As for Glamdring and the Elven Ring, I don't think he carried Glamdring around with him on a regular basis. He was going to visit a friend and ally and had no reason to think he might need his sword so I don't think that is a problem.

The staff is a problem though, unless there is some reason, that Tolkien never went into, why a Wizard CAN'T be parted from his staff. Making Gandalf's breaking of Sauruman's all the more potent a statement later and making the scene in the movie where the Witch King breaks Gandalf's even more ridiculous.

Gandalf carried Glamdring with him throughout the War of the Ring, except when he visited Saruman at Orthanc, where perhaps some foresight made him leave it behind, fortuitously storing it in Rivendell.

The movie's wizard duel was ridiculous. The only contest those two would engage in would be a contest of wills. They never came to blows. We live in a comparatively crass age where if you're not physically whacking someone, you aren't winning or making your point...kind of sad.

The movie's wizard duel was ridiculous. The only contest those two would engage in would be a contest of wills. They never came to blows. We live in a comparatively crass age where if you're not physically whacking someone, you aren't winning or making your point...kind of sad.

So how would you have filmed it then, just make them stare at each other frantically? Yeah... pretty exciting scene. They are some things that in books you can transform on the screens, so you have to take things literrally, just like the eye of sauron.

Are you kidding? You're making my point, no imagination beyond physical violence. There are plenty of examples of conversational eye-to-eye tension that work well in movies. Or you can break out of the literal visual space, like when they zoomed in on Gandalf's eye after the Balrog fight. The most recent movie I watched was Ink, plenty of examples of both in there.

Besides, in the book they didn't even have a conflict, Gandalf just went to his cell, and rode off on the eagle before any real battle of wills began.

He just got he extended warranty coverage on the staff. Covers loss, breakage, and acts of Maiar (thankfully the noob working the help desk didn't know the difference between a Maiar and a Nazgul when he called in after the unfortunate WK incident).