Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)

Alice in Wonderland is the thirteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released to theaters on July 28, 1951 by RKO Radio Pictures. Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have been frequently adapted for film; this adaptation solved the problems of the setting by using animation. The film features the voices of Kathryn Beaumont as Alice and Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter. Made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself, this film and its animation are often regarded as some of the finest work in Disney studio history, despite the lackluster, even hostile, reviews it originally received, especially in the UK.

History

Production

Walt Disney had been interested in the Alice novels and had tried adapting the first book during the late 1930s and early 1940s; unfortunately, World War II caused the project to be shelved. After the war, Disney decided to take characters from both of the Alice novels and use them in the planned movie. Disney also thought of making Alice In Wonderland as a mix of live action and animation (as in Disney's early Alice shorts, which featured a live-action Alice in an animated setting, as well as the feature Song of the South), with Luana Patten as Alice, until this idea eventually grew into a fully animated musical. In fact, in the course of the production, some 30 to 40 songs (many of which with lyrics copied directly from Carroll's text) were thought up for the movie and then 2/3 of them were placed on the cutting room floor (including one that did eventually show up as part of Peter Pan). Oliver Wallace and Frank Churchill were called on to help with the compositions of some of the songs, but Walt still needed help with the creations of "novelty songs". Consequently, he called on the same Tin Pan Alley songwriters he asked to compose the songs for Cinderella.

Kathryn Beaumont is the voice actress who played Alice in the film. It was said that animators were so impressed with her curly haired and proper appearance that she was used as an additional inspiration while designing the character of Alice. She also voices on the dark ride version at Disneyland.

Release: Reactions & criticisms

Upon its release, the film was panned by critics and failed miserably at the box office. Disney later said he despised the film, claiming that, unlike Cinderella, Alice had a lack of "heart" and that compared to the sympathetic Cinderella (whom most people felt for), most people didn't care about Alice. (It seems that Disney proposed the movie to be 75 minutes, mainly because he didn't want the movie to be too long for people to watch.) As a result, it was not re-issued theatrically like most of the other Disney films until 23 years later. It was, however, the first Disney animated feature to be shown on television, as an episode of Disneyland, where it was edited severely to run within a running time of an hour.

Re-release schedule, home video, & beyond

The surreal elements in the film sparked a revival of the film in the psychedelic generation, which led to theatrical reissues on March 15, 1974 and April 3, 1981 and reruns on network television. The psychedelic association was furthered by synchronization enthusiasts who found simliarities in run time and themes between the film and the Pink Floyd album The Wall. The film was released on video in 1981 and 1986 (though it was mastered for tape in 1985), staying in general release ever since, with a 40th Anniversary video release in 1991 (this and the 1986 video release were in Disney's Classics Collection), and again in 1994 and 1999 (these two were in Disney's Masterpiece Collection.) It was released on DVD in Region 2 in 1999 and in Region 1 in 2000 (under the Gold Classic Collection DVD series), and on a fully restored two disc edition in 2004. A video game version of the film was released on Game Boy Color by Nintendo of America on October 4, 2000 in North America. Additionally, Disney's take on Wonderland also appeared as one of the first worlds in Disney and Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts. Alice is also one of the fabled Princesses of Heart needed to open the Keyhole to Hollow Bastion.

Today, the film has a devout cult following. That's something that can't be said for all animated films.

Titles in different languages

Albanian: Liza Në Botën E Çudirave
Bulgarian: Алиса в страната на чудесата
Catalan: Alicia al pais de les meravelles
Cantonese Chinese: 愛麗斯夢遊仙境 ("Alice Explores Magical Land in Dream")
Czech: Alenka v řříši divů
Danish: Alice i Eventyrland
Dutch: Alice in Wonderland
Finnish: Liisa ihmemaassa
French: Alice au pays des merveilles
German: Alice im Wunderland
Hebrew: אליס בארץ הפלאות (Elis be'Eretz ha'Plaot)
Hungarian: Alice csodaországban
Icelandic: Lísa í Undralandi
Italian: Alice nel paese delle meraviglie
Japanese: ふしぎの国のアリス (Fushigi No Kuni No Arisu; "Alice's Mysterious Land")
Korean (South Korea): 이상한 나라의 앨리스
Mandarin Chinese: 愛麗絲夢遊仙境
Norwegian: Alice i eventyrland
Polish: Alicja w krainie czarów
Portuguese: Alice no país das maravilhas
Romanian: Alice în ţara minunilor
Russian: Алиса в стране чудес
Serbian: Alisa u zemlji čuda
Spanish: Alicia en el país de las maravillas
Swedish: Alice i Underlandet
Turkish: Alis Harikalar Diyarında

