Frodo's faithful flock to see film.

Byline: TIM CHRISTIE The Register-Guard

Leonard Chastain sat on a bench in front of the Cinemark-Springfield movie theaters, an ominous black hood covering his head, taking a break after the first of his three viewings Wednesday of the epic fantasy, "Fellowship of the Ring."

Wearing a black tunic, black leather armor, black gloves and black boots, he portrayed one of the dreaded Ringwraiths that relentlessly stalk Frodo Baggins and friends in the film.

His get-up was, Chastain said, "over-the-top geekiness," but he wasn't alone.

Elves, orcs and rangers, not to mention humans, swarmed the much-hyped opening of the first film installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

The anticipation was almost more than some fans could bear. Cinemark's auditorium for the 10 a.m. showing was sold out. Audience members, some wearing Ring-inspired costumes, grumbled when the lights didn't go down precisely at 10 o'clock, then cheered wildly when the first trailer began.

Bill Keith, who works in the communications department at Oregon State University, got his tickets Monday. He took a colleague to the 10:30 a.m. showing and his wife to the 3 p.m. show. He first read the books as a boy and reads the entire trilogy at least once a year.

"I've been waiting 30 years for this movie," he said.

While Keith wore street clothes, a number of fans got into the spirit of the movie by dressing up.

Jennifer Gaylin of Blachly came as an elf in a long green dress. "When you have really good costumes, there's only so many chances to wear them," she said.

The action-packed, three-hour movie has earned favorable reviews for its special effects, epic battle scenes and faithfulness to the spirit of the books.

The Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan said the movie is "made with intelligence, imagination, passion and skill." The New York Times' Elvis Mitchell praised director Peter Jackson for doing an "altogether heroic job (of) tackling perhaps the most intimidating nerd/academic fantasy classic ever."

Ring fans, both casual and avid, were not disappointed.

"I really enjoyed it," said Kate Davis of Eugene. "The effects, the graphics, are awesome."

"God it was a good show," said Bob Dewis of Springfield. "What they left out was inconsequential."

Dewis, who's read the trilogy "seven or eight times," said he's "impressed with how Tolkien brought forth a whole world we can believe in."

Even his wife, Denise, who has never read the books, enjoyed the film. "I really didn't want to come see this," she said. "I'll come back."

"It was a constant stream of new sights," said Lee Bottemiller of Springfield. "It was completely different than anything I've seen in a movie."

Chastain, the Ringwraith, took a day off work to see the movie three times. He called the movie "fantastic."

The Ring trilogy, he said, is "the godfather of fantasy." Not since Homer's epic poems has a story so captured the imagination of so many people, he said.

"I think there will be a lot of people who complain it doesn't slavishly follow the book," he said. "If you want slavish devotion to the book, read the book again."

One complaint, a minor one, was the film's ending. It left some fans itching for the second installment - due out this time next year.

TO GET YOU STARTED

The new film: ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' is based on the first book of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy of fantasy novels, ``The Lord of the Rings.''

The books: ``The Lord of the Rings,'' which takes place in the imaginary world of Middle-earth, tells the story of a quest by an alliance of hobbits, elves, wizards, men and others to destroy a ring of evil that threatens all creation.

Tolkien said the idea came to him in 1927 when, as a professor of Anglo-Saxon language at Oxford, he was grading exams and the words ``In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit'' popped into his head. He scribbled them down, and that grew into ``The Hobbit, or There and Back Again,'' published in 1937.

The story continued with the trilogy: ``The Fellowship of the Ring,'' ``The Two Towers,'' published in 1954, and the ``The Return of the King'' in 1955.

The movies: The largest production project in Hollywood history. Director Peter Jackson shot all three movies simultaneously in New Zealand at a cost of about $270 million, for New Line Cinema, between August 1998 and October 2001. The first movie was released Wednesday; the two sequels are set for release in December 2002 and December 2003.

- The Associated Press

CAPTION(S):

In full elvin attire, David Snyder orders lunch from Olivia Lindly at Gateway Mall before watching "Fellowship of the Ring" a second time.