Recently, we had occasion to watch some old Narnia movies, when they were lent to us by Lydia-and-Mary's harp teacher. By watching them, we were very amazed, as we had never seen them before.
These movies, which were made by the BBC, were originally released as a television series around twenty years ago (1988-1990). There are four movies in the series: the first is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the second is Prince Caspian, the third is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and the fourth is The Silver Chair. By making some random interesting observations about these films, and also in places comparing them to the recent Walden-Media Narnia movies, we may thereby get a notion of what they are like.
The first movie is the longest of the series, being 2 hours and 42 minutes long. This therefore gives a lot of time for the entire story of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to be told, by not changing much from the book. In general, the lines and the action tend to resemble the book a lot more than the more recent version of the movie. The characters are also closer to the book than the newer version, for example Mr. Tumnus is more like an old faun who potters about reading Is Man a Myth? However the primitive special effects in this old film are rather diverting to watch; for example, occasionally some animated creatures fly across the screen, looking very unrealistic (think Mary Poppins). Also, the talking animals such as the beavers and wolves are mostly people wearing animal-suits, with visible human mouths. Aslan however is not as strange-looking, as he has a more complete lion suit, which I think is two people and a puppet head. The general effect is convincing, as long as he doesn't talk too much. The sets and outdoor locations in the movie looks authentically Narnian, including the interior and exterior of the witch's palace, which resemble a medieval castle rather than a contraption made of icicles as in the modern version. Also the costumes of the fauns, centaurs, &c. also make a Narnian effect.
In the Prince Caspian movie, the whole of the story is told in fifty-six minutes, by which condensation it is less faithful to the book than the previous movie. However, the special effects are rather improved from the first BBC movie, as there are no artificial animated monsters flying about. Regarding characters, Prince Caspian is more like unto the book, as he is younger. Consequently Cornelius is therefore more tutorial, as he is engaged in teaching a younger pupil. Reepicheep is actually played by Warwick Davis, which is interesting as the same fellow played Nikabrik in the modern version. By wearing a mouse costume his interpretation of Reepicheep is perhaps more authentic than the computer-generated one. By being a real person rather than an animation, he ends up looking less cute and more noble, which is more true to the Reepicheep we all know and love from the book. An important item to note is that the character of Peter is not contumeliously wrecked as in the modern film, and he does not take up brawling whilst in England.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is rather longer than Prince Caspian, being 1 hour and 50 minutes duration. The plot is almost entirely genuine, with no diversions of green mist or blue stars. The Dawn Treader ship is well done and realistic, being a real boat most of the time. The costumes in this movie are at times very medieval-looking doublet-and-hose, which gives off a historic effect. Concerning characters, Coriakin and the Dufflepuds are better than the Walden-Media movie, and more time is spent concerning them. Thus we may see that the Dufflepuds, besides having only one foot each, are also excessively foolish, and also they believe anything their chief says. In regards to The Dragon, it seems to be a person in a dragon suit. However, this is not easily noticeable and it works well; it does not appear as humorous as the computer-generated flying creature in the contemporary film, and the plight of Eustace thereby seems more serious. It is actually more convincing than the CG one in the recently-released film, except when it tries to fly. A particularly interesting part of the movie is the de-dragonization of Eustace. This is depicted in a thorough manner according to the description in the book, in contrast to fabrications of the later movie, in which the dragon seems to explode in mid-air, after which Eustace falls to the ground as a boy.
The last movie of this series, being The Silver Chair, is 2 hours and 35 minutes long. The whole of the plot is mostly consistent with the book. Actually, in most of these old movies the stories which are depicted therein are more like those told in books, as they at times move along at a decent pace. Whereas, the more recent movies tend to go by too quickly, as modern directors like to get on with the action (modern culture more accustomed to being constantly entertained). The underworld-sequences in this movie are rather interesting, having been filmed in actual caves. Concerning the characters, Jill and Eustace have a jolly time arguing with each other, and Puddleglum is amusing to watch, as he says many funny lines which are straight out of the book. Also, the gentle giants are properly stupid.
On the whole, these movies are more satisfying to be watched by readers of the Narnia books, as the screen-writers of these older movies do not tend to make up plot-diversions that are not in the books. This in general gives a more authentic Narnian flavour. Regarding other aspects of the film, the animations and animal-costumes are rather amusing to see, if one does not expect them to be too realistic. By watching these movies, we were very entertained; and, on account of Mary Rose buying them (she liked them so much she purchased the set with her Christmas money), we will no doubt watch them again soon.
