Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Last year I bought a most interesting multimedia package called "Master of The Rings". The set contained a DVD containing the documentary of the same name about Tolkien and "Lord of The Rings", an audio DVD with music by Rick Wakeman, inspired by LoTR, and finally a booklet containing artwork by well-known illustrators, the Hildebrandt brothers.The documentary is, as another user commented, surprisingly interesting, even after repeated viewing. Don't expect feature film production values here, but nevertheless this is a well-made documentary, featuring lots of people, ranging from literary critics and Tolkien historians over musicians and graphic artists to even military instructors - all discussing Tolkien and LoTR, and the influences his work has had.Meanwhile, we are also given a summarized version of the whole LoTR story, the Fellowship's journey illustrated with a CGI 3D map of Middle Earth.Also, there are a minutes of old footage showing an interview with the man himself. A nice addition indeed, although it's a pity he is virtually unintelligible (he tends to mumble a lot).Apart from the main documentary (about 80 mins long, IIRC) there are a number of shorter extra bits, like talking-head interviews with people like Rick Wakeman and others, and a few videoclips by "Mostly Autumn", a folk-rock band making music often inspired by LoTR.All in all, this is great stuff for anyone interested in Tolkien and his work. The audio CD and booklet are a nice bonus.

I have read all tolkien books, The Lord of the Rings 3 times. Seen all the cartoon tolkien movies, and seen the 1st two Rings movies Peter Jackson has created. I was at Wal Mart the day after Christmas and saw a bucket $4 DVD's. AMong em was Jaws, The Exorcist, Presumed Innocent , others and Master of the Ring. Being a Tolkien fan I bought it. The 1st time i watched it I would give it 5/10 but for some reason i wanted to watch the 80 minute feature again and again and aaaaaagain. It has the whole story is sort of interesting and hearing Tolkien talk is Hilarious. He talks exactly exactly exactly like Ozzy Ozbourne. Well its a great DVD for $$$$$$$$$$$$$ I give it 6/10 on entertainment but 13/10 for enjoinment for the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.