Alice in Wonderland is certainty a story very familiar to movie lovers. The story has been adapted to film many times. The earliest of these films was a 1903 short. However this delightful 1915 movie was the first feature length adaption.
This is an extremely charming movie. While you can probably guess by the running time above that there is much in the book that is not in this film, what is in this film is told really faithfully. Still there are moments such as Alice meeting Tweedlee Dum and Tweedle Dee that actually come from the book's sequel, Through The Looking Glass. This would become common practice for film adaptions though as the more famous animated Disney version also borrowed scenes from Through the Looking Glass including this same scene.
Despite any omitted scenes this film does a great job of capturing the charm of the original story. I found myself completely involved in this world. The sense of fantasy here is fantastic to behold. Much of this is captured through the look of the film. This film looks beautiful. The cinematography is excellent by any standards. The sets and costume design also very well capture the feeling of John Tenniel's original illustrations for the book. This look always helps the fantasy of the film and never distracts from it. It is true however that these costumes may seem strange to those who are used to more modern movies. This is because unlike today's CGI, there is no attempt to make the characters look realistic. However I do feel over the course of the movie many modern viewers will not only accept but appreciate the different approach being used here. The humor is captured also quite well and I found myself laughing quite a few times watching this movie. The acting of Viola Savory as Alice is quite good and makes me wish she had appeared in more movies. All in all this film is simply a delight from beginning to end and should be a better remembered adaption of Lewis Carrol's great book.
This movie seems to be the only one directed by W.W. Young. Little is known about this director. Still this is an excellent movie and I certainly would have liked to see him direct more. Viola Savory also was not extremely prolific in film. This was one of only two films she ever made. Her other film was The Spendthrift (1915). Still she had been acting on stage since early childhood. She was 15 when she made these two films. After that she seemed to disappear from acting.
The following is an article in The Motion Picture News (dated May 29, 1915)
"'Alice in Wonderland' featuring Viola Savory in six parts, was presented at the Broadway Theater, Broadway, between Fortieth and Forty First streets on Saturday morning, May 15th, at 10a.m. This was intended to be a special performance for children, arrangements for which were made through the Harris Feature Film Co. 110 W. Fortieth street, booking representatives for the Nonpareil Feature Film Coporation in greater New York."
As well as with audiences, this film did quite well with reviewers. The following is a review in Motography dated February 20, 1915.
"Alice and Wonderland - Nonpariel - (Five Reels). - This subject is an adaption of the famous play by the same name, which delighted children throughout the country. The scene effects and costuming are but two of the things that make this a wonderful film. In her wanderings, Alice visits the Animals' Convention and finds mice, owls, lions, lobsters, catapillers, rabbits and all the other dumb creatures. She is also a witness at the trail who stole the queen of tarts; the visits to looking glass land, where everything moves backwards and forwards; she views the fight of Tweedledee and Tweedledum and is near by when Humpty Dumpty falls from the wall. These are but a few of her adventures while in Wonderland, the others being far too numerous to be recorded."
An article in Variety (dated December 24, 1915) lets us know that in London this movie was given only afternoon showings. This was probably because of how much of the audience would be made up of children and families.
-Michael J. Ruhland
I like that adaptation so much, despite the same parts of the other story, included, such as "Humpty Dumpty". Magical.
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