CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Fanny Love When I was growing up in rural Texas, The Silver Chair was the first book I ever read at the age of 7. It is a beautiful story in so many ways. It has a special place in my heart and I've re-read it continuously throughout the years, and now I'm a full-grown woman and I still like to dip in.I'm not going to write too in-depth a review only to say this BBC Network version of The Silver Chair is frankly awful. As I've read the book so many times I know the storyline inside out, but if I was watching this film for the very first time, with no knowledge of the storyline or the characters, the film version would be virtually unfathomable.The acting, particularly that of Camilla Power (Jill Pole) and David Thwaites (Eustace Scrubb) was awful: very wooden, very over-the-top and completely unconvincing.The voices used for the owls and the owl costumes looked like someone had gone to the nearest thrift/charity shop and bought a jumble of clothes, and the voices sounded like Cockney accents or at best ordinary English accents with no attempt to sound owlish or Narnian (whatever that is).I suppose the standout performance was that of Puddleglum (played by Tom Baker, formerly Dr Who). Puddleglum is one of the most interesting and odd characters, for he is a Marshwiggle, lives in a wigwam on an island in the marshes surrounded by rivers and other remote wigwams, he eats thick, black eel stew and smokes strange black tobacco in a long pipe, has webbed feet and a green tinge to his hands and face. But he is a sage character and the children's protector.The special effects are particularly bad too: take the moment when the gate at Experiment House is opened and does not reveal bare moorland as they expected by a portal into another world. When the children go through the door, it looks like a cheap bit of film-splicing has taken place; there's certainly no feeling of visual magic despite the fact that something magical is supposedly happening. The part where both Jill and Eustace are blown by Aslan into Narnia look awful and very poorly produced; same for when they are climbing up the Giant's bridge over the chasm.The bullying scenes at the beginning just seem very odd too. The bullies just shouting "Pole! Pole! Pole!" and nothing else; there's no obvious reason given for the bullying, or why Eustace too is hiding in the glasshouse. At this early stage, the dialogue moves too quickly attempting to follow the narrative in the book but not enough is explained which would confuse the first-time viewer. The film attempts to follow the book verbatim at some points, whilst at others it takes extraordinary leaps and misses large portions, resulting in a fragmented mish-mash which actually does not make sense (unless you have read the book many times, as I have).The characterisation of both Jill and Eustace is very poor too: they bawl at each other, in the heat of rage, and then seconds later are completely different in mood and character. They're very trite characters, selfish and given to tantrums and over-the-top exclamations ("That's the most DEEELLLLICCCIIIOOOUUUUSSSSS stew I've ever eaten" and "It's the purest water I've ever tasted" and "Oh dry up will you".) This does not follow through well. They're not really likable characters, coming across as spoilt brats and both actor's verbal delivery is jarring, what's spoken is over-the-top and wholly unrealistic. They sound like young children trying to play well-informed, worldly-wise, educated adults. I suppose they were fairly young when they acted in this. But the effect just spoils the whole thing.The film locations - Haddon Hall, Derbyshire and the Peak District, England - are beautiful and look good on screen, although again, continuity is bad: when they embark on their journey from the Marshwiggle's wigwam Puddleglum mentions something about the start of winter fast approaching, but we shortly see the trio crossing a bleak moorland in the blaze of summer (you can see the heat haze on film). Twenty minutes or so later, when Jill falls into the giant letter E of the inscription UNDER ME, it's snowing.I've seen a lot of BBC productions and they're usually highly polished and exceptional pieces of work. This is just so bad in many ways and it's a shame that it's currently the only film version of such a great book. At a running time of almost 2 hours 40 mins, even for an ardent fan of the book such as myself, it is a trial to sit through the whole thing.

