National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

New Line Cinema released Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring in December 2001, launching one of the most ambitious fantasy trilogies in Hollywood history. The film arrived at a moment when digital and practical filmmaking were converging in new ways, and its theatrical trailer generated enormous anticipation, circulating widely before the feature's release.

This cell, titled Gimli, Merry and Pippin, captures three consecutive frames from the Fellowship's traverse of a rocky, snow-covered mountain pass, consistent with the Caradhras sequence as presented in the trailer. John Rhys-Davies as Gimli and the two hobbits — Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck and Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took — are among the figures visible against stone and snow in this brief, unbroken moment from the original 35mm trailer print.