The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979 film)


The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an animated television program that was broadcast in two parts on CBS on April 1–2, 1979, based on the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

Plot

When four children Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter stumble into an old Wardrobe they find themselves in a magical land called Narnia with talking animals, fauns, hags, the Wicked White Witch and the great lion Aslan. There they meet the friendly Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who help them on their quest to find Aslan the great lion. Only he can help save Lucy's friend Mr. Tumnus from the White Witch. They have a fun mysterious time there, and ultimately end up ruling as kings and queens, until they end up back home. The Professor tells the children that they will return to Narnia one day.

Production notes

The rights to produce the television program were given to the Episcopal Radio TV Foundation in the mid-1950s when C.S. Lewis was recording the Episcopal Series of the Protestant Hour radio programs. Dr. Ted Baehr was elected President of the Episcopal Radio TV Foundation as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was preparing to be broadcast by CBS, and supervised the distribution of the subsequent video. The CBS program had 37 million viewers, and won an Emmy Award.

Voices

UK version

The only actor to appear in both versions was Stephen Thorne.

Differences between novel and animated film