CalvinValjean This is the third in my three-part review of the BBC Narnia serial. Please check out my earlier two.THE SILVER CHAIR This one's always been the best, hands down. Similar to Dawn Treader, this is due to the story being a quest, which adapts well to film, and there is less emphasis on battles or visual f/x, but more on adventure and discovery. The climatic scenes involving Rillian imprisoned in the silver chair make for compelling drama. I also think the costumes and sets improved this time around, especially in the Underland Palace.The cleverest conceit of this adaptation is the idea of the bewitched Rillian wearing an iron mask, something that wasn't in the book but works BRILLIANTLY on film. Obviously they HAD to do this so that the audience wouldn't recognize him at first, but it just adds such a great visual touch to the tormented character. Indeed, the role of Rillian is really a three part performance: 1. A naive romantic youth in the flashbacks, 2. An angry and tormented knight while bewitched, and 3. A more mature and valiant version of the first stage after he is freed.Camilla Power is very good as Jill, making the character very headstrong and likable (which Lucy wasn't). She's also very pretty. Eustace is good again. Warwick Davis (who previously was Reepicheep and this time is Glimfeather) and Big Mick (as Trumpklin) are also good again, but sadly there is less of both. Barbara Kellerman (playing a different witch) totally overacts yet again, and THANK GOD that there is also less of her this time around.But the real star is Tom Baker as Puddleglum. Everyone who's ever seen this agrees that his performance is likely the best in the entire BBC series, and I personally think he deserved a BAFTA. He just plays the role so pessimistically, yet delivers his jokes with such a straight face. And underneath all that, he's actually a very brave companion, and his speech to the Witch makes you want to cheer.Alas, nothing is perfect, and this entry still has problems. The production value is still what it is, and the pacing becomes a problem again (a full 3 hours on a rather simple book). There is one scene that LITERALLY DID make me crack up at its corniness, which is when Eustace tries to stop Jill from falling off the cliff and ends up falling himself. What makes it so funny is the fact that you don't actually see the cliff they're standing on, and it was obviously just filmed over a hill. But I will forgive them that, since I realize that with their budget, there probably was no alternative way to film the scene.WEAKEST MOMENT: When our heroes arrive at the committee of the Owls, and we're staring at a bunch of cartoon eyeballs in the dark. Oy vey!In conclusion, the BBC serials were a worthy attempt at adapting Narnia, and most of us who loved Narnia as kids and had no other film versions will look back at this series with nostalgia. But I for one look forward to the new versions. The true Aslan and Narnia exist only in the pages of C.S. Lewis, and that is the best place to get the story!

Dan1863Sickles One of the most intriguing and unsettling things about the NARNIA books is the way lifelong bachelor C.S. Lewis tends to portray evil witches not as hideous crones but as stunning and sophisticated young women. Not surprisingly, the most memorable character in this film is the Emerald Witch, portrayed with subtle sensuality and aristocratic charm by regal and dark-eyed Barbara Kellerman. Kellerman's Emerald Witch is a forceful, intelligent, and thoroughly attractive villainess. As the daughter of the White Witch brutally slain by the insufferably pompous do-gooder talking lion Aslan in the first book, the Emerald Witch is not so much a villain as passionate woman bent on revenge. Note her entrance on Ettinsmoor, riding by the side of the dazed and clearly besotted Prince Rilian. While the child actors mumble and screech about their quest, Kellerman underplays her evil intentions, popping off snappy one liners like "What do you hear, what do you say?" Only when alone with Aslan's image staring out at her from a crystal ball does she reveal her true agenda, pulling a Cagney face and sneering, "you . . . dirty cat . . . you killed my mother!" The allusion to Cagney is reinforced later, when she is cornered by Prince Rilian. Instead of dodging his sword point, she grabs the blade and drives it into her own bosom, shrieking "Top of the world, Ma!" exactly like Cagney in WHITE HEAT.

loach10 The Silver Chair is perhaps the most consistent of the commendable trilogy of BBC Narnia adaptations of the late 80's, back in those dim distant days when the BBC was committed to quality children's drama. Revisiting the production Ten years after first viewing I found myself warmed anew by the charm of Narnia, which the trilogy more than adequately conveys, and am quite frankly saddened by some of the cynicism of some reviewers towards the economical budgeting. The acting is excellent throughout, Tom Baker much deserving of praise for is simply superb performance as the perennial pessimist 'Puddleglum'; a truly crafted and nuanced portrayal of one C.S Lewis' most endearing characters. Equally the respective child actors put in commendable performances, I much liked the slightly more forceful interpretation of the character of Jill, and Ronald Pickup's Aslan remains resplendent. Perhaps Kellerman's Green Lady is a little OTT for any mature viewer, but the younger viewer will revel in her pantominesque acting.The atmosphere of the TSC is altogether more dark than some of the earlier outings, Richard Henders manic performance as the crazed Rillian as his the child actors almost visibly reeling in horror, and the scene where Kellerman's Green Lady bewitches the children, "There never was a Narnia", is seditiously sinister. What a shame the tension of the scene was somewhat dispelled when Kellerman transforms into a very unthreatening rubber snake which, despite my defence of the budgeting, really was palpably absurd.The Chronicles of Narnia really are crying for a modern adaption, to captivate a whole new generation of children bored into catalepsy by inane 'S-Club 7' type melodrama. Indeed, I'm heard whisperings of a Movie production of 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe', inspired perhaps by the movie success of Tolkien. A Hollywood Narnia would indeed by very interesting, perhaps at last Aslan will bound across the screen to remedy my memories of the all to static Aslan of the BBC productions, and the Green Lady will actually turn into a serpent! I only hope the casting and acting is as good as is in these BBC classics!