Product: The Silver Chair [VHS]
Rating: 4.0
Excellent Production
Of the Chronicles of Narnia videos, this is my favourite. To some extent, this might ahve been inevitable, as the Silver chair is the best of the books - but that also meant the video production had the most to lose. It did not, however. There was less animation to clash with the live figures, and a crop of sincere adult actors to support the children in their efforts.I did not think Tom Baker, best known for his frizzy hair and scarf in Doctor Who, would do a decent rendition of Puddleglum, a very tall, very thin creature. However, his voice was properly dolesome, and gloomy, and he carried a real conviction underneath.The Prince was manic and mad, much more so than the original story suggests; and yet he held me spellbound until his spell was itself broken. The whole climax was surprisingly well done.The one criticism is that the story after the climax is rushed. There is no explanation as there is in the book for why they happily pop up right back in Narnia after so much journeying. Nothing but an easy emergence from a hole in the ground. One more minute of film, a quick exchange of dialogue, would have answered the plot holes left in the closing, and given it much more depth.Nonetheless, after two tapes of adventure, it seems a small price to pay.