BFI's restoration of Alice in Wonderland (1903)

[MichiganJ]

Saw this posted on another forum and it is terrific.

[phil noir]

That was charming, and somehow so poignant - all those ghosts capering through the park, and the film itself on the very edge of destruction.

Reading the extra information posted by the BFI on youtube, I see it was co-directed by Cecil Hepworth: 'In an act that was to echo more than 100 years later, Hepworth cast his wife as the Red Queen, and he himself appears as the Frog Footman. Even the Cheshire cat is played by a family pet.'

I'm sure I've read (or seen on a documentary) that film-making was a real family concern for the Hepworths. I think the dog in Rescued by Rover was another family pet.

I'm looking forward to seeing Tim Burton's new version with Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

[MichiganJ]

Reading the extra information posted by the BFI on youtube, I see it was co-directed by Cecil Hepworth: 'In an act that was to echo more than 100 years later, Hepworth cast his wife as the Red Queen, and he himself appears as the Frog Footman. Even the Cheshire cat is played by a family pet.'

I loved the Cheshire Cat! This link goes to the video and info.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/nftva/work/alice.html

I'm looking forward to seeing Tim Burton's new version with Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.

I'm really looking forward to the Burton film, too. Alice and Burton are a pretty perfect match.

I'm also curious to finally see the McLeod 1933 all-star cast version, which sees its first official home video release today. Alice is one of my wife's favorite books, and for years she'd tell me about seeing Cary Grant in an Alice movie. She has no idea that the DVD is being released, so I'm hoping to surprise her with it. It might even get her off her laptop for a minute or two.

[jdb1]

I understand from the articles I've read so far that this is a highly revisionist AIW, with a "feminist" Alice.

Huh? Did anyone read the book to Tim Burton? There are very few characters in literature, let alone mid-19th Century literature, as smart, forceful, willful, resourceful, victorious (and snotty, perhaps) as Carroll's Alice.

I am really, really hoping Burton worked his customary magic and did not butcher this great book. Did anyone see that ghastly Canadian Expressionist/Nihilist/Deconstructionist Alice thing a few months ago on SyFy? Sheesh!

[charliechaplinfan]

That's great MichiganJ, I've really enjoyed watching that clip. I'm just amazed everytime I see films this old.

[MichiganJ]

I understand from the articles I've read so far that this is a highly revisionist AIW, with a "feminist" Alice.

Huh? Did anyone read the book to Tim Burton? There are very few characters in literature, let alone mid-19th Century literature, as smart, forceful, willful, resourceful, victorious (and snotty, perhaps) as Carroll's Alice.

I am really, really hoping Burton worked his customary magic and did not butcher this great book. Did anyone see that ghastly Canadian Expressionist/Nihilist/Deconstructionist Alice thing a few months ago on SyFy? Sheesh!

I suspect that people who go to the film expecting to see Lewis Carroll and not Tim Burton will be disappointed.

[MichiganJ]

That's great MichiganJ, I've really enjoyed watching that clip. I'm just amazed everytime I see films this old.

Me, too. It always amazes me how quickly the basic language of film developed. This is a fully-realized story, in color no less, and the projected image wasn't even ten years old.

[moira finnie]

If you liked Cecil Hepworth's Alice in Wonderland (1903), you might enjoy this blog about several of his other movies and his career. His hand-crafted movies added the narrative language to film and also toyed with reality, explored surrealism and made simple observations of life around him.

I love Cecil. He was so British in his small scale, domestic way of looking at things.