Alice In Wonderland: Classic Film Collection (1915-1972)

Unofficially timed to coincide with the theatrical release of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland feature, this compilation brings together numerous Alice in Wonderland films, produced over the course of several decades. It opens with a rarely-seen silent version of Alice, produced in 1915 and starring Viola Savoy, then includes two Walt Disney shorts from the half-animated, half-live action series Alice's Adventures in Cartoonland, starring Virginia Davis. The hour-long animated production Alice of Wonderland in Paris features the voice of Carl Reiner, while the 1972 feature Alice's Adventures in Wonderland redoes Lewis Carroll's tale as a musical starring Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Michael Crawford and many others.




The first version near to the novel, this silent movie starred Viola Savoy. Though many believe the film to be lost in its entirety, includes all 52 minutes. Produced long before CGI, the creatures are costumed actors and the absence of dialogue creates a surreal, dreamlike quality. It also stars Elmo Lincoln, who went on to fame as the original Tarzan.









While Alice is away, her cat is guarding the house. He chases one pesky rat inside the house, and shoots a hole in the floor, which he falls through, into a vat of home-brew. With the cat thus away, the rats play, at first dancing and singing, and later playing in the bathtub. The cat eventually sobers up (after he lands in a cactus), and tries to blow up the rats (and house!) with a bomb, but the rats plant the bomb on the cat, who blows up himself, Alice, and several nearby trees.








Alice and Julius the cat are riding an elephant through the jungle. Julius falls and is nearly eaten by crocodiles but manages to escape nevertheless. Meanwhile, two elephant children are having fun at a watering hole and a monkey barber has his barber pole eaten by a hippo, who mistakes it for a candy cane. Julius tries to remedy the latter injustice by starching up a tiger's striped tail and knocking it off, using it as a replacement pole. Alice hunts a lion who proves to be too much for her to handle, but Julius bravely comes to the rescue.








This enchanting feature film with French animation includes the voice of Carl Reiner.









This British musical feature film adaptation features a star-studded cast, including Michael Crawford, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore and Fiona Fullerton.