Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This is perhaps the most faithful version of Alice in Wonderland. The dialogue is practically verbatim and the visuals are made to resemble the original illustrations drawn by John Tenniel. Composer John Barry provides the story with a collection of beautifully enchanting songs, many of which are straight out of the book.

The cast is more like a convention of every popular British performer known at that time, including a pre-Phantom Michael Crawford as the White Rabbit, Peter Sellers as a hilariously insane March Hare, Dudley Moore as the Dormouse, Robert Helpmann as the Mad Hatter (aka the Child Catcher for moviegoers, aka Royal Ballet for ballet-goers), and humorist Spike Milligan as the Gryphon. Fiona Fullerton plays a delightfully impressionable Alice, despite the fact that she is much older than the Alice of the book.

This movie is perfect for children and adults who want to see a literal translation of the book, made back in the days when moviemakers truly cared about entertaining audiences (and it's fun to wonder how they made Alice grow and shrink when they didn't have the aid of computer effects)!

When I saw this film back in '72 I was impressed with the high production values, cast, characterizations, and special effects. Imagine my excitement and disappointment when several companies (notably one calling itself the Platinum Disc Corporation) put out editions which were simply a dupes from an old 3/4 inch tape: A battered broadcast print version which used to circulate among the independent television market many years back.

The icing on the cake is a missing segment during the tea party sequence (approximately 20+ frames were snipped, most likely because of a tear in a badly handled print). In addition the film was originally shot in widescreen (2.35:1 ratio), but the tape, and subsequently the DVD, is pan-and-scan. These factors are coupled with a grainy image and scratchy sound track makes watching this otherwise fine children's film a real chore.

The upside is that another company, Force Video, has recently released a remastered widescreen version of this family favorite. Regrettably, at the time of this writing, I could only find a region free version in Australia, but hopefully a world wide reissue will not be long in the offing. But, as with every upside there's always a downside. And regrettably Force Video's version is no different, because where the image and soundtrack of have been restored to their original glory, the video transfer is little lacking. Not much, but it's there. And even though the disk itself is region free, the information is formatted for PAL-CAM video. Which means you'll be able to watch it outside of Australia (and the U.K.), but only on a high end multimedia display or computer monitor, both of which'll show some of the transfers shortcomings (the image is somewhat jagged around the edges, and the sound fades in and out on the left channel). But even with those limitations, it is by far the absolute best release of this film to date.

Versions to avoid;

1) Platinum Disc Corporation; this fly by night firm cranks out discount DVDs for the sole purpose of grabbing the dollars of the uninformed. Before seeing any DVD at a price that looks too good to be true it's because it's either a pirate or a Platinum Disc issue. And true to form their edition of Shaftel's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is no different. It's merely a dupe to DVD from the old broadcast print. Avoid this one at all costs.

2) Screen Media Films; it's pretty much the same print as Platinum's, but there's a little more footage prior to the film's proper beginning, showing Republic Picture's "Eagle" footage and Gold Key intro. Truth be told this film is about 1% cleaner than Platinum's. It's barely noticeable, but if you're familiar with how films are made, and give both versions a careful screening, you can see where some frames are slightly cleaner than the poor release. In the end it's a wash as both versions are just as bad as the other, though the DVD transfer is marginally better (I guess the company felt that gave them license to say their version was "remastere"; even though it isn't). Avoid this one also.

Screen Media seems to have gone to some effort to get a better authoring of this film (verse it competition), but the film itself still isn't as sharp as it should be. In addition, even though the sound track has been cleaned some, the score still wavers, meaning the track itself has suffered damage (probably during the initial telecine transfer some 30 years ago). Though, for what it's worth, you don't really notice it when the actors are speaking, just when John Barry's hauntingly beautiful score is playing. On the other hand Force Video's version has crisp audio, even though there's still the left channel anomaly I mentioned earlier.

The film itself, staring the then very young and very pretty Fiona Fullerton, tells Lewis Carroll's story, and does so in a very compelling way by immersing the viewer in a surreal world. Showing the audience a world full of wonder from a child's perspective. Fullerton herself, as talented as she is, strikes me as being a bit old for the part. Checking her data shows that she was 16 years old at the time of release, which means she was either 14 or 15 during principle photography. For myself that still seems a bit old for an actress attempting to portray a little girl, but Fullerton's acting ability sells the role to the audience. Combined with a very talented supporting cast the characters are brought to life in a delightful rendition of Carroll's tales. Shot in Todd-AO 35 the film image has a kind of rustic feel to it that adds to the mystery of the world Fullerton's character must discover.

