Dreamchild

This is a movie about a fictionalized approach to the relationship between Alice and Lewis Carroll. There is still an argument about whether or not Carroll was a pedophile or not. There is absolutely no solid evidence that he was. He did take pictures of young girls, both clothed and nude, granted. He also, though, took many, many pictures of grown-ups and things like buildings.

The Gryphon and the older version of Alice.

The Mock Turtle.

Suddenly we switch to the young version of Alice.

The film opens with the older version of Alice on a boat to America. She doesn't seem to care very much for Americans.

The movie is going to go back and forth between the elder Alice and the younger Alice.

The guy is Charles Dodgson/Lewis Carroll.

Alice's mother who is having doubts about Alice's relationship to Charles Dodgson. Alice at this point says Dodgson loves her. Later a scene change has a mass of reporters trying to get to talk to Alice the elder (Mrs. Hargreaves) when the boat arrives. A good part of the film has to do with a reporter who lost his job who ingratiates himself with Alice.

Then we go back to the past and he's taking a photo of Alice. (Photography was a relatively new thing back then and involved the camera, but also special plates that had to be prepared and a very complicated developing process just to get one print.)

This is the boat trip where he starts the story. Alice is flirting with Dodgson. Meanwhile, the reporter is hitting on the girl. He's is a complete creep and will do anything to get his hands on money. The girl with Alice is Lucy, and Mrs. Hargreaves is not very nice to her at all. Lucy is what was termed a companion at that time.

Alice the elder is having hallucinations.

The dormouse. The Mad Hatter in this case is ultra-nasty and violent. The scene shifts back between the hallucination scene and the scene in the boat where Dodgson is telling his story.

The caterpillar. While she's talking to him she tells him about her mother burning Dodgson's letters and that she (Alice) can't remember something.

Yay! Lucy finally tells Alice off. Bravo!

Dodgson asks Alice if she has thought of who she wants to marry.

Alice's future husband is on a picnic with the family. Dodgson is also there. Alice ends up making fun of Dodgson.

The film does seem to support the idea that Dodgson was actually in love with Alice although he did absolutely nothing that was inappropriate with her. The parts with the sleezy reporter and his relationship with Lucy actually has almost nothing to do with the rest of the story. There are a few figures from the story that appear in Alice the elder's hallucinations, but only a few. It's a decent movie but it seems to be a little padded.

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