10 Great Movies That Were Almost Ruined By Bad Editing

With a record-equaling eleven Oscar wins, the love shown to The Return of the King was not necessarily because it was the best film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but an acknowledgement of the achievements of the franchise as a whole. Among the trophy haul was the award for Best Film Editing, a category that the previous two films only managed nominations in, though curiously the third and final film in the trilogy had far more editing mistakes than the two before it.

Among the most glaring mistakes to make it through the editing process were Pippin (Billy Boyd) falling over to reveal a sneaker where a hobbit foot should have been, the face of Lady Arwen's riding double being perfectly visible on occasion, and the scar on Frodo's cheek randomly swapping sides to reveal flipped shots, especially in Mount Doom.

Revealing mistakes like these ones are always going to be spotted by someone, though one thing editor Jamie Selkirk was deservedly criticised for was the will-this-ever-end finale. The lengthy ending fades out and starts up again so many times that it becomes irritating, and while there were a lot of loose ends to tie up, all of the main story threads being given their own personal ending really took the wind out of the sails of an otherwise gripping movie.

Of course, novel to film adaptations are a tricky terrain, and a die hard Tolkien fan might argue that not enough was covered in the multiple endings - what of the future for Merry and Pippin, Eowyn and Eomer, Legolas and Gimli? He was likely under the influence of a director known to be hands-on, though for the good of the film as a cinematic experience Selkirk should have insisted on a heavy chopping job to keep the audience from shuffling in their seats for the last 20 minutes.