In short, the film itself is very much worth viewing, but if you come across a version that's priced under ten dollars American, then do yourself a favor and check the back of the DVD case. If it isn't presented in widescreen don't waste your time. Wait to find a better version so you can enjoy it with your family :-)

There have been many adaptations of Lewis carol's work. However, I believe this version is the most enjoyable of all. Both children and adults will find this film entertaining. This version has a unique opening/closing envelope. With the ending showing that her dream had actually changed Alice's persona: "from now on I'll be the me I never knew." Unlike Irwin Allen's 1985 version (which amalgamated "Wonderland" and "Looking Glass" together) or the special-effects over-ridden 1999 version, this film takes the best of the Wonderland story and displays it with a richness that is pleasant and memorable. The addition of John Barry's (better known for his score's to the early James Bond films) music only adds to the sense of wonder that we share with Alice in her adventure. The music indeed elevates this version to the status of art in the truest sense rather than just another movie. Heck, it was better than the one Disney came out with -- that should say a lot.

Interesting fact, this film features Micheal Crawford as the WHITE RABBIT. Better known for his roles, Frank Spencer in "Some Mothers do Ave Em" and the Phantom in the stage production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera." A curious footnote on his carrier.

For those who love the Lewis Carroll book, this film version is one to see. Of the many film adaptations of this classic, this 1972 production stays the most faithful to the book. Events happen in the same way, in the same order, and much of the dialog is taken from the book, verbatim. And this really works, as writer Lewis Carroll had a unique way of playing with, and twisting the English language in delightful ways. Fiona Fullerton portrays well, a different kind of Alice here. This Alice is well into her teens, a fact which I thought would sabotage the production; The Alice from Carroll's book was a young child, around 7 or 8 years old. But the gorgeous Fiona Fullerton plays the part with a perfect measure of wonder and innocence, instead of just being an older person foolishly trying to act like a small child. The film has a haunting, dreamlike quality, a certain surreal atmosphere aided by composer John Barry's pretty background score, which is sad and wistful, and dramatic. There are musical sequences in this film, some work better than others to be sure, as this is far from a perfect film. But the songs seem to get better as the film goes along. The thing that really impressed me is the art design, and costume design. The film makers brilliantly designed much of the costumes and landscapes based on those wonderful lithographs that have always accompanied the book. As children, we tend to look to the illustrations to help us get a better idea of how things and people look as we read along. It is quite amazing to see such images come to life, after existing in the imagination for so long. Not all costumes work, as again, this is an uneven production. However certain characters, the King and Queen of hearts, and the Duchess, the cook, the Frog Footman, and of course, Alice herself, dressed in the gorgeous blue dress with white apron;amazing. For instance, watch the scenes with the living cards in the rose garden, and tell me that wasn't how you pictured it while reading the book all those years ago. It is apparent here that the film makers cared a great deal about the material. Perhaps a few scenes fall a little flat, but the good outweighs the bad here, most definitely. Standout scenes, besides the croquet game in the garden, the crazy dance with Alice and the Griffith and the Tortoise, and Peter Seller's funny turn as the March Hare, whose face was mostly covered by his costume, forcing him to utilize his bulging eyes in a sometime s hilarious fashion. Dudley Moore appeared to be drunk as the sleepy dormouse, which I found hilarious as well. The scene where Alice wanders through the dark forest and comes across the bizarre Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum is strange, even a bit scary, especially when the raven comes and the forest turns still darker. Even though Tweedle Dee And Tweedle Dumm are actually from "Through the Looking Glass", this scene fits well into this tale, and is one of the most effective sequences of them all. But my favorite scene has to be where Alice enters the house of the Duchess, where she is bouncing a baby savagely on her knee while the furious cook makes her pepper soup, stopping only to hurl dishes at everyone around her. Absolutely hysterical! Also worthy of mention is the special effects found here. Alice must continually change size, and this looks amazingly real, especially considering that this was made in 1972, long before CGI effects. The unfortunate thing with this title is that there has yet to be an official DVD release. The only available editions on DVD are of extremely bad quality. I am grateful to have any version of this film, but the DVD features colors that are so washed out that at times, the film seems to be black & white. This is a shame, as color is so important here, with sets that are real eye candy. For an idea of what the film looks like, imagine the "Wizard of Oz". The look of "Alice" is very similar to that one. I imagine a restored version with the vibrant colors brought back would be absolutely eye popping to behold. This must have a cult following, and I believe a proper DVD release would be appreciated by many. Recommended for fans of strange cinema!

This adaptation of Lewis Carroll's weird and wonderful book tries hard to do justice to its source, but doesn't quite get there. The music by John Barry is saccharine and unmemorable for the most part; although things do pick up when the Mock Turtle and Gryphon (Michael Hordern and Spike Milligan, inspired casting!) lead Alice in a mad dance.

Young Fiona Fullerton looks the part and sings well - she'd go on to front a number of musicals - but the other characters just stop on the wrong side of odd and scary, making them not frightening in the least. The White Rabbit (Michael Crawford) dashes around, the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse have their odd tea party (Robert Helpmann, Peter Sellers, and Dudley Moore in another highlight of the film), the Duchess's baby turns into a pig (the Duchess is played by Peter Bull, who turned in a number of grotesque female roles in cinema), and the Queen of Hearts orders everyone's heads off (a waste of Flora Robson's talents).

The film needed a bit of imagination to take off (for another interpretation of the creatures, see the 1980s film 'Dreamchild', with horrific creations from Jim Henson's workshop); as it is, it passes the time but has little fizz.