Alice in Wonderland (1951)
My March Blind Spot Series Pick was Alice in Wonderland. It’s of course the famous tale of the girl who falls down a rabbit hole and into Wonderland. Much as I love the story (and wonder who goes around sticking their heads down holes?) I’ve never seen this version.
And to be honest there’s not much to say about it. It’s pretty straight forward Wonderland.
I really enjoyed the beginning- including her trip to Wonderland the door and all that and the game at the end when the Queen of Hearts finally graces us with her presence. I also couldn’t really get into the music but that’s me. I did love Alice and think they captured her very well.
I also think it holds up well in terms of animation. I found it very colorful and pretty too look at. In fact in sheer color terms I think I might have found it more colorful than The Little Mermaid. So while I’m split on it Alice is a fast film at only an hour and fifteen minutes so it might be worth it if you want to check out the older animation.
One reason I was inspired to watch the film was a couple weeks back I read the John Logan play Peter & Alice and that has stuck with me.
They play imagines a meeting meeting Peter Davis and Alice Hargreaves in the early 1930’s. (They were played on stage by Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw if you want to get an idea of their ages during the play. It’s a short play about a lot of things including art, childhood, being a muse, growing up and growing old and even what happens when other people realize that even Alice and Peter grew up. And their lives were not fairy tales.
It’s a clash between reality and adulthood and fantasy and two of the most famous children’s book characters. I found it fascinating with a lot of think about and would recommend giving it a read.
Though it is in script format for a play and I know some people don’t like reading plays. If it’s not something that bothers you I’d recommend picking up the play & then watch the film (or a film version) it can remind you no matter how old you get the possibility of Wonderland is timeless.