Alice in Wonderland (1915)

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Movie
German title Alice in Wonderland
Original title Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland poster.jpg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1915
length 52 minutes
Rod
Director WW Young
script WW Young
occupation
Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is an American film by WW Young from 1915, in which motifs and episodes from Lewis Carroll 's story of the same name were implemented.

action

During a walk, the girl Alice falls asleep in a meadow while her older sister reads from a book to her. In her dream, Alice follows a large, white rabbit into the "wonderland", where she meets strange characters and experiences numerous adventures.

A mouse leads Alice to the meeting of animals, but Alice frightens all animals with her awkward speech. She then meets the white rabbit again, whom she follows into his house, which is far too small for Alice. In the following episode, Alice, now shrunk to the size of a thumb, encounters a water pipe smoking caterpillar sitting on a mushroom.

After she has regained her correct size, she visits the Duchess, whose baby turns into a piglet in Alice's care . On their way forward Alice meets the Cheshire Cat (Cheshire Cat) and the Queen of Hearts , which a bizarre garden of her palace Croquet organized game. The Queen leads Alice to a griffin , who introduces her to the green turtle (Mock Turtle) on the beach .

After a performance of a lobster ballet , Alice and the other animals are called to a court hearing to clarify the theft of a cake. When Alice is called to the stand, she rebels against the King and Queen of Hearts. Then Alice wakes up from her dream.

background

The film is based on Lewis Carroll's classic children 's books Alice in Wonderland and Alice Behind the Looking Glass . It is the third film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and, with a restored running time of 52 minutes, the first feature-length film based on the book. Today there are still two known copies of the film, which was originally stored on six reels . Several scenes, including the one with the twins Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Alice behind the mirrors , are missing, the length of the surviving copies is around 40 minutes each.

The film was shot on a property in Long Island , except for one scene that was shot on a beach near Cape Ann . The costume design is remarkable: the actors wear oversized paper mache heads and imaginative costumes based on the illustrations by John Tenniel . The backdrops were also built with great attention to detail.

WW Young did without special effects in his film, which meant that some scenes were omitted. For example, Alice doesn't change her size; because to shoot a believable representation of it seemed too complicated. Some of the scene changes seem so abrupt and sometimes difficult to understand. The settings shown are rigid, there are no tracking shots. Many scenes are shot from a greater distance.

The film premiered on January 19, 1915. The film is known to have been premiered in 1921 and 1924.

Reviews

The New York Times described Young's version of Alice in Wonderland, which was re-released in the spring of 1921, as a very entertaining film for children, which was artistically created by WW Young. Although the film is not as profound as the novel, adults can also enjoy it.

Hal Erickson , a reviewer of the All Movie Guide , criticized Young's superficial directing as the movie's only weakness.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lewis Carroll, Tan Lin: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass . Barnes & Noble Classics, New York 2004, ISBN 1-59308-015-8 , p. 275.
  2. ↑ a b The New York Times : The Screen, March 22, 1921 (accessed November 29, 2009)
  3. ↑ Hal Erickson: Alice in Wonderland . Quoted in the New York Times movie database (accessed November 29, 2009).

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