Alice in Wonderland (1933)
Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of an imaginative girl in 19th century
England got an all-star treatment in Paramount’s 1933 version of Alice in Wonderland.
W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Edna May Oliver, William Austin,
Sterling Holloway, Jack Oakie and others appeared as the fantastical
characters encountered by Alice in her journey through the looking
glass. The movie actually combined two Carroll novels, Alice in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass.
An imaginative and adventuresome girl, young Alice discovers that
her library mirror is a portal to another world. She encounters a
perpetually-late White Rabbit, a dodo, a caterpillar, the confusing
Cheshire Cat and others as she tries to make sense of this strange new
place. There isn't much sense to be found as Alice attends a wacky tea
party with the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse, then meets
the Queen of Hearts.
The film breaks into animation when twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee
recite the poem, “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” Giant egg Humpty
Dumpty relates another of Carroll’s poems, “Jabberwocky,” then falls
off and shatters. Naturally, the poor White Knight can’t put Humpty
together again. Before she even knows what's going on, Alice becomes a
queen, enrages the Red Queen, and needs to find a way back home before
the angry Queen exacts her vengeance.
Just as important as the star-studded cast to the film's success
was the splendid art direction of William Cameron Menzies (who also
co-wrote the screenplay), faithfully transposing storybook drawings
into a live-action setting. The fantastic sets and costumes captured
the imaginations of moviegoers, as Alice in Wonderland set the standard for every adaptation of Carroll's classic that followed.
|
 |
| 
