Alice in Wonderland is a 1985 American two-part made-for-television adventure family fantasy musical film of Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). An Irwin Allen production, it used a huge all-star cast of notable actors and actresses. The title role was played by Natalie Gregory, who wore a blonde wig for this miniseries. Alice in Wonderland was first telecast December 9, 1985, (part one) and December 10, 1985 (part two), at 8:00pm EST on CBS.
It was filmed in Los Angeles at the MGM Studios (now known as Sony Pictures Studios) in Culver City over a 55-day period from March 12, 1985, to May 28 of that same year. Additional filming took place at Malibu Beach for the oysters scene, and establishing shots of Alice's house took place at the S. S. Hinds Estate, also in the Los Angeles area. [1]
After helping her mother set the table for tea time, Alice goes outside to see her sister and play with her kitten, Dinah. The White Rabbit comes running by, saying he's late. Wondering where he is going, Alice follows him and tumbles into his hole.
Alice finds herself in a hall with many doors, all of them locked. On a table is a key which she can use to open one small door. A small bottle appears labeled "Drink Me." By drinking from the bottle, she shrinks to the right size for the door, but can no longer reach the key to open it. She then eats a little cake, which makes her grow to over nine feet tall. Frustrated, Alice begins to cry. The White Rabbit appears, but frightened of the giant Alice, runs away, dropping his fan and gloves. Using the fan makes Alice shrink again, which takes her diving in her pool of tears, where she meets The Lory Bird, The Dodo Bird and the Mouse, who tells her why he hates dogs and cats ("I Hate Dogs and Cats").
The White Rabbit mistakes Alice for his housemaid Mary Ann and orders her to go get his fan and gloves from his house. While searching his house, Alice finds another "Drink Me" bottle, which makes her grow to nine feet tall once again. Angry at Alice, the rabbit and his butler Pat the Guinea Pig begin throwing berries at her, which turn into little cakes. She eats one and shrinks to back to size. After running away, she meets the Caterpillar who tells her the story "You are Old, Father William". She then meets The Duchess and her cook; the Cheshire Cat, who tells her "There's No Way Home"; and the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse having an outdoor tea party ("Laugh"). Alice runs off back on her quest for the White Rabbit, and meets a baby fawn in the forest, the only normal thing she's seen so far ("Why Do People Act as If They're Crazy?").
Alice stumbles upon a doorway that leads to the rose garden of the Queen of Hearts, who always yells "Off with her Head!" She leaves to visit the Gryphon and Mock Turtle ("Nonsense"), but then she is called to attend the trial of the Knave of Hearts, who is accused of having stolen The Queen's tarts. Alice stands up to the Queen and is forced to flee the court. She trips and falls and finds herself back home.
Alice runs inside, only to discover herself trapped on the other side of the mirror. She notices a large book next to her and starts reading a poem called Jabberwocky about a scary monster, a dragon called the Jabberwock. The lights go out, and the Jabberwock appears in the house.
The Jabberwock disappears as Alice hides behind the chessboard, knocking it over. As she places the pieces back on the table, she realizes they are all alive, but can't hear her. Desperate for a clue, Alice looks around the room and sees a painting of an Owl, which comes to life and explains that the Jabberwock is a creation of Alice's own childish fears, which she must overcome in order with the courage to return to the real world.
Alice has an interesting conversation with some talking flowers and meets The Red Queen from the chess set, now human-sized. The Red Queen tells Alice that she is now a pawn in a giant game of chess. Once Alice reaches the eighth square to become a queen, she can go home. She boards a train to the fourth square, where she meets the gnat and then Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who teach her the proper way to "Shake Hands" and sing the story of "The Walrus and the Carpenter". She meets The White Queen ("Jam Tomorrow, Jam Yesterday") and Humpty Dumpty. The Jabberwock appears again and knocks Humpty Dumpty off of his wall.
Alice meets The White King and his messenger, who bring Alice to see "The Lion and the Unicorn" as they fight for the crown. The Lion and the Unicorn call a temporary truce and Alice hands out a tray of Looking-Glass Cake, which must be passed around first, then cut after. She is captured by the Red Knight and rescued by the White Knight, who sings and dances her all the way to the eighth square ("We are Dancing"). She meets up with the Red Queen and White Queen, who have a few "Queenly" tests ("Can You do Addition") and some words of wisdom for her ("Emotions"). The White Queen falls asleep on Alice's lap and the Red Queen sings her a lullaby ("Hush-a-bye Lady"). Alice finds her way to her castle, where a great feast has been set in her honor ("To the Looking-Glass World").
A present is brought to her, out of which comes The Jabberwock. The Owl tells her to act brave. Alice finds her way back to the mirror and into her home, where she confronts The Jabberwock, telling him that he is just in her imagination and that she does not believe in him. In a billow of smoke and lightning, the Jabberwock disappears. Alice slumps into a chair and is woken up by her Mother calling Alice to tea. When Alice heads upstairs to change for tea, she sees her Wonderland family in the mirror, and they bid farewell to her ("Alice").
In order of appearance.
