Archive for the ‘Alice In Wonderland’ Category

Nov

Original “Alice In Wonderland” to Auction for $150k

Posted by: Kenneth Rougeau Tags: a a milne, alice, alice in wonderland, alice liddell, auction, baum, beatrix potter, book, children's literature, collection, fantasy, first edition, football, house at pooh corner, l frank baum, lewis carroll, Literature, milne, original, original text, oz, pat mcinley, peter rabbit, private, through the looking glass, winnie the pooh, wizard of oz, wonderful wizard of oz

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Alice Liddell’s personal copy of “Alice In Wonderland”, the story she inspired, will be auctioned next month along with other rare first edition fantasy titles including “The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz“, “Winnie The Pooh“, and “The Tale Of Peter Rabbit“. The first edition Wonderland text has been part of the private collection of former U.S. professional football player Pat McInally. The auction, featuring primarily children’s literature, is expected to generate over $1 million in sales.

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Sep

Alice in Wonderland: A Cinematic History (Part 1 of 3)

Posted by: Kenneth Rougeau Tags: 1903, 1910, 1915, 1920s, 1923, 1928, 1931, 1933, 1934, alice, alice comedies, alice in wonderland, alice through a looking glass, alices wonderland, animated, animation, animation studio, ashley ayer miller, based on, betty boop, betty in blunderland, blunderland, bud pollard, carpenter, cartoon, cary grant, cecil hepworth, cecil m hepworth, characters, charlotte henry, cinema, disney, edison company, fantasy, feature, feature film, felix the cat, film, filmmakers, films, frog, frog footman, gary cooper, humpty dumpty, imdb, inspired by, internet movie database, julius, lewis carroll, max fleischer, may clark, mock turtle, movie, Movies, mrs hepworth, norman z. mcleod, queen of hearts, ruth gilbert, silent, silent film, stories, talkie, through the looking glass, viola savoy, virginia davis, voice, w.c. fields, w.w. young, walrus, walrus and the carpenter, walt, walt disney, walter lang, white knight, white rabbit, wife, wonderlande, world

Lewis Carroll’s stories have inspired filmmakers since the dawn of cinema, spawning numerous adaptations of the original stories, not to mention a swarm of works based on and inspired by the characters and world of Wonderland (IMDB lists 100 titles featuring Alice based characters, not counting video games). This article won’t attempt to cover them all, but will touch on the most influental of these films.

Alice first stepped onto silver screen in 1903, portrayed by May Clark in Alice in Wonderland. The 8 minute silent film was written and directed by Cecil M. Hepworth, who played the Frog Footman in the film, and whose wife played both the Queen of Hearts & the White Rabbit.

The Edison Company released a ten-minute long adaptation of Alice in Wonderland in 1910.

Alice In Wonderland (1910)

A full length silent feature followed in 1915, directed by W.W. Young & starring Viola Savoy as Alice.

In 1923, Walt Disney directed and starred in Alice’s Wonderland, a short cartoon based on Alice In Wonderland in which Alice, played by Virginia Davis, visits an animation studio where she is shown various cartoon scenes. Later that night, she visits a cartoon wonderland in her dreams. This short was the first of Walt Disney’s famous Alice Comedies, series of animated cartoons created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice and an animated cat named Julius (who bears a striking resemblance to Felix the Cat) have adventures in an animated landscape. Click the image below to watch Alice’s Wonderland on YouTube.

Alices Wonderland (1923)

Walter Lang directed a silent movie adaptation in 1928 entitled Alice Through A Looking Glass.

Alice Through A Looking Glass (1928)

In 1931, Alice found her voice in cinema history’s first talkie version of Alice in Wonderland, directed by Bud Pollard & featuring dialogue written by Ashley Ayer Miller. Alice was played by actress Ruth Gilbert.

Alice In Wonderland (1931)

Christmas of 1933 saw Charlotte Henry play Alice in this rendition directed by Norman Z. McLeod. This version also featured many elements from Through The Looking Glass & featured Hollywood legends W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty, Cary Grant as The Mock Turtle, and Gary Cooper as The White Knight. It also contains an animated version of The Walrus and the Carpenter by cartoon legend Max Fleischer. You can watch the entire film on YouTube.

Alice In Wonderland (1933) - YouTube

Speaking of Max Fleischer, Betty Boop stepped through the looking glass in the 1934 animation Betty in Blunderland. In the cartoon, Betty falls asleep while doing a white rabbit jigsaw puzzle and “awakens” just in time to follow the rabbit into Wonderland.

