I love Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, and for me my personal favourite film adaptations of this great story are the 1951 Disney animated film and this. This film is really quite interesting especially for its wonderful cast.
This 1933 film also is to me one of the more faithful adaptations of the story, still maintaining the strange but colourful characters and episodic, oddball yet bewitching story structure while having a surrealistic and somewhat nightmarish element to it. The film does look great for its time, the costumes are quite wonderful and the scenery looks as though a lot of care has gotten into making it look good and presentable. Also the cinematography has a warm feeling to it.
I also like the music very much. The incidental music is memorable and doesn't feel intrusive, while the songs are like little bon-bons. I am especially fond of Beautiful Soup. The characters are still fun and colourful, especially the White Knight, the writing is still nonsensical and witty and the story is delightfully strange and has many unforgettable scenes, Walrus and the Carpenter I am looking at you.
The acting is fine too. Charlotte Henry is good and appealing as Alice, but she is overshadowed by the supporting cast who range from very good to just wonderful. Richard Arlen is a witty Cheshire cat and Mary Robson is a suitably shrill Queen of Hearts. The scene stealers though for me were Cary Grant(almost unrecognisable except for the voice) as the melancholy Mock Turtle and especially Gary Cooper who is amazing as the White Knight.
All in all, while there may be parts of the beginning that feel slightly laboured, this is an enchanting and warm film adaptation of a fine story. 9/10 Bethany Cox
This 1933 film also is to me one of the more faithful adaptations of the story, still maintaining the strange but colourful characters and episodic, oddball yet bewitching story structure while having a surrealistic and somewhat nightmarish element to it. The film does look great for its time, the costumes are quite wonderful and the scenery looks as though a lot of care has gotten into making it look good and presentable. Also the cinematography has a warm feeling to it.
I also like the music very much. The incidental music is memorable and doesn't feel intrusive, while the songs are like little bon-bons. I am especially fond of Beautiful Soup. The characters are still fun and colourful, especially the White Knight, the writing is still nonsensical and witty and the story is delightfully strange and has many unforgettable scenes, Walrus and the Carpenter I am looking at you.
The acting is fine too. Charlotte Henry is good and appealing as Alice, but she is overshadowed by the supporting cast who range from very good to just wonderful. Richard Arlen is a witty Cheshire cat and Mary Robson is a suitably shrill Queen of Hearts. The scene stealers though for me were Cary Grant(almost unrecognisable except for the voice) as the melancholy Mock Turtle and especially Gary Cooper who is amazing as the White Knight.
All in all, while there may be parts of the beginning that feel slightly laboured, this is an enchanting and warm film adaptation of a fine story. 9/10 Bethany Cox