Alice im Wunderland

I bought the video of this 1933 classic after hearing about it for years. Evidently, it hasn't been on TV since the 1960s. I really enjoyed the video copy I bought. Charlotte Henry was great as Alice, and the Paramount all-star cast was great too. The fun is spotting all the various stars under the various masks and guises. W.C. Fields and Baby LeRoy should've shared a scene somehow, though. At any rate, I really liked this version-it's probably the best filming of the Lewis Carroll story ever.

This film seems very obscure given its production values and amazing cast - I only came across it while scanning Cary Grant's filmography. It seems mostly lost to time.

The film edits together both Alice books into a single narrative (such as it is; the plot remains very episodic). The special effects are still impressive. It made me wonder what the reaction of the public was to this film in 1933 - seems like it would be a major spectacle like the "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" is to present generations.

Part of the fun is seeing major stars together in the same movie (Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, W.C. Fields) and being exposed to many other actors who may have been stars in their day and have disappeared from modern memory.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Paramount, 1933), directed by Norman McLeod, is an interesting screen adaptation to Lewis Carroll's immortal fairy tale mainly for its all-star casting headed by Charlotte Henry in the title role. Although regarded quite faithful to the book, ALICE IN WONDERLAND never achieved the reputation of an immortal motion picture classic as did the better known children's' stories transferred to film, namely Laurel and Hardy's BABES IN TOYLAND (Hal Roach/MGM, 1934) with Charlotte Henry as Bo-Peep; or THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939) starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. ALICE IN WONDERLAND did contain more screen adaptations dating back to the silent era than either BABES IN TOYLAND and THE WIZARD OF OZ combined, with the best known "Alice" being the Walt Disney's 1951 animated version. Alice even was paid tribute in a production number scored by Irving Berlin in PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ (UA, 1930) featuring Joan Bennett. This Alice may be noteworthy to some extent but basically a missed opportunity of a great classic.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND gets off on a splendid start with its three and a half minute introduction of hand turning the pages of a book, "Alice in Wonderland" and displaying the sketches of characters on one page followed by the faces of actors who play them on another. Opening shot is at an undisclosed location of a two story house being covered by falling snow as Alice (Charlotte Henry), a 12-year-old girl with long blonde hair and ruffled dress, is seen sitting at home along with her governess, Miss Simpson (Ethel Griffies), and pet cat. Bored with nothing to do, she imagines herself going through the mirror, better known as "The looking glass," where she starts her fun-filled fantasy in Wonderland encountering a handful of characters along the way: Uncle Gilbert (Leon Errol) and her Aunt (Patsy O'Byrne); a talking clock (Colin Kenny); The White Rabbit (Richard "Skeets" Gallagher); Mouse (Raymond Hatton); Caterpillar (Ned Sparks); Dodo Bird (Polly Moran); a stuttering Fish (Roscoe Ates); Frog (Sterling Holloway); a cook (Lillian Harmer): the Duchess (Alison Skipworth); the Cheshire Cat (Richard Arlen); the Mad Hatter (Edward Everett Horton); the March Hare (Charles Ruggles); The Dormouse (Jackie Searle); walking play-cards, The Joker (Baby LeRoy); The Queen of Hearts (May Robson who commands "Off with their heads"); the Five of Spades (Charles McNaughton) and The King of Hearts (Alec B. Francis); The Gryphon (William Austin); the crying Mock Turtle (Cary Grant); The Red Queen (Edna May Oliver); Tweedledum (Jack Oakie); Tweedlum (Roscoe Karns); The White King (Ford Sterling), The White Queen (Louise Fazenda); Sheep (Mae Marsh); Humpty Dumpty (W.C. Fields); the accident prone White Knight (Gary Cooper); Plum Pudding (George Ovey); among others before awakening from her dream.

