Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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Lenny's description:
1972. British all-star musical (a significant part of the story is expressed through song and sometimes dance) adaptation which is very true to the book, except for the fact that Alice doesn't meet the Cheshire Cat and that Tweedle Dum & Dee are in it.

Musical score by John Barry.

Seller's description:
No Description Available.Genre: Feature Film-DramaRating: GRelease Date: 28-DEC-2004Media Type: DVD

Features:

• This all-star musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll sic tale will delight children and adults alike. Employing virtually every prominent British performer of its time, from pre-Bond girl Fiona Fullerton as Alice and pre-Phantom Michael Crawford as the White Rabbit, to comic luminaries Peter Sellers and Dudley Moore, this magical and intoxicating version explores Alice s dizzying adventures in the ra

Product details:

Item number (ASIN): B0003JAOFY
Actor: Fiona Fullerton, Michael Jayston, Hywel Bennett, Michael Crawford, Davy Kaye
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Brand: GAIAM MEDIA
Category: DVD
Creator: Geoffrey Unsworth, Peter Weatherley, Derek Horne, Josef Shaftel, René Dupont, Lewis Carroll
Director: William Sterling
Format: Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 1417027738
Languages: English
Manufacturer: Screen Media
Number Of Items: 1
Original Release Date: January 1, 1972
Package Dimensions: 60 x 530 x 740 (hundredths-inches)
Package Quantity: 1
Publisher: Screen Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: December 28, 2004
Running Time: 95, minutes
Theatrical Release Date: 1972

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Add your own review!

Curiously awful
Peter Sellers, Michael Crawford, Ralph Richardson, Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan. With names like that, it seems impossible for this film to be unenjoyable. Yet even Peter Sellers is unfunny here. Many fans love this version and swear by it as their favorite, but I'm afraid I can't understand why. The songs by John Barry range from pretty good to downright dreadful, and Fiona Fullerton is certainly one of the most irritating Alices ever cast.

Set design and cinematography are good, but in order to appreciate them you need to find the UK DVD by Oracle, the only release to feature the full, uncropped 2.35:1 image. All region 1 discs are pan-and-scan transfers missing half of the picture.
- by Kirkinson on March 8, 2010

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Rating: - WHIMSICAL, WEIRD AND FAITHFUL TO LEWIS CARROLL's ORIGINAL WONDERLAND
Fiona Fullerton is surrounded by a gallery of British character actors in this 1972 musical film adaptation of "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland." Yes, I will add my voice to the chorus of Amazon customers who rightfully say that the quality of the picture and sound on the DVD release leave much to be desired. The picture on this Screen Media release is clearer than my old VHS copy. Still, this version deserves a quality restoration. Having said that, having this "Alice" on DVD is better than not having it at all; and my review will now focus on the film itself: This version begins on that famous Summer's day in the 1860's when Charles Dodgson/Lewis Carroll (Michael Jayston) took Alice, Lorina, and Edith Liddell on a boat ride on the river. As he begins to tell the story we now know as "Alice In Wonderland", Alice falls asleep. Suddenly, the very real river-bank she was resting on is replaced by an environment of over-sized flowers. Thus, the fantasy begins shortly before Alice falls down the large rabbit-hole. By including this perfect preface scene with Charles Dodgson, director/screenwriter William Sterling clearly shows that his intention is to be faithful to the original book. For the most part, he is successful. Other film-makers have failed to recognize that, while Alice's adventures are a pointed satire on Victorian society, the point of the book is really to have no point at all. Therefore, they force Alice must learn a lesson or, as in the case of Tim Burton's disappointing 2010 film (which disregards Lewis Carroll almost completely) she must go on a life-saving mission. Sterling, on the other hand, is smartly content to let Alice's adventures be whatever they are; or whatever the viewer wants them to be. The film features appropriately surreal/theatrical sets. The tone of the film, like the book, alternates between being whimsical and weird, and murky and nightmarish. Nearly every chapter from the book is included; with the addition of the popular characters Tweedledee and Tweedledum (Frank and Freddie Cox) from the 1872 sequel "Through The Looking-Glass". The film runs 95 minutes, but still drags in spots. The scenes involving the Duchess (Peter Bull) and the Gryphon and The Mock Turtle (Spike Mulligan and Michael Horden) could, and should, have easily been omitted. Fifteen year old Fiona Fullerton makes Alice genuinely curious, and she more than holds her own on screen in a large cast that includes Michael Crawford ("Hello!, Dolly!", "Barnum," "The Phantom Of The Opera"), Ralph Richardson ("Long Day's Journey Into Night"), Robert Helpmann ("The Red Shoes," "Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang"), Peter Sellers ("Lolita," "The Pink Panther"), Dudley Moore ("10", "Arthur", "Santa Claus: The Movie") and Flora Robson ("Fire Over England," "Wuthering Heights"). The songs by John Barry and Don Black (including "Curiouser And Curiouser", "You've Got To Know When", "The Last Word Is Mine", and "The Pun Song") may not find favor with all viewers, but they are completely in keeping with Carroll's whimsical word-play in the book. In the "Curiouser and Curiouser" department, the DVD cover picture shows Alice, seen from behind, as a womanly blonde. In the movie, Fiona Fullerton's Alice is a teen-age brunette. The DVD has NO extras, interactive menus, or booklet.

