Alice in Wonderland is a 1903 British silent film directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow. Only one copy of the original film is known to exist. The British Film Institute (BFI) partially restored the movie and its original film tinting and released it in 2010. According to BFI, the original film ran about 12 minutes; the restoration runs 9 minutes and 35 seconds. At the beginning of the restoration, it states that this is the first movie adaptation of Lewis Carroll's children's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The film is memorable for its use of special effects, including Alice's shrinking in the Hall of Many Doors, and in her large size, stuck inside of White Rabbit's home, reaching for help through a window.
It is now available from several sources, and is included as a bonus feature on a 1996 BBC DVD. It is also included in the Vintage Cinema: Experiments in early film 1900s DVD.
Video Alice in Wonderland (1903 film)
Plot
Alice follows a large white rabbit down a "Rabbit-hole". She finds a tiny door. When she finds a bottle labeled "Drink me", she does, and shrinks, but not enough to pass through the door. She then eats something labeled "Eat me" and grows larger. She finds a fan when enables her to shrink enough to get into the "Garden" and try to get a "Dog" to play with her. She enters the "White Rabbit's tiny House," but suddenly resumes her normal size. In order to get out, she has to use the "magic fan."
She enters a kitchen, in which there is a cook and a woman holding a baby. She persuades the woman to give her the child and takes the infant outside after the cook starts throwing things around. The baby then turns into a pig and squirms out of her grip. "The Duchess's Cheshire Cat" appears and disappears a couple of times to Alice and directs her to the Mad Hatter's "Mad Tea-Party." After a while, she leaves.
The Queen invites Alice to join the "ROYAL PROCESSION": a parade of marching playing cards and others headed by the White Rabbit. When Alice "unintentionally offends the Queen", the latter summons the "Executioner". Alice "boxes the ears", then flees when all the playing cards come for her. Then she wakes up and realizes it was all a dream.
Maps Alice in Wonderland (1903 film)
Cast
- Alice: May Clark
- Frog: Cecil M. Hepworth
- White Rabbit / Queen of Hearts: Mrs. Margaret Hepworth
- Mad Hatter / Fish: Norman Whitten
- Playing Card: Geoffrey Faithfull
- Playing Card: Stanley Faithfull
The cast also includes a large number of child actors as playing cards.
References
Further reading
- Film History, an introduction (3rd ed.), Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell
- The British Film Catalogue 1895-1970: A Guide to Entertainment Films (1973), Dennis Gifford. Newton Abbot, England: David & Charles Ed.
- Alice in Wonderland 1903 Music by Rodrigo Favela http://vimeo.com/7034619
External links
- Alice in Wonderland on IMDb
- Alice in Wonderland at silentera.com; the full movie can be viewed here (9 minutes, 32 seconds long). The film can also be viewed at the BFI Screenonline site, but only by subscribers; it states the duration is 9 minutes and 35 seconds.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments