Thanks for pointing that out, Mary- I caught that bit, too.

I have to confess I "watched" more than half of it with my eyes closed- I'm the world's worst movie companion, too overwhelmed by visual images, especially bloody, violent, or horrific. But I have to agree that as a film, ROTK is magnificent in scope.

I have been a LOTR fundamentalist for most of my life, so went to these movies deciding to take them on their own merits, not as gospel. They are as well done as they could possibly be, and there are some brilliant moments. Expecially in ROTK, the scenes between hobbits- Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pippin, all of them together- show the depth of friendship and bonding between them. I think I heard that when the initial work on the films began, the first thing Jackson did was have the four hobbit actors spend 3 months together in NZ developing that bond. It worked!

My favorite scene was Frodo's waking up and being greeted by the members of the Fellowship. The lingering look between him and Sam was priceless.
As I said, most of the "noisy" scenes I only saw from between my fingers, so can't comment on those!

Namarie,

Allison