Alice in Wonderland (1966)

A fascinatingly, surreal and psychedelic version of the Alice in Wonderland story. Shot in a Gothic black and white style, the cinematography is very well done and still holds up 50 years later. The cast is very very good, particularly Anne-Marie Malik in her one and only role of Alice. She's petulant and outspoken, but also very reserved and examining. She's adorable, and her delivery of lines add to the dreamlike quality of the movie. She makes the whole movie worth watching.Filmed as a TV play it's surprisingly well made, thank the BBC for that, they do some exceptional work. Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland is worth viewing if you can find it.

Carroll's two Alice books are among the greatest works ever written in the English language. Their perfection is only accessible to the intellectually enlightened, and not always to them. Miller probably considers himself one of these elected ones, but I wonder. His version is interesting, praise-worthy for making you, me and a few others think, but I honestly suspect he hasn't got the full story.This (mostly) first Carroll book is about how an intelligent, growing child begins to encounter the reality of the nasty and irrational adult world. Starting, like the Count of Monte Cristo, with a birth trauma, which is not a dream but more of a nightmare, the child is ejected into this unpleasant place, via its passage through amniotic fluid. It gives itself the prize of the thimble of life. Its staccato physical growth, both embryonic and post-birth, is accurately reflected --- the caterpillar is a perfect personification of metamorphosis --- as are its subsequent meetings with the enigmas of adult laws, punishments and regulations, the bullying, uglification and derision of mankind; the peremptoriness of authority, and its penchant for hypocritical and homiletic moralising. The book also probes time and space, but not as deeply as its wonderful sequel, Looking-Glass, which actually impresses me even more The final conclusion, in Carroll's original, is that human society is merely nothing but a house of cards, as any mature intellect will recognise, sooner or later. Jonathan leaves this out, and he shouldn't have. But I'll give him eight stars, anyway. Ms Maxwell-Muller was known to me.Miller doesn't seem to have fully cottoned on to my indubitably correct understanding of the work, and dithers about, in the persona of Ms Mallik, supposing it all to be a dream. It isn't a dream, except in the sense, as we are recently informed, that life as we know it is merely the figment of some alien person's imagination. Namely, the red king's. It's his dream, not ours. Carroll fully realised that our universe is an early numerical simulation with unimproved Wilson fermion discretization, but he was not able, in his time, to investigate potentially-observable consequences.There are the usual comments by the usual nitwits about the "budget" spent on this effort. Good work has totally nothing whatever to do with "budget". The only "budget" needed by genius is a pencil and paper, set in motion by a brain. It seems incredible that there actually are people reviewing this film who have never read the book.

Does anyone know where or how I can get this Soundtrack? I love it, but can't find it on any Ravi Shankar compilation albums. If you can tell me where to find it then I will be infinitely grateful! And I will love you even more if you email me the answer to my yahoo account...it is [email protected]..... thanks! p.s. I am a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland in general and this is by far one of the best adaptations (along with jan svankmajer's "Alice") because it gives the impression that maybe alice is the one who is going insane rather than everyone around her. The cinematography is beautifully done, and the music is perfect...not to mention there is a wonderful cast. I believe that this is suitable for children, but is very much made made for adults. It is a work of art!

Most versions of Alice in Wonderland involve bratty little girls running round a brightly coloured world inhabited by clichéd characters that sing irritating songs, and the film usually has a moral of some sort. The book has been very Americanised. But not this version.What attracted me most was the way the film was shot. It was filmed on a wide angle lens, which beautifully distorts characters' faces. The scenes in which Alice drinks the 'Drink Me' bottle are cleverly done, with the wide angle lens allowing barely any need to change furniture size.Also as good is the fact the characters (The White Rabbit, The Dodo, The March Hare) do not wear any face masks or prosthetics. Instead, they are simply dressed in Victorian clothing, which allows the actors to make full use of their acting abilities.The film consists of long sequences of silence, reflecting that of an endless boring summers day. As well as this, the actors always stare off into space whenever not doing anything which gives a feeling of an old photograph.The actors are quality. The Mad Hatter's Tea Party and the Court scene are simply wonderful, with Peter Cook as the absurd Hatter and Peter Sellers as an excellent King of Hearts.Overall, this is the best version of Wonderland that's been made, in my opinion. I highly recommend it to all fans of the book.