Alice in Wonderland

This was done for the BBC in 1966 and contains some of the most major stars of the time including Peter Sellers, Sir John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Peter Cook and Leo McKern (of Prisoner fame.)

In the movie it's clear that Alice has actually fallen asleep whereas in the book it's not clear (until the end) that she actually had fallen asleep.

The characters that appeared are humans and are dressed so. This is the not-so-white rabbit.

The rabbit hole is actually a small bridge with an arch under it.

Alice then enters a place of many windows. (I feel like I'm watching Bonnie Tyler's video A Total Eclipse of the Heart.)

And here's the stairs and the balcony area from Total Eclipse of the Heart.(Buy the way, no one has said a single word since Alice and her sister sat down in the grass earlier.)

She enters a library. A library? Did I miss something in the book? Oh, it leads to the place with the doors and now she's thinking to herself and talking.

So we have the Drink Me moment where she is not whispering to herself in her mind. Stuffed dog in the background.

Now to the Eat Me moment. She's now thinking about the Crocodile poem (which actually doesn't come until later in the story. Perhaps there was something in the cake to give her precognitive abilities?

Another of the full-facial views. Is this maybe horror movie and she's just heard some kind of terrible thing approaching?

Yep. Strange noises in the background and some dude in water.

Let him drown. She walks out into another room. An insane asylum, maybe?

Ok. So these are the animals that were nearly drowned in the Pool of Tears (not a drop of water on any of them, of course. Can't have accuracy.)

The mouse is talking. Alice in looking off in to the distance wondering when her next hair appointment is.

The caucus race seems to be held in a church. Notice the stained-glass windows. There's also church music playing in the background. Maybe someone is praying for the movie to be over?

Yep. The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

The race is over. Everyone must have prizes. So the zombies, excuse me, participants, say prizes, prizes in a moaning manner.

Alice looking like she's accepted the idea they are all in an asylum.

A voice off screen tells Mary Ann to fetch the gloves.

She sits down at the vanity (which wobbles just by touching it) and decides to look at herself for a while. She also whispers to herself mentally some more.

It's Sadako!!! (From The Ring).

Another bottle to drink from and another rendition of How Doth the Little Crocodile. Then offscreen a voice whispers to fetch his gloves fast.

Another closeup. Remember this face. Forever. Meanwhile, voices off screen are whispering. Has someone enacted a code of whispering?

She flees the White Rabbits's house and suddenly there are two dogs in a cage.

So she takes shelter in a greenhouse. Which just happens to have a lot of clear windows in it. Yep, no one will see her through the clear windows.

Huh? Another library? Ah, this is the lair of the caterpillar. Who decided to upgrade from a mushroom to a nice comfy room. He also seems to have given up smoking. (Nasty habit.)

He seems to be making a model for the stage production of The Phantom of the Opera.

Is she being paid by the number of closeups of her face?

Then she is instantly transported to the house of the Duchess. Which just happens to be in the same place they've been filming the rest of this movie. Hence, the footman who is supposed to be outside but is now sitting near some windows.

The footman keeps talking and Alice has no intention of looking at him.

The inside of the house which, for once, actually looks like it should look.

Didn't anyone on the staff remind Alice that she is supposed to look at people who are talking?

She likes whispering mentally to herself so much that she's now doing both her and the Cheshire Cat's lines.

The tea party.

The March Hare has caught the 'don't look at the person you're talking to' bug.

They're all waiting for this scene to be over so that can move on.

Yep, time for another facial shot.

Another time when Alice shows her tremendous excitement over what is happening.

God. Will this scene never end?

Now an instantaneous transportation to the guys painting roses.

There's a band leading the Queen.

The Queen is speaking to Alice who, again, is looking somewhere totally different.

Croquet?

Time for another closeup.

Somebody has to have an obsession for this girl.

The cat whispers to Alice who, as usual, is avoiding looking at whoever is talking or whispering to her.

The Duchess talks to Alice who seems to use telepathy to answer her. At least Alice's lips don't move. Maybe she's a ventriloquist? She does this a whole bunch of times.

The mock turtle, gryphon and Alice.

Yep, another closeup.

The second of two more, all within a minute.

Alice again stares off into the distance while the mock turtle and the gryphon talk to her.

The trial is beginning with church organ music in the background.

I think the king fell asleep and the White Rabbit caught him. There's also a constant clucking going on in the background.

Then they throw in another song (using an extremely loose definition of song.)

This is the Alice-getting-tall portion which is done by moving the camera down and making it seem that she's growing.

A special today! Two views of Alice for the price of one!

Let's get a closer closeup.

The waking-up scene.

There are at least two versions of this movie.

Although these have the same title the DVDs they differ in their extras. The extras in the first one include:

Director's Commentary
Cecil Hepworth's 1903 silent film version of Alice in Wonderland
Dennis Potter's 1865 biopic about the real Alice Liddell
Ravi Shankar plays for Alice
Behind-the-scenes photo gallery.

The other version has these extras:

New digital transfer Director's commentary track
Behind-the-scenes gallery
Cecil Hepworth's 1903 silent film version of Alice in Wonderland
Essay by author and critic Wheeler Winston Dixon
Music specially composed by Ravi Shankar.

Main Index

Main Alice in Wonderland index page

Alice in Wonderland

This was done for the BBC in 1966 and contains some of the most major stars of the time including Peter Sellers, Sir John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Peter Cook and Leo McKern (of Prisoner fame.)