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Rating: - incredibly bad
I am in a quandry. I don't know which is worse - the bad transfer from a poor film or the so-called music. Both suck. The transfer is from a bad copy of a bad quality film. The music is so insipid I can barely call it music. The people who rated this more than 2 stars must have been smoking, shooting, dropping, or snorting something illegal. Or jerks who have no taste whatsoever. This is one for the trash bin, pure and simple. Do NOT waste your time or taste.

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Rating: - Poor Quality Copy
This was my favorite film version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland until I watched this DVD.:( The music track is especially ruined. Thank goodness I still have the original LP soundtrack.

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Rating: - Second-Generation VHS, or Webcam?
Like many others, I really enjoy this version of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and was really looking forward to seeing this again on DVD. However, this version can hardly be called watchable; in fact, it isn't. It is, without question, the worse video presentation I've ever encountered...with the audio not far behind. I thought I was watching someones videotape as filmed through a webcam! It's THAT bad! VHS videotapes look much better than this. Not only is the resolution less than standard VHS, the movie appears to have been transferred from a second-generation VHS copy that suffered water damage; lots of video noise, flashes, uncountable noise artifacts, you name it. It is unfathomable to me that a company could pass this off to the public and actually ask for money for it. The movie is good, but this DVD is terrible!

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Rating: - Buy an all region DVD player and the UK version
You can tell from the scene of a beautiful rowboat, on an english country stream, with Micheal Jayston (of Casino Royale, and Tinker, Tailor, Solder Spy fame) and Hywel Bennett (also of Tinker,Tailor) commandeared by 3 beautiful young ladies on a beautiful summer day. It becomes dreamlike. John Barry's score is enchanting and strange and dreamlike as well. The songs are short and never drag, but add to the mood, like something you might humm for a minute from a musical as you remember some scene or somebody you love. The sets are JUST RIGHT for the book and very much faithfull to the books original. Enchanting. And with greats of english cinema like Flora Robson, Roy Kinnear (remember "Help" and "I should have been in Vivisection"), Dudley Moore (10, Cook and Moore), Peter Sellers (pink panther,The goons show, Henry Orient), Micheal Hordern, Spike Milligan (The Goons Show, The Three musketeers), Peter Bull (captain of the Louisa in African Queen) on and on. Fiona Fullerton is very beautiful and sings very well and feelingly. But I would say that what dominates is an english sense of the absurd and love of puzzles and John Barry's score. I bought 3 versions (sad I know) of USA released DVD's and they were are garbage. I liked them in a way because the 4x3 blurry representation kind of felt dreamlike in a way. But when I bought the UK released widescreen version which is fairly clean and does show the very widescreen film version I was quit happy. Well the $100 USD DVD player I just bought at Walmart if very basic (cannot remember where it was on two DVD's and fails to talk to the TV without prodding) it does play all regions and so plays this (I thought I would only play on my laptop) at 720p (upscaled). This version will fade before the 2010 release, but will come back in 3 years to crush it into non-existance. Why is a story book still so good for children and adults? Because it has been perfected over 6000 years. Do you know what a doormouse is? It is large like a small squirrel. It has a long bushy tail. It has large eyes for night and you see it sleeping in the eves in Europe. But you cannot know. Why is CGI awful, because it is perfect for 13 year old boys and men who have minds that cannot grow further. I work with computers but I do not want them telling me stories. Great sense of the material, great actors, enchanting music, intelligence will win over cartoons every time.

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