BBC | 1966 | 72 mins. | Not Rated


With the Johnny Depp/Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland now in theaters, several earlier adaptations of the Lewis Carroll classic have been re-released on video. Among them is the haunting, nightmarish 1966 BBC Television version written and directed by Jonathan Miller, and starring Peter Sellers, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Michael Redgrave, Wilfrid Brambell, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, John Bird, Leo McKern, and Anne-Marie Mallik as Alice. Best known for his work in Beyond the Fringe (which featured Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett) and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Miller’s Alice in Wonderland is notably dark and scary; clearly not aimed at younger fans.

Shot in black and white, Miller stays faithful to Carroll’s tale, with the story unfolding like some sort of gothic nightmare. Things begin with Alice (Anne-Marie Mallik) and her stern sister (Jo Maxwell-Muller) primped and ready to go on a typically Victorian outdoor excursion. Dressed in the proper clothes of the day, their hair is perfect, and they have a book for some quiet reading. Everything is set for the girls to enjoy a very ‘proper’ English afternoon. Bothered by the hot sun, Alice lays down in the grass and starts to dream. Her sister has disappeared, but the White Rabbit (Wilfrid Brambell) is waving his walking stick to get Alice’s attention. Following the White Rabbit through the rabbit hole, Alice walks through a decrepit military hospital where she eventually comes to a room. After looking out the tiny door (where she sees people enjoying a summer afternoon), she drinks a potion that makes her smaller; however, she left the door’s key on the table that towers above her, so she eats a cake marked “Eat Me,” and grows big again. Eventually, she meets Mouse (Alan Bennett) and Dodo (Finlay Currie) and other animals who engage in a pointless “Caucus-race,” before she finds herself in a small cottage, growing big again as she hears the sounds of animals outside the cottage.

Now free of the cottage and the White Rabbit, Alice finds herself in another building. There, she finds Caterpillar (Sir Michael Redgrave), who is constantly dusting small architectural models. When she hears plates smashing in the kitchen, Alice tries to go in but the Frog Footman (John Bird) tells her the only thing he can do for her is nothing; to which she responds he’s idiotic. Once inside the kitchen, she watches the Duchess (Leo McKern) roughly treat her baby, singing a lullaby, while the Peppercook (Avril Elgar) smashes dishes. Outside again, Alice discovers the baby she’s been holding, is a pig, and lets it go. Alice then comes upon a tea party given by the Mad Hatter (Peter Cook), the March Hare (Michael Gough), and the Dormouse (Wilfred Lawson). Alternately rambling on and sitting silently, the tea party goes on forever, before Alice leaves and encounters the Gardener (Gordon Gostelow), who is painting white roses red for the Queen of Hearts (Alison Leggatt). Soon, the Queen, the King of Hearts (Peter Sellers), and the Knave of Hearts (Peter Eyre), arrive by procession, and Alice follows along for a croquette match (after defying the Queen when Alice is sentenced to beheading: “Off with her head!”). The Gryphon (Malcolm Muggeridge) takes her to the sea to see the Mock Turtle (Sir John Gielgud), who can’t finish his life story. The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon dance at the sea’s edge, before Alice finds herself at Court, where she’s on trial, and where she refuses to be quiet as the impotent Queen screams over and over again, “Off with her head!” Alice awakes in the tall grass, and goes home with her sister.

I’ve seen countless versions of Alice in Wonderland, but this is one of the few that left me both entranced and freaked out. Miller makes it clear that the story is about much more than queens and mice. It’s a story about a girl growing up and coming to grips with her own personality and being. As Miller explains in his audio commentary, “Once you take the animal heads off, you begin to see what it’s all about. A small child, surrounded by hurrying, worried people, thinking, ‘Is that what being grown up is like?’”

This transfer is a smooth, almost flawless print with an incredibly delicate gray scale and blacks that hold. I saw no compression issues to speak of here. One of the most beautiful black and white films I’ve seen in a long time.

There were some pops during the Court sequence, but other than that, the English mono track was remarkably clear. English subtitles are available.

There’s a pretty solid slate of special features:

• The standout here is the 1965 TV play Alice, by Dennis Potter, which, at 70-plus minutes, is equal in length to the main feature. It features Deborah Watling as Alice Liddell, and George Baker as the Rev. C. L. Dodson, the real name of Lewis Carroll. It details the influence of the real Alice on the man who wrote book
• Commentary track from director Miller. His explanation of why he couldn’t fathom using animal costumes is interesting, to say the least.
• An 8-minute version of the very first Alice movie from 1903 is certainly worth a look.
• Vintage featurette (9:27) on Ravi Shankar’s work in the movie.
• Photo Gallery.



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