With such an impressive cast and imaginative production, how could ALICE IN WONDERLAND miss? The selection of Charlotte Henry was just right (better than Ida Lupino as originally intended at one point), as was W.C. Fields in his five minute segment as Humpty Dumpty. Possibly the weakness is somewhere in the script (by Joseph Mankiewicz) where some scenes hold interest while others do not. The special effects of Alice flying through the air, growing and shrinking in mirror-like effect, quite stunning for its time, while sets by William Cameron Menzies are still quite remarkable. One scene involving a crying baby (Billy Barty) being abused may come off as disturbing, followed by his change into a pig while still squirming in Alice's arms. ALICE IN WONDERLAND at 77 minutes is not an overlong production, though it has indications of being a much longer film since Jacqueline Wells, noted for her role as Alice's sister, is mentioned but not existent in the surviving print. Many top-name stars are virtually unrecognizable in their brief roles, though some of their voices, namely Fields, are unmistakable. While BABES IN TOYLAND and THE WIZARD OF OZ relied on song interludes, interestingly none by Miss Henry. Tunes selected include "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat" (sung by Edward Everett Horton); "Beautiful Soup" (sung by Cary Grant) "The Warus and the Carpenter" (sung/recited during cartoon segment by Jack Oakie) and "Fill Up the Glasses" (sung by cast).

Rarely televised in recent years, there are notable exceptions such as New York City's July 1983 presentation on WNET, Channel 13 (PBS), and June 4, 2001 showing on Turner Classic Movies as part of its star of the month tribute to W.C. Fields. An interesting bit of trivia by TCM host Bob Osborne noting that Mary Pickford was slated to play Alice supported by animated characters. What a worth while Wonderland this might have been! (***)

Okay, right off the bat, Paramount's all-star costume party is no substitute for the Alice books. Perhaps the eccentric literary genius of Lewis Carroll simply can't be properly recreated in a screen adaptation. No one's managed it yet, at any rate (though I'd like to see the Brothers Quay take a crack at it). Nevertheless this curious film version is worth seeing, especially for animation & special effects buffs, fans of Hollywood stars from the early talkie era, and connoisseurs of offbeat cinema. Even fans of '30s horror flicks should take a look, because this film is closer to those works in spirit than you might expect. Although I haven't seen the Paramount ALICE IN WONDERLAND in years there are elements I recall vividly, and they tend to be the frightening or bizarre moments: Alice's blurry transformations in size; Humpty Dumpty's spindly legs flailing as he tumbles backward off his wall; a puppet-like Alice sailing down the stairs, out the door and landing on the walk; the Mock Turtle sobbing weirdly as he sings of Beautiful Soup; and, most vivid of all, that horrible-looking piece of mutton sprouting a face and complaining when Alice attempts to slice into him.

20 year-old Charlotte Henry is pretty and sweet as Alice, decidedly sweeter than the stubbornly logical Alice of the books. To play the denizens of Wonderland and the Looking Glass World (realms jumbled together into a single patchwork Crazy Quilt here) the studio trotted out most of its contract stars to don heavy disguises, and the result is kind of like seeing all your favorite teachers participate in a school Christmas pageant. Some of them pull it off better than others. Perhaps the best-remembered casting is W.C. Fields as an especially cantankerous Humpty Dumpty. It's a memorable sequence alright, but somehow unsatisfying and even a little disturbing; Fields was too constrained by his makeup and the necessity of following Carroll's famous dialog to make the character his own. Interestingly, according to James Curtis' recent biography, Fields thoroughly hated this assignment and performed his scene in an ugly humor.

The scenario is disjointed, but some scenes are unforgettable. Cartoon buffs will want to tune in for The Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, introduced by Tweedle-Dumm & Tweedle-Dee (i.e. actors Jack Oakie and Roscoe Karns) wearing such cumbersome-looking rubber masks that we worry about their ability to breathe properly. The animators responsible for this sequence received no screen credit, and for a long time I was under the impression it was the work of the Fleischer Studio (whose output was distributed by Paramount) but apparently it was produced by Hugh Harman & Rudolf Ising, who were affiliated with producer Leon Schlesinger prior to this period. It's interesting to speculate how ALICE IN WONDERLAND might have turned out if the entire film had been animated, with Paramount's contract stars simply supplying the voices. This was still several years prior to Disney's breakthrough feature SNOW WHITE, so the result could have been a groundbreaking milestone in animation, and perhaps more appealing than the adaptation Disney eventually released in the early '50s. As it stands, this live action version features masks and costumes clearly modeled on the books' original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel, and offers the amusing game of figuring out which actor is under which disguise. Some of the players (Edward Everett Horton, Edna May Oliver) are more recognizable than others (Cary Grant, Sterling Holloway). The casting doesn't always make sense, but Gary Cooper's befuddled White Knight comes off surprisingly well, and arguably steals the show.

