Alice in Wonderland (1915)

In 1915, W.W. Young directed an adaptation of the story for the Nonpareil Feature Film Company.  Not much is known about this version besides being filmed on an estate on Long Island.  According to the "Alice on the Screen" Guide in The Annotated Alice, the film originally contained scenes from both Alice novels.  However, in the 52 full-length edit, only the first book is told.  Apparently, the original film was two-hours, with the second half covering the second book, but those reels have since been edited out of the film and repackaged as their own version in 1927.  However, only one "Looking-Glass" reel survives, so I'll talk about it here.

This is a more substantial entry into the Alice canon than the previous two.  It is still a silent film, but now it is five times the length of the short films so much more from the book was included and fleshed out.

Original Source Breakdown

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - ALTERED
We see Alice in her house shortly before she joins her sister by the riverbank.  She is tempted by the tarts that are being made in the kitchen, and she plays with her cat Dinah.  Her sister shows up and as they travel to the river, they encounter several animals (who will come into play in the story later, including a white rabbit, an owl, a cat in a tree, and a pig who is compared to a little girl).  The two pick flowers and then finally start to read their story.  Alice falls asleep and the White Rabbit shows up, deliberately beckoning Alice to follow him to Wonderland.  She follows him down the hole, to the Hall of Doors, and uses the tiny key to see into the garden.  But she does not change size.

Chapter II: The Pool of Tears - MOSTLY REMOVED/ALTERED
Alice immediately starts crying since she can't fit through the door and a pool forms.  The Mouse swims by and Alice follows him to the shore.

Chapter III: The Caucus-Race and a Long Tale - MOSTLY INTACT/ALTERED

Alice and the Mouse try to get dry as various creatures make their way to the "Animal Convention."  There, the Dodo plans to lead the Caucus-Race and the Mouse suggests that they go there to get dry.  The animals (including some from later in the story, like the Mock Turtle) all gather but never seem to get to the race, as Alice starts talking about her cat and scares all of the creatures off.

Chapter IV: The Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill - ALTERED
Alice follows the White Rabbit to his house to fetch his fan and gloves and then...nothing really happens?  Alice doesn't eat anything to grow giant, but she lingers in the Rabbit's room as if something is going to happen.  The Rabbit gathers pebbles (which, in the story, he threw at the giant Alice to flush her out) but does nothing with them.  I wonder if scenes are missing from this cut or it was just a directorial choice, because Alice then just leaves the house without issue.

Chapter V: Advice from a Caterpillar - MOSTLY INTACT

Alice converses with the Caterpillar and recites a few verses from "You Are Old, Father William" which is depicted on screen with two actors.  The Caterpillar leaves with one more verse that he liked the best, but (as all size changes are missing from this version) they don't discuss the size altering properties of the mushroom.  And yet, Alice gestures about changing her size, and then eats a bit of mushroom so maybe we are to assume that changes are taking place.

Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper - INTACT
Aside from a few cut lines of dialogue (including the famous "We're all mad here" exchange with the Cheshire Cat), everything happens exactly as it does in the book. (Frog and Fish Footman, Duchess sings about the Baby, the Cook throws things, Baby turns into Pig, the Cheshire Cat converses with Alice.)

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - INTACT/MISSING
If you watch the 52-min version, you'll notice a very odd cut due to a missing scene.  Alice and the Cheshire Cat don't talk about the Hatter and Hare in the previous scene, save for Alice stating that she's off to visit the March Hare.  The line comes out of nowhere and we never see the visit.  The reel ends and we jump to Alice walking through the door in the tree that will take her to the Queen's court.  That is because the Mad Tea Party reel had been cut.  Someone was able to restore parts of it, and as it originally appeared, it stays faithful to the book.

Chapter VIII: The Queen's Croquet-Ground - INTACT
Like with Chapter VI, things are rushed and cut for time, but the chapter plays out as it does in the book.  Alice meets with the gardeners, the Queen's procession comes through, she sentences the gardeners to death, they all play croquet.  And the Cheshire Cat portion is referenced, but I couldn't see him appear.  Everyone acted as if it did though, so that's good enough for me.

