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Alice in Wonderland |  | Director: Jonathan Miller
Actors: Peter Sellers, John Gielgud, Michael Redgrave, Wilfrid Brambell, Peter Cook
Studio: BBC Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $8.95
as of 9/10/2010 16:04 EDT details
You Save: $6.03 (40%)
New (32) Used (5) from $7.99
Seller: moviemars
Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 18279
Format: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: WARDE115932D
UPC: 883929099542
EAN: 0883929099542
ASIN: B002VXEC26
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/02/2010
Amazon.com
Fans of Lewis Carroll's classic novel for children will be fascinated by this startling 1966 interpretation by Jonathan Miller, a noted British theater director. Influenced by surrealism and Victorian architecture, Miller's black-and-white version of Wonderland is a dour and creepy place, not the frenetic and charming bustle usually depicted. A brunette Alice (Anne-Marie Mallik) wanders like a sleepwalker, rarely looking anyone in the eye, and has fractured conversations with the likes of the Mad Hatter (Peter Cook, Bedazzled), the Caterpillar (Sir Michael Redgrave, The Lady Vanishes), the Duchess (Leo McKern, Rumpole of the Bailey), and the Mock Turtle (Sir John Gielgud, Brideshead Revisited, Arthur). The result is probably an accurate picture of the adult world seen through a child's eyes--an unsettling and intriguing vision. Also featuring Peter Sellers as the King of Hearts and music by Ravi Shankar. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 32
 A worthwhile package June 18, 2010
J. Hagerty (Livermore, CA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I really vacillated over whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. I've watched the film twice now (with and without the director commentary) and I can say that I do not fall into the "this film is genius" camp. What pushed it into four stars was the bonus features: the 1903 Hepworth version and the "Alice" docudrama (more about that in a bit). I should add that I did not buy this through Amazon, and apparently some of the reviewers who did got a disc that was not the Miller movie.
Never having seen the film before, I found it too much a product of its time. Much like Austin Powers (the character, not the films) it's frozen in the '60s. The Ravi Shankar music, Alice walking around in a drug-addled like haze, the long straight hair parted in the middle, my sustained impression was that this was the "flower power" Alice and it just seemed incredibly dated. The croquet match sequence reminded me more than a little of the grape-stomping scene in Frankenheimer's "Seconds" (which came out the same year).
After watching it the second time with the director's commentary turned on, I can see that I wasn't too far off. It's amazing how close some of the hippie/flower child counterculture values of the '60s matched the Victorian satire of exactly 100 years earlier. I don't agree at all with Miller's choice for Alice. Listening to how he chose her seems like he had a creepily Dodgson-like infatuation with the actress. He put a casting notice in the local papers and received hundreds of photographs of young girls hoping to get the part. Apparently, after he saw Ann-Marie's photograph he never even called in a second candidate. Whatever he saw in her didn't translate to the screen, at least not for me. I know she was supposed to be a detached, dream-like observer, but to me she came across as almost catatonic. There was no interaction at all with any of the characters (you do interact in your dreams at times), and her delivery of lines was so deadly wooden that it was like a script girl doing the read-back for other actors to play off of.
I will give props to all of the famous actors who appeared for apparently a pittance. Their performances were, while understated, the best parts of the film...once you got used to the lack of costume. As others have said, you have to know the story going in to know what's going on.
About those bonus features. The reason I bought this is that, as a huge Tim Burton fan I had recently picked up his new "Alice" film (I missed it in the theaters). After watching it, I pulled out my musty VHS copy of "Dreamchild" for a viewing with my wife and daughter. I got this disc since it looked like an interesting counterpoint to that film, especially when I noticed that it had its own Dodgson/Alice Liddell docudrama included. As I watched it, I was astonished to find that most of the set pieces were IDENTICAL to the flashback scenes in "Dreamchild." Checking the credits, I was not surprised to find that Dennis Potter was the writer on both of them. Also, as a silent film buff, the inclusion of the 1903 version was almost worth the price of the disc by itself! I'm sure that with the digital processing techniques available today that some of the horrible degradation of the nitrate print can be repaired. One can dream.
Alice, the BBC play, is the real treat here June 2, 2010
Steven Annan (lake tahoe, CA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This version of AIW movie was beautifully hallucinogenic and beautifully photographed in B&W, the music by Ravi Shankar was wonderful and there were some standout performances, especially Peter Cook's as the Mad Hatter. Overall, however, a kind of dry and emotionless atmosphere prevailed, oddly bleak against all the silliness and merriment of Carroll's words. This was brought to the fore by the incredibly detatched, emotionless performance of Anne-Marie Mallik as Alice. So it gets only 3 stars.
The play Alice (written by Dennis Potter & directed by Gareth Davies), on the dvd as an extra, gets 5 stars however and is well worth the price of the dvd. (The 1985 film Dreamchild is really a remake, somewhat re-imagined, of Alice.) It's presented as it was broadcast on BBC and it is brilliant. The play is full of emotion. The character of Dodgson/Carroll is brilliantly portrayed and his intentions regarding Alice are left to the viewer to sort out. He appeared to have a kind of childlike innocence about him (as befitting the creator of the fantastic book) yet some, particularly Alice's mother, were deeply suspicious of his motives. Anyway, it's a great play/movie, a must-see.
 TOO DARK AND DEPRESSING - NOT FUN AT ALL May 30, 2010
M. Miller (Arlington, VA USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I love the traditional fun and whimsical ALICE. I've always loved the colorful and fantasy characters and cool scenes. This version is super dark and spooky. Very strange! TAKE A PASS ON THIS ONE!!!!!!!
NOT the Miller May 2, 2010
J. Drayton (Brisbane QLD Australia)
Caveat emptor: as others have note this does NOT include the Jonathan Miller masterpiece, despite Amazon's misleading product review.
It does include a couple of rare and frankly forgettable early adaptations and the fairly sweet big budget John Barry musical, but all of these have been appallingly transferred and feature the company's logo obtrusively on screen throughout.
It's cheap, so I can't be bothered sending it back. I guess that's a positive...
 Peter Cook Is The Best Hatter By Far! April 17, 2010
Dean Richards (CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the most intelligent of all the 'Alice' adaptations. Even though it was filmed for BBC TV, it was filmed in 35mm B&W,using deep focus, wide-angle cinematography. A technology usually associated with theatrical feature films. The result is the best cinematography of all the 'Alice' films.
The musical score by Ravi Shankar is hypnotic and mesmerizing. Jonathan Miller's direction is daft and subtle and calls to mind the offbeat films of Richard Lester at that period.
And the mad tea party. It's the best and most subtle of all the Hatter tea parties on film. It's truly mad and crazy, and it's done without special effect gimmicks or cute little songs.Peter Cook is the best of all the Hatters I've seen and I've seen over a dozen in just film alone. He is truly mad. Not a cute,sweet mad like Johnny Depp, but a disturbing and real sort of mad.
This film is a great adaptation and a beautiful work of cinema.
James(the 'Alice' fan)
Dean just has the account
Showing reviews 1-5 of 32
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