In the movie it's clear that Alice has actually fallen asleep whereas in the book it's not clear (until the end) that she actually had fallen asleep.

The characters that appeared are humans and are dressed so. This is the not-so-white rabbit.

The rabbit hole is actually a small bridge with an arch under it.

Alice then enters a place of many windows. (I feel like I'm watching Bonnie Tyler's video A Total Eclipse of the Heart.)

And here's the stairs and the balcony area from Total Eclipse of the Heart.(Buy the way, no one has said a single word since Alice and her sister sat down in the grass earlier.)

She enters a library. A library? Did I miss something in the book? Oh, it leads to the place with the doors and now she's thinking to herself and talking.

So we have the Drink Me moment where she is not whispering to herself in her mind. Stuffed dog in the background.

Now to the Eat Me moment. She's now thinking about the Crocodile poem (which actually doesn't come until later in the story. Perhaps there was something in the cake to give her precognitive abilities?

Another of the full-facial views. Is this maybe horror movie and she's just heard some kind of terrible thing approaching?

Yep. Strange noises in the background and some dude in water.

Let him drown. She walks out into another room. An insane asylum, maybe?

Ok. So these are the animals that were nearly drowned in the Pool of Tears (not a drop of water on any of them, of course. Can't have accuracy.)

The mouse is talking. Alice in looking off in to the distance wondering when her next hair appointment is.

The caucus race seems to be held in a church. Notice the stained-glass windows. There's also church music playing in the background. Maybe someone is praying for the movie to be over?

Yep. The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.

The race is over. Everyone must have prizes. So the zombies, excuse me, participants, say prizes, prizes in a moaning manner.

Alice looking like she's accepted the idea they are all in an asylum.

A voice off screen tells Mary Ann to fetch the gloves.

She sits down at the vanity (which wobbles just by touching it) and decides to look at herself for a while. She also whispers to herself mentally some more.

It's Sadako!!! (From The Ring).

Another bottle to drink from and another rendition of How Doth the Little Crocodile. Then offscreen a voice whispers to fetch his gloves fast.

Another closeup. Remember this face. Forever. Meanwhile, voices off screen are whispering. Has someone enacted a code of whispering?

She flees the White Rabbits's house and suddenly there are two dogs in a cage.

So she takes shelter in a greenhouse. Which just happens to have a lot of clear windows in it. Yep, no one will see her through the clear windows.

Huh? Another library? Ah, this is the lair of the caterpillar. Who decided to upgrade from a mushroom to a nice comfy room. He also seems to have given up smoking. (Nasty habit.)

He seems to be making a model for the stage production of The Phantom of the Opera.

Is she being paid by the number of closeups of her face?

Then she is instantly transported to the house of the Duchess. Which just happens to be in the same place they've been filming the rest of this movie. Hence, the footman who is supposed to be outside but is now sitting near some windows.

The footman keeps talking and Alice has no intention of looking at him.

The inside of the house which, for once, actually looks like it should look.

Didn't anyone on the staff remind Alice that she is supposed to look at people who are talking?

She likes whispering mentally to herself so much that she's now doing both her and the Cheshire Cat's lines.

The tea party.

The March Hare has caught the 'don't look at the person you're talking to' bug.

They're all waiting for this scene to be over so that can move on.

Yep, time for another facial shot.

Another time when Alice shows her tremendous excitement over what is happening.

God. Will this scene never end?

Now an instantaneous transportation to the guys painting roses.

There's a band leading the Queen.

The Queen is speaking to Alice who, again, is looking somewhere totally different.

Croquet?

Time for another closeup.

Somebody has to have an obsession for this girl.

The cat whispers to Alice who, as usual, is avoiding looking at whoever is talking or whispering to her.

The Duchess talks to Alice who seems to use telepathy to answer her. At least Alice's lips don't move. Maybe she's a ventriloquist? She does this a whole bunch of times.

The mock turtle, gryphon and Alice.

Yep, another closeup.

The second of two more, all within a minute.

Alice again stares off into the distance while the mock turtle and the gryphon talk to her.

The trial is beginning with church organ music in the background.

I think the king fell asleep and the White Rabbit caught him. There's also a constant clucking going on in the background.

Then they throw in another song (using an extremely loose definition of song.)

This is the Alice-getting-tall portion which is done by moving the camera down and making it seem that she's growing.

A special today! Two views of Alice for the price of one!

Let's get a closer closeup.

The waking-up scene.

There are at least two versions of this movie.

Although these have the same title the DVDs they differ in their extras. The extras in the first one include:

Director's Commentary Cecil Hepworth's 1903 silent film version of Alice in Wonderland Dennis Potter's 1865 biopic about the real Alice Liddell Ravi Shankar plays for Alice Behind-the-scenes photo gallery.

The other version has these extras:

New digital transfer Director's commentary track Behind-the-scenes gallery Cecil Hepworth's 1903 silent film version of Alice in Wonderland Essay by author and critic Wheeler Winston Dixon Music specially composed by Ravi Shankar. Main Index Main Alice in Wonderland index page

Director's Commentary
Cecil Hepworth's 1903 silent film version of Alice in Wonderland
Dennis Potter's 1865 biopic about the real Alice Liddell
Ravi Shankar plays for Alice
Behind-the-scenes photo gallery.

New digital transfer Director's commentary track
Behind-the-scenes gallery
Cecil Hepworth's 1903 silent film version of Alice in Wonderland
Essay by author and critic Wheeler Winston Dixon
Music specially composed by Ravi Shankar.

Main Index

Main Alice in Wonderland index page