|
|
|
                  
|
|
Cast: Charlotte Henry, W.C. Fields, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Edna May Oliver, William Austin, Sterling Holloway, Jack Oakie, Edward Everett Horton, Richard Arlen, Charles Ruggles, Baby LeRoy, May Robson, Ned Sparks
Running Time: 76 mins.
Vault: FEATURES
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 -- 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.
|
|
|
