The Return of the King

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with THE TWO TOWERS.]--There is something incongruous about American voices in ancient Britain (or to be precise, Middle-earth). Nonetheless, these American productions of the Tolkien classics--originally broadcast on NPR Playhouse--are well worth hearing. While not as elaborate as the BBC production (which featured Ian Holm), this adaptation is more accessible to a wider audience. Gail Chugg, who also plays the character of Gollum, narrates the story with an easy storyteller's style. James Arrington reads the part of Frodo Baggins, the Hobbit bearing the burden of a ring of great power. Bernard Mayes portrays the wizard Gandalf with a homespun flourish. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine


The third part of the esteemed Professor Tolkien's epic trilogy ratchets up the story's drama, danger, tragedy, and triumph to . . . well, epic levels, while generously presenting (in some surprising ways) its sadness, melancholy, and tenderness. The final fate of Middle-earth and our stalwart heroes is here in its full glory. The aforementioned drama and emotions are once again well served by Rob Inglis's commanding and artful performance. By this point in the series, Inglis fully inhabits both the world and the characters and, by virtue of his fine reading, makes the listener an inhabitant of that mystical world, too. In fact, listening to Inglis's work is arguably the better way to get the full force of Tolkien's story rather than reading it on one's own. J.P.M. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine