ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Cartoon film from Lewis Carroll's book.
Identification sheet:
1951, USA
Running Time:
Direction: Walt Disney, helped by Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske and Wilfred Jackson.
Distribution: RKO
Photography: Technicolor
Sound Track: Oliver Wallace
Main Characters:
Alice, Caterpillar, Chesire Cat, March Hare, Queen of Hearts, Walrus, Tweedledee and Tweeledum.
Disney has get rid of many charatcers from the book The Advetures of Alice in Wonderland. Only 30 (out of 90) have survived. Some have been "condensed" in one only character, like queens and duchess become Queen of Hearts.
Notice that the keyhole to enter Wonderland is Disney's invention.
Conception of the work:
The adaptation of Alice has been in Disney's mind since the 20s. First he filmed a series of short-films and later on he made a feature-film where real actors (he thought of Mary Pickford) would mix with cartoons. But it was not unitl 1951, after 5 years working on this project, that the feature-film was released, following classical methods for animation.
Difficulties of the adaptation:
"L'adaptation du livre avait posé, on s'en doute, maints problèmes à Disney qu'il résolut avec brio et invention, mais sans parvenir à atteindre sa perfection habituelle. Il donna comme ligne directrice à l'intrigue la curiosité naturelle d'Alice, commune à toutes les petites filles, laquelle se transforme peu à peu en lassitude vis-à-vis de ce monde absurde où elle est plongée, avant de faire place à un désir très intense de rentrer au bercail. Pour astucieux qu'il soit, ce fil est bien ténu, pas toujours convaincant et n'a pas permis d'offrir au public un dénouement très satisfaisant" Jacques Lourcelles, Dictionare de cinema, Robert Laffont, 1993.
In short, Disney based his adaptation on Alice's curiosity, common to all children, which becomes more and more dangerous to the point in which Alice feels like going back home.
Posteriority of the film:
At that time, Alice was not a real success and it is considered to be Disney's less profitable project. But its distribution and Disney's fame allow the film to be on equal terms with the Lewis Carrol's book.
The world according to Disney:
As usual, Mickey's father transmits a social message in his production. You can easily notice his conservatism and his reactionary vision of the world. Children will always be curious and, in the same way, the absurd world will always be dangerous and the so-called friends are ready to betray you (see the cat's attitude in front of the Queen). In short, nothing is better than our life. Like Judy Garland at the end of The Wizard of Oz, Disney's Alice may have said: "There's no place like home!".
Other film versions of Alice in Wonderland:
USA: Martin J Faust, 1915, and Norman Mc Leod, 1933.
Great Britain: Cecil Hepworth, Percy Stow 1903 and William Sterling 1972.
France and Great Britain (with actors and puppets): Dallas Bower, Lou Bonin et Marc Maurette 1948.