Not your father’s AIW could easily have described this version when it first appeared in 1966 and it can still be used to describe it over 50 years later. There’s no two ways about it, people either love or hate this adaptation by Jonathan Miller (read some of the other reviews) and it’s easy to see why it generates this kind of reaction. The film is a TV movie in black and white, not light and shadow b&w but basic monochrome b&w like an early silent film. None of the actors wear any kind of traditional ALICE make-up or costumes although they wear Victorian clothes from Lewis Carroll’s time.
The character of Alice goes through the film in a dreamlike state rarely interacting with the others which renders it very impersonal for some and it is “veddy, veddy British” so much so that it wasn’t seen outside of England for many years. It is only now being given a wider release (it first appeared on DVD in 2003) to cash in on the Tim Burton movie (just like other versions of ALICE hoping to make a buck or two).
As an unapologetic Anglophile and a child of the 1960s, I thoroughly enjoyed this ALICE. It has a dream cast of actors from Peter Cook to Michael Redgrave to Peter Sellers with horror fan fave Michael Gough thrown in for good measure and you haven’t lived until you see Leo McKern (RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY) in drag playing the Duchess. The Indian soundtrack by Ravi Shankar helps to give it an otherworldly feel while rooting it firmly in the time in which it was made. Director Jonathan Miller gives an insightful commentary on what he was attempting to do which helps immensely after you have seen it but won’t necessarily persuade you if really don’t like the film.
Not as bizarre as Jan Svankmajer’s ALICE and miles away from the Disney animated version, it should appeal to Alice fans who are looking for something different or as an opportunity to see a once in a lifetime assembly of top British talent delivering Carroll’s prose as only they can. The DVD also comes with Cecil Hepworth’s 1903 version as an added bonus. Being a silent film specialist, that is why I bought it in the first place.
The Capsule Critic 