Trivia

This Disney animated feature was the first one in which the voice talent is credited on-screen with the characters they each play. This would not occur again until The Jungle Book.
In "The Walrus and the Carpenter" sequence, the "R" in the word "March" on the mother oyster's calendar flashes. This alludes to the old adage about only eating oysters in a month with an R in its name. That is because the months without an R are the summer months (May through August), when oysters would not keep due to the heat in the days before refrigeration.
The fish watching the Walrus lure the oysters away look like the exact same fish (albeit recolored) that watch Pinocchio search for Monstro the whale in Pinocchio.
The movie also has some elements of another Lewis Caroll poem, Jabberwocky. In particular, Alice seeing mome raths and walking through the tulgey wood.
Due to the popularity of the previous Disney Movie, Cinderella, it is speculated that the Cheshire Cat was modelled after Lucifer.

Voice cast

Kathryn Beaumont - Alice
Ed Wynn - Mad Hatter
Richard Haydn - Caterpillar
Sterling Holloway - Cheshire Cat
Jerry Colonna - March Hare
Verna Felton - Queen of Hearts
J. Pat O'Malley - Tweedledee; Tweedledum; Walrus; Carpenter
Bill Thompson - White Rabbit; Dodo
Heather Angel - Alice's sister
Joseph Kearns - Doorknob
Larry Grey - Bill the Lizard
Queenie Leonard - Bird In Tree
Dink Trout - King of Hearts
Doris Lloyd - Rose
James MacDonald - Dormouse
The Mellomen - Cards
Don Barclay - Card

Songs

Songs in Film

"Alice in Wonderland" - The Jud Conlon Chorus
"In A World of My Own" - Alice
"I'm Late" - The White Rabbit
"The Sailor's Hornpipe" - The Dodo
"The Caucus Race" - The Dodo and Animals
"How Do You Do and Shake Hands" - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
"The Walrus and the Carpenter" - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
"Old Father William" - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
"Smoke the Blighter Out" - The Dodo and The White Rabbit
"All in the Golden Afternoon" - The Flowers and Alice
"AEIOU" - The Caterpillar
"Twas Brillig" - The Cheshire Cat
"The Unbirthday Song" - The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, and Alice
"Very Good Advice" - Alice
"Painting the Roses Red" - The Playing Cards and Alice
"Who's Been Painting My Roses Red?" - The Queen of Hearts and The Playing Cards
"The Unbirthday Song" (Reprise) - The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, The Queen of Hearts, and The Playing Cards
"The Caucus Race" (Reprise) - The Entire Cast Minus Alice
"Alice in Wonderland" (Reprise) - The Jud Conlon Chorus

Songs written for film but not used

"Beyond the Laughing Sky" - Alice (replaced by "In A World of My Own," melody later became "The Second Star to the Right" from Peter Pan
"Dream Caravan" - The Caterpillar (replaced by "AEIOU")
"I'm Odd" - The Cheshire Cat (replaced by "Twas Brillig")
"Beware the Jabberwock" - Chorus referring to deleted character
"So They Say" - Alice
"If You'll Believe in Me" - The Lion and The Unicorn (deleted characters)
"Beautiful Soup" - The Mock Turtle and The Gryphon (deleted characters)
"Everything Has A Useness" - Unclear who this was intended for and in what context

External links

The Big Cartoon DataBase entry for Alice in Wonderland
Lenny's Alice in Wonderland site contains background info, trivia and pictures.
Example of synchronization between the movie and The Wall
Alice in Wonderland at Nintendo of America

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