A Mad Tea Party and the Queen's Croquet Ground
- Episode aired Apr 16, 1985
- 20m
YOUR RATING
Photos
Michael Bentine
- March Hare
- (voice)
Paul Eddington
- White Rabbit
- (voice)
Jon Glover
- Gardeners
- (voice)
- …
Royce Mills
- Dormouse
- (voice)
Eric Sykes
- Mad Hatter
- (voice)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
Chapter 4
With 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', one of my favourites, have always loved the oddball atmosphere, the colourful scenarios and characters, its themes and Lewis Carroll's prose, with its logic, paradoxes and use of poetry. Didn't even notice the episodic structure as a child being instead too entranced in the scenarios and characters, and didn't care also for the same reason that the story doesn't really go anywhere far.
Due to it being hard to make Alice interesting (the Wonderland characters have always struck me as far more memorable in personality), that the book is a series of events and can be criticised for not going anywhere and the creative yet complicated language/prose, adapting 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' isn't easy but is hardly unfilmable. As said already on the most part, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', 'Through the Looking Glass' also, has been laudably adapted, most are not 100 percent faithful adaptations but as someone who always tries to something on its own merits most don't fare too shabbily. There are a few average or below versions, especially the atrocious Video Brinquedo version, but most are enjoyable, though have yet to see a "perfect" one.
This version deserves to be better known and it doesn't deserve to be near-obscure when it is better than quite a lot of its competition. It may not be my favourite 'Alice in Wonderland' version and it is not perfect by any stretch, but it is one that stuck in my mind and really fascinated and engaged me. It is one of the most faithful adaptations too, without being too faithful or wordy.
Like before, this fourth and penultimate episode has a huge amount to like and doesn't disappoint. It is not as visually refined as the third episode, with it featuring some of the crudest puppetry of the adaptation, but despite that it is one of the better faring parts due to it having two of the book's best sequences and some of its most colourful characters.
As said, not all the puppetry/looks of the characters is great. The queen of hearts is particularly restricted in movement and expression, plus the ugliness is taken to extremities.
Just as problematic is the Mad Hatter, who looks crude and the puppetry is at its most obvious with his character.
However, again there is still a good deal to admire on a visual and technical level. The creativity is there and some of the movement, like for the March Hare, is smoother. The cleverest touch though is for the Cheshire Cat. As picturesque as the tea party looked and the hallway was suitably mysterious, the most striking was for the Queen's garden for "The Queen's Croquet Ground", making one wish they were there, and the Croquet scene is like the pages of the book come to life. Still love the opening live action scene detailing the book's origins, lovely to watch and quite charming.
Music has a lovely understated whimsy, while the dialogue flows naturally with Carroll's writing shining wonderfully (the writing in the live-action bookend scenes with its telling-a-story device similarly charms). Some of Carroll's best ever and cleverest writing is in "A Mad Tea Party" and that is the case here. This part was so much fun to watch and the better of the two chapters focused upon. A lot is covered here and it doesn't feel cluttered for such a short running time, just over 20 minutes, while it doesn't feel dull.
The more Alice grows as a character, the more Giselle Andrews became more comfortable with the role and that is obvious here. Paul Eddington has the White Rabbit's twitchiness and nervousness down pat, Michael Bentine is even funnier here as March Hare and Leslie Crowther is a sly Cheshire Cat. Most memorable is Joan Sanderson, making the Queen of Hearts a real battleaxe of a character, not subtle but the character is the complete anti-thesis of that and is meant to be intimidating, a trait that Sanderson embodies.
Overall, doesn't disappoint. 8/10
Due to it being hard to make Alice interesting (the Wonderland characters have always struck me as far more memorable in personality), that the book is a series of events and can be criticised for not going anywhere and the creative yet complicated language/prose, adapting 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' isn't easy but is hardly unfilmable. As said already on the most part, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', 'Through the Looking Glass' also, has been laudably adapted, most are not 100 percent faithful adaptations but as someone who always tries to something on its own merits most don't fare too shabbily. There are a few average or below versions, especially the atrocious Video Brinquedo version, but most are enjoyable, though have yet to see a "perfect" one.
This version deserves to be better known and it doesn't deserve to be near-obscure when it is better than quite a lot of its competition. It may not be my favourite 'Alice in Wonderland' version and it is not perfect by any stretch, but it is one that stuck in my mind and really fascinated and engaged me. It is one of the most faithful adaptations too, without being too faithful or wordy.
Like before, this fourth and penultimate episode has a huge amount to like and doesn't disappoint. It is not as visually refined as the third episode, with it featuring some of the crudest puppetry of the adaptation, but despite that it is one of the better faring parts due to it having two of the book's best sequences and some of its most colourful characters.
As said, not all the puppetry/looks of the characters is great. The queen of hearts is particularly restricted in movement and expression, plus the ugliness is taken to extremities.
Just as problematic is the Mad Hatter, who looks crude and the puppetry is at its most obvious with his character.
However, again there is still a good deal to admire on a visual and technical level. The creativity is there and some of the movement, like for the March Hare, is smoother. The cleverest touch though is for the Cheshire Cat. As picturesque as the tea party looked and the hallway was suitably mysterious, the most striking was for the Queen's garden for "The Queen's Croquet Ground", making one wish they were there, and the Croquet scene is like the pages of the book come to life. Still love the opening live action scene detailing the book's origins, lovely to watch and quite charming.
Music has a lovely understated whimsy, while the dialogue flows naturally with Carroll's writing shining wonderfully (the writing in the live-action bookend scenes with its telling-a-story device similarly charms). Some of Carroll's best ever and cleverest writing is in "A Mad Tea Party" and that is the case here. This part was so much fun to watch and the better of the two chapters focused upon. A lot is covered here and it doesn't feel cluttered for such a short running time, just over 20 minutes, while it doesn't feel dull.
The more Alice grows as a character, the more Giselle Andrews became more comfortable with the role and that is obvious here. Paul Eddington has the White Rabbit's twitchiness and nervousness down pat, Michael Bentine is even funnier here as March Hare and Leslie Crowther is a sly Cheshire Cat. Most memorable is Joan Sanderson, making the Queen of Hearts a real battleaxe of a character, not subtle but the character is the complete anti-thesis of that and is meant to be intimidating, a trait that Sanderson embodies.
Overall, doesn't disappoint. 8/10
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Mar 26, 2019
Details
- Runtime20 minutes
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