Alice in Wonderland (1931 film)
Encyclopedia
Alice in Wonderland is a 1931 black-and-white American-made film based on Lewis Carroll
's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
. The first sound version of the story, and therefore the first film to use Carroll's original dialogue, the film starred Ruth Gilbert
as Alice
and Leslie King as the Mad Hatter
. It opened at the Warner Theatre in New York
.
(Ralph Hertz), the bad-tempered Cook (Lillian Ardell) and the Duchess
(Mabel Wright). She joins a mad tea-party with the Mad Hatter
(Leslie King), the March Hare
(Meyer Berensen) and the Dormouse
(Raymond Schultz), while the Cheshire Cat
(Tom Corless) leaves his grin behind. The Caterpillar
(Jimmy Rosen) becomes annoyed with her, and the Queen of Hearts
(Vie Quinn) threatens to cut off her head. With the Duchess, Alice meets the Mock Turtle
(Gus Alexander) and the Gryphon
(Charles Silvern), and at a bizarre trial, Alice finally becomes fed up with all the strange events and people.
, New Jersey
, possibly with a cast of amateur actors, many of whom struggled to reproduce British
accents. It came out one year before the centenary of the birth of Lewis Carroll
, which event was causing a wave of 'Alice' fever on both sides of the Atlantic
. In the United States a number of 'Alice in Wonderland' plays, films, songs and puppet shows in the early 1930s
attempted to cash in on this Carroll and 'Alice' fever. For example, in the Betty Boop
cartoon Betty in Blunderland
Betty went to Wonderland, as did Eva Le Gallienne
in a 1932 Broadway
adaptation that combined Alice in Wonderland with Through the Looking Glass, and which was one of the hits of the year. Irving Berlin
had an 'Alice in Wonderland' song, while Paramount Studios was preparing a big-budget Alice in Wonderland
which starred an unknown, Charlotte Henry
, with an all-star cast that featured W.C. Fields, Cary Grant
and Gary Cooper
. In 1932 Alice Liddell
, the inspiration for the 'Alice' of the original books, and by now an elderly lady, visited America to take part in these centenary celebrations.
Because of this interest in all things 'Alice
', the film opened at the prestigious Warner Theatre in New York
. It was not financially successful and received little critical attention. Today it is rarely if ever shown, and for a time there was even some doubt as to whether prints of it still existed. It has never been shown on television.
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
. The first sound version of the story, and therefore the first film to use Carroll's original dialogue, the film starred Ruth Gilbert
Ruth Gilbert (actress)
Ruth Gilbert was an American actress, best known for her role as Alice in the first sound version of Alice in Wonderland in 1931, and as Max in The Milton Berle Show.-Career:...
as Alice
Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
Alice is a fictional character in the literary classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There. She is a young girl from Victorian-era Britain.-Development:...
and Leslie King as the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
. It opened at the Warner Theatre in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Synopsis
Alice (Ruth Gilbert) meets the White RabbitWhite Rabbit
The White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice...
(Ralph Hertz), the bad-tempered Cook (Lillian Ardell) and the Duchess
Duchess (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Duchess is a character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865. Carroll does not describe her physically in much detail, although her hideous appearance is strongly established in the popular imagination thanks to John Tenniel's illustrations and from context it...
(Mabel Wright). She joins a mad tea-party with the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
(Leslie King), the March Hare
March Hare
Haigha, the March Hare is a character most famous for appearing in the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The main character, Alice, hypothesises,...
(Meyer Berensen) and the Dormouse
Dormouse (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Dormouse is a character in "A Mad Tea-Party", Chapter VII from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He sat between the March Hare and the Hatter...
(Raymond Schultz), while the Cheshire Cat
Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Known for his distinctive mischievous grin, the Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture.-Origins:...
(Tom Corless) leaves his grin behind. The Caterpillar
Caterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Caterpillar is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.-Appearance in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:...
(Jimmy Rosen) becomes annoyed with her, and the Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Queen of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll. She is a foul-tempered monarch, that Carroll himself pictured as "a blind fury", and who is quick to decree death sentences at the slightest offense...
(Vie Quinn) threatens to cut off her head. With the Duchess, Alice meets the Mock Turtle
Mock Turtle
The Mock Turtle is a fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll from his popular book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Its name is taken from a dish that was popular in the Victorian period, mock turtle soup....
(Gus Alexander) and the Gryphon
Gryphon (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Gryphon is a fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll in the popular book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. True to the conventional view of a gryphon, he has the head, talons, and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.-Role and personality:...
(Charles Silvern), and at a bizarre trial, Alice finally becomes fed up with all the strange events and people.
Background
This low-budget film was made in 1931 at the Metropolitan Studios in Fort LeeFort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, possibly with a cast of amateur actors, many of whom struggled to reproduce British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
accents. It came out one year before the centenary of the birth of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
, which event was causing a wave of 'Alice' fever on both sides of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. In the United States a number of 'Alice in Wonderland' plays, films, songs and puppet shows in the early 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
attempted to cash in on this Carroll and 'Alice' fever. For example, in the Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
cartoon Betty in Blunderland
Betty in Blunderland
Betty in Blunderland is a 1934 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop.-Plot:Betty falls asleep doing a jigsaw puzzle of Alice and the white rabbit. She "awakes" just in time to follow the rabbit through the looking glass into a modern wonderland...
Betty went to Wonderland, as did Eva Le Gallienne
Eva Le Gallienne
Eva Le Gallienne was a well-known actress, producer, and director, during the first half of the 20th century.-Early life and early career:...
in a 1932 Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
adaptation that combined Alice in Wonderland with Through the Looking Glass, and which was one of the hits of the year. Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
had an 'Alice in Wonderland' song, while Paramount Studios was preparing a big-budget Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1933 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1933 film version of the famous Alice novels of Lewis Carroll. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, featuring an all-star cast. It is all live-action, except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Stars featured...
which starred an unknown, Charlotte Henry
Charlotte Henry
Charlotte Henry was an American actress who is best remembered for her roles in Alice in Wonderland and Babes in Toyland . She also starred in the Frank Buck serial Jungle Menace.-Early years:...
, with an all-star cast that featured W.C. Fields, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
and Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
. In 1932 Alice Liddell
Alice Liddell
Alice Pleasance Liddell , known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist Alice is said to be named after her.-Biography:...
, the inspiration for the 'Alice' of the original books, and by now an elderly lady, visited America to take part in these centenary celebrations.
Because of this interest in all things 'Alice
Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
Alice is a fictional character in the literary classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There. She is a young girl from Victorian-era Britain.-Development:...
', the film opened at the prestigious Warner Theatre in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. It was not financially successful and received little critical attention. Today it is rarely if ever shown, and for a time there was even some doubt as to whether prints of it still existed. It has never been shown on television.
External links
- New York Times Review, December 28, 1931
- http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/59667'Alice' on the British Film InstituteBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
website]