Alice In Wonderland [1966] (DVD)

A review of the BFI DVD, which costs about £20 (BFI DVDs are always a bit pricey). This adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic children's book was made in 1966 for the BBC by director Jonathan Miller. It's a distinctly odd take on the book, and is more Miller's interpretation of the story than a faithful adaptation. I think it's extraordinary, but not entirely successful. The story is as per the book. A girl called Alice follows a white rabbit down a hole and has lots of surreal, faintly menacing encounters with the people and creatures she meets. The book always has an edge of unpleasantness about it, which I think is why it tends to stick in ...  Read the complete review

Resting in a field, Alice (Anne-Marie Mallik) nods off and is awoken abruptly a moment later by a white rabbit (Wilfrid Brambell) who leads her through a tunnel into Wonderland, a strange world populated by nonsense and a host of seemingly insane characters. While Alice struggles to come to terms with her own sanity and the dizzying, illogical world around her, she meets a medley of strange individuals, including the Caterpillar (Michael Redgrave), the Duchess (Leo McKern), the Mock Turtle (John Gielgud), the Gryphon (Malcolm Muggeridge), as well as the Mad Hatter (Peter Cook), the March Hare (Michael Gough) and the Dormouse (Wilfrid Lawson) at their tea ...  Read the complete review