Those who can only deal with modern technology will not appreciate the Paramount version of the Lewis Carroll classic. It is an all-star cast treat of popular stars at the time lovingly taking on the various characters whom the heroine, Alice (Charlotte Henry) meets beyond the looking glass. Most of the films follow Carroll's narrative of Alice simply following a rabbit into the hole, but this takes Alice behind the Looking-Glass and when she leaves the house which is still backwards, ends up following the rabbit into the hole anyway so that she meets the characters from both of Carroll's books.
Certainly some of the special effects and costumes will seem garish by today's standards, and for those of us who know the actors providing these voices, it's a bit disconcerting to see the costume rather than the actor and hear them only briefly. but the importance in casting any version of Alice in Wonderland is putting the right actor with the right part, and here they do just that. Who better to play the Mad Hatter than Edward Everett Horton or Humpty Dumpty than W.C. Fields? Alison Skipworth and May Robson, awesome compared to each other, get to work together as the duchess and the Queen of Hearts, with Edna May Oliver and Louise Fazenda as the Red and White Queen's.
Ned Sparks as the caterpillar, Cary Grant as the mock turtle and Gary Cooper as the White Knight are among the other major players. Some players are far more obscure than others, but if you listen very carefully you'll hear Winnie the Pooh (AKA Sterling Holloway) as the frog and Roscoe Karns and Jack Oakie as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. There are a few attempts to put this together with some musical numbers, making me wonder if it was originally meant to be a full-scale musical. I don't recall seeing Alice's ancestor in a portrait in the looking glass room coming to life, but here, he's voiced by Leon Errol, a very popular comic of the time whom only the most devoted of film students know about. Stage legend Ethel Griffies, mainly remembered as the wise old woman in "The Birds" (and always seemed to be playing someone in her 80's), is seen in the opening scene (unbilled) as Alice's stern companion.
At the conclusion, all the characters seem to be rushing towards Alice in a nightmarish sort of dream, making this too realistic and paying tribute to some of the ideals that have come out of studying Carroll's original children's novel. I don't think there can ever be a perfect adaption of Alice in Wonderland simply because there is far too much going on and other than the mid-1980s TV movies, it seems rather incomplete and rushed. But for what this tries to do it succeeds even if parts that audiences hoped would be there are left out.
Certainly some of the special effects and costumes will seem garish by today's standards, and for those of us who know the actors providing these voices, it's a bit disconcerting to see the costume rather than the actor and hear them only briefly. but the importance in casting any version of Alice in Wonderland is putting the right actor with the right part, and here they do just that. Who better to play the Mad Hatter than Edward Everett Horton or Humpty Dumpty than W.C. Fields? Alison Skipworth and May Robson, awesome compared to each other, get to work together as the duchess and the Queen of Hearts, with Edna May Oliver and Louise Fazenda as the Red and White Queen's.
Ned Sparks as the caterpillar, Cary Grant as the mock turtle and Gary Cooper as the White Knight are among the other major players. Some players are far more obscure than others, but if you listen very carefully you'll hear Winnie the Pooh (AKA Sterling Holloway) as the frog and Roscoe Karns and Jack Oakie as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. There are a few attempts to put this together with some musical numbers, making me wonder if it was originally meant to be a full-scale musical. I don't recall seeing Alice's ancestor in a portrait in the looking glass room coming to life, but here, he's voiced by Leon Errol, a very popular comic of the time whom only the most devoted of film students know about. Stage legend Ethel Griffies, mainly remembered as the wise old woman in "The Birds" (and always seemed to be playing someone in her 80's), is seen in the opening scene (unbilled) as Alice's stern companion.
At the conclusion, all the characters seem to be rushing towards Alice in a nightmarish sort of dream, making this too realistic and paying tribute to some of the ideals that have come out of studying Carroll's original children's novel. I don't think there can ever be a perfect adaption of Alice in Wonderland simply because there is far too much going on and other than the mid-1980s TV movies, it seems rather incomplete and rushed. But for what this tries to do it succeeds even if parts that audiences hoped would be there are left out.