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

The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
VHS cover
Directed by	Bill Melendez
Produced by	Steven Cuitlahuac Melendez (producer) David D. Connell (executive producer)
Written by	David D. Connell (story adaptation) C.S. Lewis (written by) Bill Melendez (story adaptation)
Starring	Simon Adams Nicholas Barnes Sheila Hancock Arthur Lowe Leo McKern Don Parker Leslie Phillips Beth Porter Liz Proud Susan Sokol Stephen Thorne
Music by	Michael J. Lewis
Edited by	Michael Crane Mick Manning José Pallejá
Production company	Children's Television Workshop Bill Melendez Productions Distinguished Productions Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation
Distributed by	CBS
Release date	April 1, 1979 (1979-04-01)
Running time	95 mins
Country	United Kingdom United States
Language	English

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an animated television film that was broadcast on CBS in 1979, based on the novel of the same name by C. S. Lewis.

When four children Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy 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 (the faun) from the White Witch.They have a fun mysterious time there until they end up back home.

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. It would win an Emmy Award.

The only actor to appear in both versions was Stephen Thorne (who portrayed Aslan).