The 1960s Narnia Movie You (Probably) Haven’t Seen
A movie version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that’s half a century old?
Long before the BBC serials and the Walden Media trilogy, an adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s classic story aired on British television. Broadcast by ITV in the summer of 1967, the serial ran in ten installments of twenty minute episodes. All of the animals of Narnia, including Aslan, were portrayed by actors in costume.
Out of the ten episodes, only the first and eighth episodes are believed to exist today, and two clips from the eighth episode have surfaced on YouTube. Check them out below:
What are your thoughts on this glimpse of the first Narnia movie adaptation? How does it compare to later versions? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks to The Lamp-post Listener for this find! Check out their podcast here.
Less than 27 days until… Either the world receives legit news on The Silver Chair movie, or I drop the Mindless posts and start getting worried for the future of The Chronicles of Narnia in film… š
Less than 25 Days…
Take Courage.
Less than 24 days me friends! Just been rewatching The Voyage of the Dawn Treader… I feel like something just has to be set right because of that film. That's what I hope the Silver Chair will do- serve to put Narnia back on the map. Anyway, don't be too worried about the lack of news- we still have the rest of the summer before we have to start getting worried. Thanks to JFGII for keeping the countdown going! We need more people to join in, don't make JFGII do the daily countdowns all alone! Come help us annoy Col. Klink!(Just kidding, Colonel, that's not why we're doing this- I'm sure you know just what and who we're doing this for…)
Col Klink, do you have an account in the forum? https://forum.narniaweb.com
If not, you should consider registering! You always have great comments and I think you'd add a lot to the discussion.
No, donāt go after fellow users. Thatās what trolling is.
And weāve upset Glumpuddle.
Iām here because I love Narnia – warts and all, and really want to share ideas for adaptations etc. and to see if they resonate or not. I just thought the countdown was a cheerful idea.
All users here have something essential to say about Narnia fandom, whether it be very interesting or just informative. But maybe this countdown has run its course.
Like I said, we're not going after Col. Klink or anybody. If he doesn't like the comments, that's fine with me. My weekly countdown will definitely continue, but I like what you said about interesting and informative comments- I'll try to work something worth reading into each week's countdown comment. I totally understand Col. Klink's desire to read something interesting on this great website. I just want to do what little I can do to keep up excitement for a film that some people may have even forgotten about due to the lack of news over the past year.
Thank you for the compliment. I've thought about registering. But it seems like there's not much discussion on the forums nowadays except on the non-Narnia specific ones. I actually feel like there's more discussion in the comments section. But who knows? Maybe I will. š
I understand wanting to keep the excitement up. I guess for me the countdown just reminds that there isn't any excitement. Especially now that the deadline has passed and you're making up new ones.
But it's nice that it keeps up your spirits. š
Just to make it clear- I don't want to antagonize or annoy anyone with my comments. I shouldn't have even jokingly suggested that we should get together to do that. My apologies, Col. K. I know it must seem like I'm making up a new deadline ( although really the July one wasn't even official, it was just a hopeful thought on the director's part) but I just think it would be cool if something did happen during the countdown. But if nothing happens by the end of August, I'm definitely taking a break from countdowns. Maybe then I'll just wait till we get a schedule announcement and then do a countdown to filming. But let's just wait and see first!
Narnia Silver Chair Excitement is OFFICIALLY in hibernation… yet not non-existent.
Actually, there may be a possible casting rumor! I was looking at the comments for the last post and I came across a comment on July 25th from Steven Gresham; the comment claimed that he saw on Wikipedia that Joe Johnston had hired a young Indian actor named Arpit Sadh to play Spivvens, one the kids at Jill and Eustace's school.
Did anyone else see this? I looked on Wikipedia and couldn't find it anywhere. Is this true? Or is just more rumors and fake news? Does anybody know?(If it's true it could provide some pretty big hints about where the filmmakers will go with the story. Maybe more on that later.)
I did some looking couldn't find anything either. Anyway I'd be hesitant to believe a second hand account of something that was allegedly on Wikipedia.
Unless we hear differently it's probably best to put this in the 'Fake news' category.
That was my initial thought too- but it seems unlikely that someone would have made something like that up. Unless there's some sort of mistake…
If thereās one thing I can say that if thereās one element that they should use from the Walden movies, I would like for them to have the Opening Credits be like in the first two movies. I want them to say:
Tristar Pictures, Entertainment One and The Mark Gordon Company presents
a Mark Gordon Production
A Joe Johnston Filmā
Based on the Book By C.S. Lewis
āThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chairā
Then they would have the names of the casts and co Producers, costume designer, etc.
