

I rather liked that Gandalf mysteriously figured out that Bilbo had a magic ring, although I agree it will be interesting to see if it gets fleshed out in the EE.

On a completely OT note (since I happen to be thinking of it here), I love your signature GIF, and I love that line from the book, but I am wondering whether by pairing them together you are making a statement as to what you wished they had done with Thranduil?

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'But very bright were the stars upon the margin of the world, when at times the clouds about the West were drawn aside.'