Yes of course it could work; there are any number of movies that employ a similar storytelling framing device. An example that springs easily to mind is Titanic. Having Digory narrate the film would allow him to use some of the descriptions from the book, and I would like that very much, especially the memory of a rich purple kind of smell. So yeah, there are definitely ways to make it work, and make it work well.

However... if the only reason to structure the film this way is to showcase the Pevensies again, I'd rather they didn't do it this way.

In terms of it being a good idea to try and incorporate the Pevensie's into as many movies as possible, i would definitely have to disagree. I think the series does a good enough job on its own transitioning between the various characters, and i think the producers are setting themselves up for a big fall by including a seemingly unnecessary amount of Peter/Susan (and White Witch) cameos into VDT, as its just going to make it more difficult for themselves come Silver Chair when none of them can be in it. But thats for another debate.

As for just the general idea of presenting the events of The Magician's Nephew within a framing device of The Professor telling a story, i think its a reasonable idea to explore. I'm not terribly keen on the idea, as i don't think framing devices really work too well in movies. There are probably a few i could think of that do work, but none really spring to mind right now.

However, i think the idea of book-ending The Magicians Nephew (and also The Horse and His Boy) with new material featuring the already established characters and settings from the movie world is probably an idea the filmmakers will probably consider at some point. Those two stories, as a prequel and sidestory respectively, are both very much detached from the main series narrative, and could potentially be tough sells for the studio so it stands to reason that they would maybe want to tie-them in more with the earlier films.

Artistically i think the story-within-a-story device works much better for The Horse and His Boy, and such an idea is even already alluded to in The Silver Chair, where a blind poet reads the story as if it were a great fable of the Narnian world, but for Magician's Nephew i would feel it could perhaps feel forced and tacked-on, but i would say i am at least open to the possibility.

ooh, that's a brilliant idea! it would really draw in those moviegoers who have never read the books!

Artistically i think the story-within-a-story device works much better for The Horse and His Boy, and such an idea is even already alluded to in The Silver Chair, where a blind poet reads the story as if it were a great fable of the Narnian world

Oh I love that idea!

I think it could work in the Magician's Nephew too. It would let people know that this is a story that happened a long time ago.

Yeah, it could work pretty well! But this is how I'd imagine it happening: Professor Kirke telling a child or children (like the Pevensies, Eustace, Jill, or someone we don't know) of going to the beginning of Narnia. If they do it that way, and also make it work, I'd really enjoy it!

The same technique could also work for HHB, and my only concern is that if they do that for any of the books, they won't do it twice.

It could work, but I don't really like the idea. At first glance I'm not seeing what it would add to the story other than yet another excuse to have the Pevensies appear. However, I do think a good way to tie the story together with the rest of the series would be to add the scene of Lucy finding the wardrobe at the end. Or maybe not the whole scene, just the bit where she pulls the dustcover off and opens the wardrobe. This would actually be pretty similar to a bit near the end of the book. It says something along the lines of "And although he did not discover the magical properties of the wardrobe himself, someone else did." That's not a direct quote, but close enough.

Actually PeterCharn I really like your idea of this type of consistency. Thing is if they do do something like this then he'll have to include Jill as well and Polly. It could be another point to see where Susan is beginning to forget about Narnia when she doesn't stick around to hear the story and goes off to some party.

That idea or at the end of the film we can have a flash forward where Digory is like 30 or however old he is when the tree in his backyard was struck by lighting and Aslan gives him a vision of the Pevensie's reign in Narnia thus to why he made the wardrobe in the first place.

PeterCharn, I think that is an excellent idea! I love the pevensie characters and would love to have them continue coming into the movies. Having the professor tell the story is wonderful there could even possibly be little scenes where the pevensies asked questions which would allow them to have a bigger part in the story. Polly could perhaps come in at the beginning and Digory could introduce her to the children as the one who shared his greatest adventure. Then they could tell the story together. With Polly adding in her own thoughts here and there.

I think MN should be bookended, but not with the Pevensies.

I think it should start with Digory in his mid-30s awakening to the sound of loud crash during a violent thunderstorm. The next morning he finds the tree completely knocked over. One of his servants talks about chopping it up, but he says not to. As he knees down and touches the tree he flashes back to his childhood where he is crying about the sickness of his mother.

After the events of MN, we cut back to the real-time. Polly (in her 30s also) comes to Digory's house for a visit. I think this would be a good time to explain what is going on in her life, and let the audience know that she and Digory don't marry (she could mention her husband for instance). Then Digory tells her about the tree and asks her to come upstairs to see what he's done with it. She looks at the wardrobe and they both reminence about their adventure in Narnia as they stare at the carved story of the MN on the Wardrobe. Then they leave the room and close the door...but the camera stays focused on the door and time cuts to the 1940s when Lucy opens the door to play hide in seek. The end of the film would be the LWW footage of Lucy opening the Wardrobe door.

