"The Wednesday Play" Alice in Wonderland (1966)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Jonathan Miller

Writer:

Lewis Carroll (novel)

TV Series:

"The Wednesday Play" (1964)

Original Air Date:

28 December 1966

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Queen | Eagle | Dodo | Duchess | Caterpillar

Cast

Anne-Marie Mallik	...	Alice
Freda Dowie	...	Nurse
Jo Maxwell Muller	...	Alice's Sister (as Jo Maxwell-Muller)
Wilfrid Brambell	...	White Rabbit
Alan Bennett	...	Mouse
Finlay Currie	...	Dodo
Geoffrey Dunn	...	Lory
Mark Allington	...	Duck
Nicholas Evans	...	Eaglet
Julian Jebb	...	Young Crab
Michael Redgrave	...	Caterpillar (as Sir Michael Redgrave)
John Bird	...	Frog Footman
Anthony Trent	...	Fish Footman / 2nd Gardener (as Tony Trent)
Leo McKern	...	Duchess
Avril Elgar	...	Peppercook

Runtime:

72 min (25 fps)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the Mock Turtle is singing, the sound does not match up with his lip movements.

Movie Connections:

Version of Alice in Wonderland (1931)

A surreal BBC "Wednesday Play"

This is an experimental TV-movie from the BBC's "Wednesday Play" anthology. That series was always willing to risk trying something different, and this ambitious, low-budget "Alice" is certainly different. I don't exactly *enjoy* this film, but it's certainly fascinating.

I appreciate it as an experiment in what television could do. I admire the cast of iconic and talented Britons who wouldn't normally coincide in the same project: Peter Sellers, John Gielgud, Leo McKern (in drag as the Duchess), Michael Redgrave, Peter Cook, Wilfrid Brambell, Alan Bennett, Malcolm Muggeridge, etc.

I also admire the creativity it took to imagine this quintessentially British tale accompanied by Ravi Shankar music.

Some viewers may find the film too creepy and surreal, but the original book is pretty disturbing to begin with. (It's easy to forget that if you only think of the Disney cartoon.) This film is fairly incoherent, but then so is the book, which follows the ever-shifting logic of a dream.

The biggest problem (aside from pacing that now seems too leisurely) is that Miller's production assumes you already know what's going on. For instance, it assumes you know that the two men dressed as... um... men are actually the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle.

In other words, this is an "Alice" for people who are already overdosed on adaptations of "Alice," and who might appreciate a weirdly different take on the familiar story. Or to narrow that audience a bit, people age 12 and up who might appreciate a different take on the story.