I know Tristar did Opening Credits like that when they did āGodzillaā and āMadelineā. And Iām sure they could do have it, maybe while Jill and Eustace r on there way to school or something like that.
And Another thing is that I really want them is the Scores to sound Magical. Thatās what got me to watch the first movie, most of the scores in there r beautiful and Magical and my heart was beating wildly while I watched the LWW trailer and While Lucy was in Narnia for the first time. I want piano, violin, xylophone, Chimes, flute or Clairinet and have the vocals sound like Angels, I donāt want any huge epic music, no drums, trumpets nor strong male vocals! I want it to rest!
I would like to see if maybe they could use the Music āSwept Awayā by fired Earth music for the trailer. Itās beautiful and sounds like Narnia.
(And please no rude replies)
I agree yet disagree with your comments on the soundtracks; I like the instruments you suggested, for one thing though. I would definitely want a piano theme for the school scenes in SC. And as for "resting"- a soundtrack will rest whenever the story rests. And I definitely want these films to rest more, to have a slower pace than the previous ones, with lots of time to get to know the characters and explore the world of the story. But you just can't eliminate epic-ness completely; how else can you score Aslan's Creation of Narnia (which I think requires both a strong male solo ( Aslan) and angelic voices (the stars.) And battles for world domination with the Calormens require a decent amount of power- not necessarily Hans Zimmer stuff, but still epic. I would love a pipe organ to be featured toward the end of the Last Battle.
P.S.- Celtic/ medieval influence for future soundtr
acks anyone?
I thought the music for the "magical" parts of the score for the first Narnia movie were great too. The "heroic" parts I thought were just OK though.
I love the opening credits scenes for the first two movies too. I'm not sure if I need future Narnia movies to reproduce them though. There's so much stuff happening at the beginning of the Silver Chair. (Jill and Eustace running from the bullies, Eustace falling off the cliff, Jill being blown to Narnia plus tons of exposition.) I'm not sure where a credits montage could fit.
Celtic music sounds great.
I never said I donāt want huge epic music for the rest of the series. I can hear some huge Epic music happening in HHB and LB, but not a lot with SC. They might use Epic music at the part where Rillian fights the Serpent and where they escape her dying kingdom.
I would love soft female vocals and flute music for The part where Caspian dies. I want the music there to make the audience cry with the characters.
now that you mentioned having a male vocal in MN, of course theyāll add that.
Just curious if many people have been voting several days a week for The Great American Read on PBS. I also wish we could see the percentages for which books have the most votes, but I guess we will have to wait till September, (or was it October, I don't remember).
The best treatment of Caspian's death is with the ausio drama, where they play Samuel Barber's "Agnus Dei" with vocals.
Voting for Narnia every day!
I've voted almost every time I'm online (I don't have internet at home.)
I'm thankful Narniaweb has the banner to remind us, it has helped me to remember to vote a couple of times.
The 1967 adaptation of āThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobeā has been lost in its full form for decades, but these bits and pieces of footage give an idea as to what it was like: At the very most, it proved that Narnia could be tackled cinematically without disney-fying C. S. Lewis. That doesnāt mean it was good quality television, but compared to every adaptation of Narnia made since then, it definitely is a stand-out, if only for being the earliest.
You See That the rest of the adaptations from Prince Caspian-The Last Battle, should've been taken earlier when they were younger. but it's too late.
At Least they have made of course
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1967) TV.
The Men who Played Peter Pevensie.
Paul Waller (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1967) TV.
Reg Williams (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1979).
Richard Dempsey (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1988) TV Series.
William Moseley (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (2005).
The Women Who Played Susan Pevensie.
Zuleika Robson (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1967) TV.
Susan Sokol (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1979).
Sophie Cook (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1988) TV Series.
Anna Popplewell (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (2005).
The Men Who Played Edmund Pevensie.
Edward McMurray (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1967) TV.
Simon Adams (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1979).
Jonathan Scott (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1988) TV Series.
Skandar Keynes (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (2005).
The Women Who Played Lucy Pevensie.
Liz Crowther (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1967) TV.
Rachel Warren (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1979).
Sophie Wilcox (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (1988) TV Series.
Georgie Henley (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) (2005).
King Peter The Magnificent , Queen Susan The Gentle , King Edmund the Just , Queen Lucy the Valiant.