Josh, Although I really would like to see the pevensies again I really like your idea too! Especially the part about the end cutting back to Lucy opening the wardrobe that would really connect the movies!

That is sort of what I was thinking josh. The bottom line is, they don't have to have the professor telling the story to someone for it to work. In fact, I like the idea of him flashing back more because then the movie would be strictly a fleshing out of his character, not the pevensies AGAIN!

The story within a story has its place, but I'm not sure that would be in keeping with Lewis's technique. Could it work? Sure, but that's not necessarily the best way to do it.

Consider that Lewis wasn't completely obvious with what was going on. He doesn't let you know that Jadis is the White Witch. He gives you her name, but some might miss that. Then she turns white later on. You see each element come into place gradually. You have the lamppost growing and becoming an element in Narnia. The book doesn't start out with, "Let me tell you how that silly lamppost got there." And when the wardrobe gets made, the book doesn't necessarily spell everything out. The best films leave little gaps so the audience can put the puzzle together themselves.

I like the idea of a flash back for MN. The beginning could essentially go like this:
Professor walks towards Wardrobe stroking chin thoughtfully.

He hesitantly touches the wardrobe door, stroking the engraving of the tree in the middle of the door. A faint wind brushes his hair.

Enter flashback of Digory crying under tree.

I don't know, something like that....I'm not very creative

I think MN should be bookended, but not with the Pevensies.

I think it should start with Digory in his mid-30s awakening to the sound of loud crash during a violent thunderstorm. The next morning he finds the tree completely knocked over. One of his servants talks about chopping it up, but he says not to. As he knees down and touches the tree he flashes back to his childhood where he is crying about the sickness of his mother.

After the events of MN, we cut back to the real-time. Polly (in her 30s also) comes to Digory's house for a visit. I think this would be a good time to explain what is going on in her life, and let the audience know that she and Digory don't marry (she could mention her husband for instance). Then Digory tells her about the tree and asks her to come upstairs to see what he's done with it. She looks at the wardrobe and they both reminence about their adventure in Narnia as they stare at the carved story of the MN on the Wardrobe. Then they leave the room and close the door...but the camera stays focused on the door and time cuts to the 1940s when Lucy opens the door to play hide in seek. The end of the film would be the LWW footage of Lucy opening the Wardrobe door.

Well, that is a possible scenario. The main difficulty with Josh's idea is that there would need to be a third person having to play the Professor in the story. One as Diggory Kirke as a boy, a second as the Professor of LWW and a third as the Professor as a 30 year old, unless Jim Broadbent can see his way to play both.

Though I like the idea of her being introduced as an adult in this movie, there is also the difficulty of three actresses playing Polly, as a young girl, then as a thirty year old and finally the Polly they will eventually cast for LB. Too clunky I fear, and the main reason why I disliked the BBC Narnia series which cast two different people to play Caspian.

Considering there is a war theme running all the way through the movies so far, there is no need for Polly to have ever been married, or to have much discussion about her everyday life. Especially after WWII, a lot of women didn't marry, had given up on the idea once sweethearts were killed, or were widowed during the war. Whole streets of them in some places. Some even continued in employment for the rest of their lives. I rather like the idea of Polly being a work colleague, or someone involved with war work, as well as being a friend of Professor Kirke's, to tell the truth.

I think Josh's idea is a good one to start the movie, but if the Professor is relating all this to anyone in real time at the end, including Polly, I don't see why all the Pevensies can't be included as well, at the same age as what they would be, maybe after Peter graduates from his VDT studies under Professor Kirke's tutelage. That way, MN might fit neatly between VDT, Silver Chair and Horse and his boy in an intermediate sort of way before we see Susan as a young adult in HHB. We get over the accommodation issue of VDT, where the Professor has moved to a smaller house and we can also keep the wardrobe in Professor Kirke's spare bedroom. I like the idea of Susan leaving the group early to attend at a party, now the War is drawing to an end.

I don't think that HHB can really be bookended with memory flashbacks the same way as MN or even at all. Whilst Susan and Edmund play crucial parts in this tale, they aren't the main characters, Peter doesn't appear at all, and even Lucy only rides in at the end to help save the day. Eustace and Jill only hear about this tale at Cair Paravel. Even the BBC radio plays of the Narnia chronicles don't attempt to bookend HHB, though they already have the Professor telling the Pevensies, at any rate, about his own adventure in Narnia.

As a matter of interest, whilst the Professor would be a good narrator of his own one adventure in Narnia, who do you think would do the narration for HHB?