Chapter IX: The Mock Turtle's Story - MOSTLY INTACT

The Duchess's reappearance and conversation with Alice about morals is cut out, but nearly everything with the Gryphon and Mock Turtle remains.

Chapter X: The Lobster-Quadrille - ALTERED

The Mock Turtle sings "Beautiful Soup" during his introduction rather than during Alice's departure.  The Lobster-Quadrille is actually shown for Alice with two Lobsters and two Walruses joining everybody.  The dance isn't like the one described in the book however.  Finally, the White Rabbit shows up at the end to bring Alice to the trial, so she doesn't recite any poetry or tell her story to the Mock Turtle and Gryphon before she leaves.

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - MOSTLY INTACT
The Knave of Hearts's trial over the stolen tarts takes place. The three witnesses are called just like in the book, the Hatter, the Cook, and Alice.  This is odd, since the Mad Tea Party never occurred, yet the Hatter, Hare, and Dormouse all show up. No reference is made to the Hatter's own punishment for murdering the time at the concert.

Chapter XII: Alice's Evidence - MOSTLY REMOVED
Alice immediately confronts the court, causing a falling wave of cards to transition her back into the waking world.  Her sister wakes her up, they find a white rabbit, and they go home.

Through the Looking-Glass - POSSIBLE REFERENCE

The Walruses that appear during the Lobster-Quadrille appear to be based off the Walrus from The Walrus and the Carpenter which appears in Chapter IV.  No Walruses are mentioned in the first book during this dance, although seals are.

Chapters I - VIII: MISSING

Chapter IX: Queen Alice - ALTERED/MISSING
In the only surviving "Looking-Glass" reel, Alice has become Queen and enjoys a banquet with all of the characters she has met during her Looking-Glass journey (including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Red and White Queens and some Wonderland characters as well).  She has the exchange with the Leg of Mutton, as in the book, but thing don't get too crazy and out of hand.  Alice has a good time and the film ends with her thanking all of her new friends.

Chapters X - XII: REMOVED

Review:

Confusion about the missing Mad Tea Party and Looking-Glass elements aside, this is a very interesting version of Alice in Wonderland.  Not necessarily good, but not completely awful either.  My first worry came at the beginning when we see Alice's normal life with clear foreshadowing to the characters she would meet in Wonderland.  That concept in of itself is fine, but the title card had to go and spell out for us that sometimes the things we experience before sleeping affect our dreams.

Yeah, we know.  We get it.

There is clearly a lot of care and effort that went into staying faithful to the story.  The filmmakers didn't seem to know how to handle any special effects so all of the size-changing scenes are cut, which makes a lot of those scenes awkward and pointless.  I still can't wrap my head around the Rabbit's House scene.  Like, imagine if this was your first experience with Alice.  Wouldn't you be completely confused as to why she is going into his house and why he's collecting pebbles?

Actually, that can be said for much of the film.  This movie, and the ones before it, assume that the viewer is familiar with the story, because nothing is given the appropriate amount of focus or time to make it a satisfying story in its own right.  I'm more disappointed with this film because it went to such lengths to include a lot more than the previous two, but it didn't do anything much with that extra time.

But, there was care, as I said, and most of that care went into the costumes.  The filmmakers' biggest goal of this movie seemed to be, "Look at how well we made costumes that match the original illustrations."  Every animal and bird has a costumed human playing them (including the Cheshire Cat) and every human character (save for the Court of Cards) has a giant fake head meant to emulate the Tenniel drawings.  Those are some pretty cool costumes, but it gives off the wrong effect.

I think the main reason I dislike this film is that it's unsettling.  This doesn't feel like we're watching Alice's fantastical dream adventure through Wonderland.  It feels like she had a dream about a bunch of people who got dressed in weird animal costumes.  Because of that, however, I think there could be some value in this film.  Many times, during the unintentionally creepy moments (like the Lobsters crawling out of the sea), I thought that this movie would be great playing projected on the wall of a Halloween party or a similar venue.  The story is just familiar enough that you understand what's happening, but everything is slightly off and uncanny.

So, I'm unsure how to grade this film accurately.  As a children's story, it fails, but as an experimental horror piece, it's great!

1.5 out of 5 Size Changes AND 4.5 out of 5 Creepy Lobsters