The Paramount ALICE IN WONDERLAND has never been available in any official VHS or DVD release, although I believe collectors would snap it up if it were properly restored. One problem I recall from the TV viewings of my childhood was that the picture was badly cropped, cutting off significant amounts of image, a particular problem during the credits that identify the players. This was done in 'Storybook' fashion, with big leaves turning and matching each costumed Wonderland character with the actor playing that character, seen in street clothes. The actors' names are at the very bottom of the frame, and unfortunately when seen on TV the names are almost completely obscured. This isn't such a problem when the actor is well remembered, like W.C. Fields or Gary Cooper, but not many latter-day viewers are going to recognize the likes of Ford Sterling or Louise Fazenda. It would be delightful news for movie buffs if someone (Criterion, are you listening?) could release a fully restored, letter-boxed edition of this flawed but fascinating production.

P.S. It's a pleasure to add that, as of March 2010, this film has finally received an official DVD release, concurrent with the new Tim Burton adaptation of the story. I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the Paramount Alice.

In the depths of the Great Depression, Paramount mounted this spectacular fantasy with a galaxy of top flight stars and just missed creating a classic. Like the stage ALICE IN WONDERLAND Eva LeGallienne had mounted the year before at her Civic Repertory Theatre in New York - only just closed when the film opened - which appears to have inspired this production, the sets and costumes are drawn heavily from the classic and by then in public domain illustrations from the original book by John Tenniel.

The result is a dazzling world - starting with Alice's Victorian drawing room where she is waiting out a snow storm with her cat, Dinah and her aunt before beginning her explorations Through the Looking Glass (the film combines both of Lewis Carroll's most famous books) and continuing through most of the most famous incidents from the books in live action fantasy form.

Only "The Walrus and The Carpenter," delightfully rendered by Max Fleischer's cartoon studio (one would love to have seen the cut footage of the similarly popular "You Are Old Father William" poem!) was deemed too hard to portray with live actors - the baby oysters lured from their bed for culinary conversation - "Shoes and ships and sealing wax" and all that. You've probably seen this cartoon edited from the film and issued separately!

This was a separate Hollywood production, despite similarities with the Broadway play with music, and didn't use the any of that show's Richard Addinsell song score (recorded by RCA during the stage show's 1947 revival) but turned Dimitri Tiomkin loose on it, and it's nice to see that film's premiere composer could also turn out a nice enough song or two too. This was a first class production all the way - and like MGM's WIZARD OF OZ six years later, didn't make money in it's initial release - or initial RE-release in 1935. Lacking ...OZ's Technicolor and popular song score, this ALICE IN WONDERLAND didn't even carve out its classic niche when television came in, and is now almost lost - supplanted in the popular mind by the fine 1951 Disney animated version of the story, but is well worth seeking out for lovers of Lewis Carroll, classic fantasy or classic film.

Technicolor or not, songs or not, the film still has elements which dazzle and only a few serious drawbacks for the "short attention span" set. Charlotte Henry is a fine, natural Alice (in an all too brief career of only 31 films, before retiring during WWII, she also did the Laurel & Hardy BABES IN TOYALAND in 1934 and the best of all the Chans, CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA in 1936 as Boris Karloff's daughter!) and she is ably supported by a cast of great actors - not all of whom have the luxury of costumes revealing their faces like Ned Sparks' Caterpillar, Edward Everett Horton's Mad Hatter or Edna May Oliver's Red Queen, but the voices of rising stars like Cary Grant (a wonderful singing Mock Turtle) and old pro W.C. Fields (Humpty Dumpty) won't really require seeing the faces in their "Tenniel come-to-life" costumes.

The problem, if any, comes in the mad whirl of crazy fantasy that takes Alice deeper and deeper into Wonderland (and its sequel) and after a while can lose the audience's interest as they try clinging to a thru-story line. Stick around though, for Gary Cooper's appearance around an hour into the film as The White Knight (only the name is type casting)! It is one of the greatest treats in a motion picture packed with them - and arguably one of the crowning gems of Cooper's career. Quite wonderful.

Modern audiences may cringe a bit in the opening scene seeing Alice, in a highly starched - and highly FLAMMABLE - dress and apron climbing on the grate in front of a burning fireplace to look in the mirror over the hearth, but someone at the studio did notice (and probably hoped the audience wouldn't). When Alice returns, the fire is out.

After 75 years though, the fire is far from out on this fascinating extravaganza. If you get a chance to see it, grab it.