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Sep

Alice in Wonderland: A Cinematic History (Part 2 of 3)

Posted by: Kenneth Rougeau Tags: 1949, 1951, 1966, 1972, 1976, 1977, adult musical fantasy, agnes moorehead, alice, alice in wonderland, alice of wonderland in paris, alice through the looking glass, alices adventures in wonderland, allen swift, animated, animation, ann marie mallik, barbera, based on, bbc, carl reiner, carol marsh, cartoon, caterpiller, caucus race, characters, charles dodgson, cheshire cat, cinema, dick smothers, disney, doris drew, dormouse, dudley moore, eric idle, fantasy, film, filmmakers, films, fiona fullerton, francois, full color, hanna, hanna barbera, harvey korman, howard morris, humpty dumpty, imdb, inspired by, internet movie database, jabberwock, jabberwocky, jack palance, jimmy durante, jonathan miller, judi rolin, kathryn beaumont, king of hearts, lewis carroll, live actionlawsuit, lou bunin, mad hatter, made for tv, march hare, mel blanc, michael crawford, michael jayston, michael palin, michael redgrave, mock turtle, monty python, movie, Movies, mr magoo, musical, nbc, norma macmillan, paris, peter sellers, porn, pornographic, queen of hearts, ravi shankar, red queen, ricardo montalban, sammy davis jr, sex, smothers brothers, star studded, stop motion, stories, terry gilliam, terry jones, through the looking glass, time, time magazine, tom smothers, tweedledee, tweedledum, united productions of america, walt disney, wednesday play, What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This, white king, white rabbit, william sterling, wonderlande, world, x rated, x-rated musical fantasy, zsa zsa gabor

In 1949, puppeteer Lou Bunin created a feature length stop-motion animation film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland starring Carol Marsh as a live-action Alice. A lawsuit from Walt Disney prevented it from being widely released in the U.S., so that it would not compete with Disney’s forthcoming 1951 animated version. For full details, read the Time Magazine article from July 16th, 1951.

Walt Disney’s 1951 animated Alice In Wonderland also incorporates elements from Through The Looking Glass, including The Jabberwocky and The Walrus & The Carpenter. Kathryn Beaumont was the voice of Alice.

Disney's Alice In Wonderland (1951)

1966 was an amazing year for Wonderland with the release of four Alice inspired films. United Productions of America (creators of Mr. Magoo) released a 52-minute animated feature called Alice of Wonderland in Paris, in which Alice, now a celebrity due to her Wonderland adventures, dreams of visiting Paris. A talking mouse named Francois uses a magical mushroom to shrink Alice & together they explore Paris as Francois narrates a series of Parisian themed short stories. The cartoon has little connection to the original stories other than a brief mention of Lewis Carroll’s book & the magic mushroom. The characters were voiced by actors Carl Reiner, Allen Swift, Howard Morris, and Norma MacMillan who played Alice.

Alice of Wonderland in Paris (1966)

Hanna Barabera’s Alice in Wonderland, or What’s a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? also aired as a TV special in 1966. It featured the vocal talents of Sammy Davis Jr. as the Cheshire Cat, Zsa Zsa Gabor as the Queen of Hearts, Mel Blanc as the Caterpillar, Harvey Korman as the Mad Hatter, and starred Doris Drew as Alice.

A live action BBC made-for-TV movie directed by Jonathan Miller aired on December 28th, 1966 as “The Wednesday Play” Alice in Wonderland & starred Peter Sellers (King of Hearts), Sir John Geilgud (Mock Turtle), Michael Redgrave (Caterpillar), and Anne-Marie Mallik (Alice). Music for the film was written by Ravi Shankar & the Caucus Race scene features an uncredited performance by a very young Eric Idle (Monty Python).

A musical rendition entitled Alice Through The Looking Glass also aired on NBC television in 1966. The full-color feature boasted a star studded cast featuring Judi Rolin (Irish Whiskey Rebellion) as Alice, Ricardo Montalban (Fantasy Island) as the White King, Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched) as The Red Queen, Tom & Dick Smothers (The Smothers Brothers Show) as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Jack Palance (Ripley’s Believe It or Not!) as the Jabberwock, and Jimmy Durante (It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World) as Humpty Dumpty.

Another musical version emerged in 1972. Written and directed by William Sterling, Alice’s Adventure’s In Wonderland starred Fiona Fullerton as Alice, Peter Sellers as the March Hare, Dudley Moore as the Dormouse, Michael Crawford as the White Rabbit, and Michael Jayston as Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1972)

The first pornographic version, Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy, was released in 1976 (it had to happen eventually) combining Lewis Carroll’s characters with elaborate song and dance numbers, offbeat comedy, and sexual content.

Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy (1976)

Terry Gilliam’s Jabberwocky was released in 1977. It featured several of the comedic geniusses behind Monty Python’s Flying Circus including Gilliam, who also directed, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin who stars as the reluctant hero who, through a series of clumsy, slapstick misfortunes, is forced to hunt down a terrible dragon, the Jabberwock, after the death of his father.