Alice In Wonderland (DVD 2003)

This is certainly one of the weirder takes on Alice in Wonderland.

Don't expect to see any actors in tacky animal outfits or jazzy settings of the songs.

Instead... well, imagine a young girl in the late 1800's who has just read ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Then she falls asleep. This film could be her dream. Instead of caterpillars and griffins, you get the various crusty academics, ecclesiastics, maids and governesses who inhabit her waking life.
(Played, incidentally, by a superb cast).

AS a lifelong fan of Lewis Carroll, part of me feels that I should passionately hate this interpretation - but oddly, I think it's my favourite of all the screen versions.

Everything is disjointed and dreamlike. In most of the scenes, Alice is staring off camera, away from what's happening. This sullen, wild-haired girl goes through the story in what looks like a state of total disinterest. When she speaks, it's in a sulky flat-toned voice.

If you're a fan of the Alice story, I don't think you'll feel neutral about this film. You may hate it, or you may love it (perhaps, like me, you may love it without quite knowing why!)

In any case, it's something you should really see at least once.

Personally, I rented it, thought about it for a few days, then decided that I had to have my own copy

"Life, what is it but a dream?" This version of ALICE captures that feeling more than any other I've yet seen. I think, ultimately, that's why it works for me.

I had seen this production in the 1980s and was impressed by the brooding dream-like quality of the film. It has the same disturbing and disturbed quality the book has, reinforced by being made in black and white. There's a background hum of menace throughout. It very much feels like one of those dreams you are relieved to wake from.
The performances are excellent and this film should be seen by anyone who likes more than a few visceral thrills from a movie.

The fact is that it's a television film from the 1960s though so don't expect lavish sets or special effects. It stands on its intellectual merits.