Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1972)

From http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Alice-poster-1972.jpg

Dir. William Sterling

Having discussed films inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1865), through Roman Polanski's What? (1972), its befitting to actually cover an adaptation of the story. With both the story and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871), I've only experienced them within the last year or so. Material adapted, referencing or inspired by the stories though have been something I, along with many, have grown up with. My first encounter was probably with the Disney adaptation, but as I desire to find as many adaptations of the story as possible, it has been adapted in various ways from a Jan Svankmajer film with stop motion animation to porn. What stands out with the stories, within this drastically fluctuating body of versions, fan depictions and takes, is how unconventional they are and how good Carroll was as a writer to make this possible. Nonsensical material you could read to a child, but its developed as an obsession for many adults, myself now part of this grouping, because they provoke so many bold, elaborate ideas and have inspired numerous people. An absurdity, that thankfully translates into this adaptation, where all the parts in depicting it are as important to Carroll in showing the strange. The visual metaphors - playing cards, cats - that anyone can understand but are skewered. The symbolic and mathematical references. The dialogue full of puns and incomprehensible phrases that become sonic poetry, why Jabberwocky, his famous poem, is as famous. Other readings have been added too, possible because its open to many interpretations in its nature, a simplistic journey narrative to both stories that are both about the individual scenarios that Alice encounters on the way. From the clear satirical tone in the stories - like the farcical court room trial that takes place in the story - to the reading added by readers of sexual overtones, allowing British comic book writer Alan Moore and American seventies pornography to be awkward bedfellows. You can adapt it light heartedly, like in this film, or as a disturbing work like American McGee has.

Alice's Adventure In Wonderland is a pretty faithful take on the original, more well known Carroll story. Alice (Fiona Fullerton) falls asleep and ends up in Wonderland, full of size changing foods, mock turtles, a decapitation obsessed Queen of Hearts and enough multicolour, psychedelic foliage that it's no wonder Jefferson Airplane were inspired to link the white rabbit to LSD. Probably the draw for this one, before viewing it, is that, with the all-star British cast, it includes Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore and Spike Milligan. What makes the existence of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland greater for me too is that it's a piece of British art that is timeless, can still inspired people and does so while being a perfect proto-example of one of my favourite areas of artistry, absurdist and surrealist works. Surrealistic artists, especially the British contingent, praised Carroll for preceding them, and anyone, whether the result is good or not, from Poland's Roman Polanski to a Japanese manga artist, can take a crack at using these stories iconography to create intentionally odd and weird works. So what a better thing to do, despite a faithful adaptation being out-of-place next to sex comedies and the likes of Get Carter (1971), then to adapt it within a heyday of its offspring,  absurdist comedy that Sellers, Moore and Milligan were part of? Particularly as Sellers is the March Hair and Moore a narcoleptic Dormouse to the Mad Hatter played by Robert Helpmann.

From http://static2.dmcdn.net/static/video/680/799/51997086:jpeg_preview_large.jpg?20121109133833

Unfortunately this faithful adaptation is one that treats its source material with utmost care and respect as a national treasure...which means that it's too precious for its own good and ignores the greatest virtue of the stories. Even as quaint, Victorian English literature, the greatest virtue of the Alice stories are that they're anarchic and are madder in tone than a box of frogs, more greater in these areas in that it's done with a precise wit, whimsy and solid structures to the plotting. Most egregious to the story's original tone is that this is a musical, songs and the swelling orchestral backing behind them abrupt and too many in appearance, all really sounding the same. The original story is light hearted, but it's completely ridiculous too such a pronounced end. There is an unbridled, uninhibited nature to the stories that makes the polite, gentle tone of the film a betrayal of the original spirit. One where, along with being a mere bystander, has Alice back talking to the populous of Wonderland and nothing makes sense just to be purposely arbitrary to her. If there is a relief from this, it's that remnants of the original tone thankfully still exist. To do a faithful adaptation of the story, you have to include some of its best virtues without question. With its brightly coloured, overexaggerated and artificial looking Wonderland with giant flowers and tiny doors, it's another example of how the production designers are unsung heroes who stand out even in awful films. In fact the whole wholesome tone of the film becomes fittingly bizarre in aspects, especially the animal costumes actors have to wear and the obvious fake, shot-at- Shepperton-Studio look of the setting. If the film dampens the virtues of the story, that doesn't mean it's completely drained out. The moments of rampant verbal punning, bickering about the lack of logic and tangents, from the original story, are all amusing, the Mad Hatter and his compatriots stealing the show because of the actors playing them.

Yes, it's bad that this wraps the original material up in cotton wool, but it still survives in some way despite this. This is why I enjoyed the film nonetheless, but I viewed it as entertaining especially as an example of someone else adapting Carroll's work in its own way, faithful adaptation or not. So far the best version has, paradoxically, been the one that's taken the most liberties while still retaining the tone perfectly, Jan Svankmajer's Alice (1988), reviewed a long time ago on this blog if you search the tool bars. I guess not having to work with something that's your own national heritage gives you advantage. I'll see if this is true as more Alices go through more Wonderlands in my future viewings. 

From http://cinemanostalgia.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Alice-White-Rabbit.jpg