ALICE IN WONDERLAND has been adapted into
film and for TV several times. The 1966 BBC TV version has the feeling
of a long hot summer day that won’t end. Imagine if you cast recently released
inmates from a Victorian Insane Asylum and threw a confused young girl in the middle of it.
Those are the feelings I get from watching this dreamlike cocktail of madness.
Alice
has wild hair. She wanders through Wonderland as she tries to understand it.
The
BBC production is one of the more faithful productions. It doesn’t focus
on people being dressed up in animal costumes. The actors bring the characters
to life. The cast includes Peter Sellers, Leo McKern, Peter Cook, Sir Michael
Redgrave, and Sir John Gielgud. BBC productions over the years featured
a high caliber of actors who also appeared on stage and on the movie screen. The
BBC take on the tale filmed in 1966 is one of the more surreal and it leaves an atmosphere that haunts you long after you
watched it.
SPECIAL FETAURES:
Director Jonathan Miller provides an audio
commentary for the 1966 TV version. Other extras on the set include a featurette
that shows Ravi Shankar creating the music for this production (the same music that adds to the haunted aspect of the tale),
an interesting eight minute silent film adaptation of Alice In Wonderland from 1903 (with optional audio commentary), a behind-the-scenes
photo gallery from renowed photographer Terence Spencer, and a 1965 biopic- Alice- written by the late and great Dennis Potter. The Alice biopic focuses on the real Alice
Liddell, who was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
FINAL ANALYSIS: The 1966 version
of ALICE IN WONDERLAND is one of the most haunting and surreal takes on the classic story.
this DVD review is (c)5-19-2010 David Blackwell
and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