Part 1 – Alice in Wonderland
| Part 2 – Through The Looking-Glass
|
(All Musical Numbers composed by Steve Allen )
Part 1 – Alice in Wonderland
| Part 2 – Alice Through The Looking-Glass
|
The miniseries was a modest success during its original airing. Out of 71 shows, part 1 ranked at 13, and came in at 21.2 points out of a 31-point share. Part 2 ranked at 35, and came in at 16.8 points out of a 25-point share. In total, the miniseries averaged 19 points out of a 28-point share. Part 1 won easily from 8-9 P.M. opposite Hardcastle and McCormick on ABC, and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes on NBC. From 9–9:30 p.m., part 1 was 0.6 points ahead of Monday Night Football on ABC. [2]
The Jabberwocky and the White Knight suits went on to be reused as "The Reluctant Dragon" and "Sir Giles the Knight" in the 1986 musical TV film adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Reluctant Dragon , produced by Irwin Allen Productions, with Michael Sorich as the voice of the Dragon, and Lloyd Bridges as Sir Giles.
The costumes for the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse, the King of Hearts, the Rose, and the Gentleman in the Paper Suit were used in the Halloween party sequence for Hocus Pocus (1993 film).
Warner Home Video first released the film on VHS in 1986. A 1993 release split the parts for individual sale, edited to eliminate the original cliffhanger: Part One ended with an onscreen quote from the final chapter of the first novel as Alice ran happily towards her home; Part Two, released as Alice Through the Looking Glass, began with the final minutes trimmed from the previous installment.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in August 2006, restoring the original TV broadcast edit.
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The book tells of Alice's adventures within the back-to-front world of the Looking-Glass world.
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a novel published on 27 December 1871 by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. There she finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including logic.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1933 American pre-Code fantasy film adapted from the novels by Lewis Carroll. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, featuring an all-star cast. It is all live action, except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Harman-Ising Studio. The film was seen by Walt Disney, and inspired him to create his company's 1951 animated adaptation.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass. The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen, and was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske. With the voices of Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway, Jerry Colonna and Kathryn Beaumont in her film debut, the film follows a young girl, Alice, who falls down a rabbit hole and enters a nonsensical world, Wonderland, which is ruled by the Queen of Hearts, while encountering strange creatures, including the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1976 American erotic musical comedy film loosely based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The film expands the original story to include sex and broad adult humor, as well as original songs. The film was directed by Bud Townsend, produced by William Osco, and written by Bucky Searles, based on a concept by Jason Williams.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1999 made-for-television film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). It was first broadcast on NBC and then shown on British television on Channel 4.
Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) have been highly popular in their original forms, and have served as the basis for many subsequent works since they were published. They have been adapted directly into other media, their characters and situations have been appropriated into other works, and these elements have been referenced innumerable times as familiar elements of shared culture. Simple references to the two books are too numerous to list; this list of works based on Alice in Wonderland focuses on works based specifically and substantially on Carroll's two books about the character of Alice.
An unbirthday is an event celebrated on all days of the year which are not a person's birthday. It is a neologism which first appeared in Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass. The concept gave rise to "The Unbirthday Song" in the 1951 animated feature film Alice in Wonderland.
Fushigi no Kuni no Alice is an anime adaptation of the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which ran on the TV Tokyo network and other local television stations across Japan from October 10, 1983 to March 26, 1984. The television series was a Japanese-German co-production between Nippon Animation and Apollo Films. The television series consists of 52 episodes, but only 26 made it to the United States.
The Dormouse is a character in "A Mad Tea-Party", Chapter VII from the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
Alice in Wonderland is a musical by Henry Savile Clarke and Walter Slaughter (music), based on Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). It debuted at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in the West End on 23 December 1886. Aubrey Hopwood (lyrics) and Walter Slaughter (music) wrote additional songs which were first used for the 1900 revival.
The White Queen is a fictional character who appears in Lewis Carroll's 1871 fantasy novel Through the Looking-Glass.
Through the Looking Glass is a chamber opera by the Australian composer Alan John to a libretto by Andrew Upton, based on Lewis Carroll's 1871 book and on the life of Alice Liddell, the girl for whom Carroll wrote the story's 1865 prequel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1949 French film based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 fantasy novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Directed by Dallas Bower, the film stars Carol Marsh as Alice, Stephen Murray as Lewis Carroll, and Raymond Bussières as The Tailor. Most of the Wonderland characters are portrayed by stop-motion animated puppets created by Lou Bunin.
Alice in Wonderland is a 1915 American silent film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic 1865 novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, directed and written by W. W. Young and starring Viola Savoy as Alice.
Alice is a 2009 television miniseries that was originally broadcast on Canadian cable television channel Showcase and an hour later on American cable television channel Syfy. The miniseries is a reimagining of the classic Lewis Carroll novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871), taking place about 150 years later with science fiction and additional fantasy elements added. The miniseries, produced by Reunion Pictures is three hours long, split into two parts, which premiered on Sunday, December 6, 2009, and Monday, December 7, 2009, respectively. Writer and director Nick Willing previously directed a 1999 adaptation of the books that followed the story more closely; however, Alice is intended to be a modern interpretation, imagining how Wonderland might have evolved over the last 143 years. The mini-series was partially shot in the Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a 10-minute black-and-white silent film made in the United States in 1910, and is based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 book of the same name.
The Puppy is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He appears in the chapter "The Rabbit Sends a Little Bill".
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass is a 2001 stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass. It was written by Adrian Mitchell. A 2 hour adaptation of both of Carroll's novels, it holds the distinction for currently being the most comprehensive stage adaptation of the books yet made, with the endings of both novels intact and only minor changes made for theatrical staging reasons.
Alice through the Looking Glass is a 1998 British fantasy television film, based on Lewis Carroll's 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass, and starring Kate Beckinsale.