Alice in Wonderland
About Alice in Wonderland
Alice (May Clark) follows a White Rabbit (Mrs. Hepworth) down a hole into a hall of doors. A bottle labeled Drink Me shrinks her, not enough to pass the tiny door. A cake labeled Eat Me makes her grow. A fan shrinks her into the garden, where she tries to play with a dog. Inside the Rabbit's house she grows again and uses the fan to get out. In a kitchen the cook throws things. Alice takes the baby outside and it turns into a pig. The woman is the Duchess. The Cheshire Cat sends her to the Mad Hatter (Norman Whitten). The Queen, also Mrs. Hepworth, has her join a parade of cards. Alice offends her, boxes the executioner's ears, and runs. She wakes in the garden. It was a dream.
Cast & crew
More about Alice in Wonderland
Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow directed. Hepworth produced, with Herman Casler, Elias Koopman, and Harry Marvin as executive producers. The original length is about 12 minutes. It opened on 17 October 1903. American Mutoscope and Biograph, Edison, and Kleine Optical distributed prints. Hepworth plays the Frog. Geoffrey and Stanley Faithfull play cards. The only known original copy was partly restored by the British Film Institute in 2010, with tinting. The restored picture runs 9 minutes 35 seconds. The Internet Archive identifier is Alice_in_Wonderland_1903.
Themes
Making
Hepworth used dissolves and cuts for the size changes, and put his own family and workshop staff into the cards, the rabbit, and the frog.
Technique
Alice's shrinking and growing are done by stopping the camera and replacing her, then cutting to a nearer or wider setup.
Preservation
One original copy is known. The BFI's 2010 restoration runs 9 minutes 35 seconds, against an original of about 12 minutes, and restores the tinting. It is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- It is the first film of Lewis Carroll's Alice books.
- Mrs. Margaret Hepworth plays both the White Rabbit and the Queen of Hearts.
- Norman Whitten also plays a fish.
- The surviving restoration is shorter than the 12-minute original.
- A 1996 BBC DVD included the film as an extra. It is also on the Vintage Cinema: Experiments in Early Film set.
- The BFI issued the tinted restoration in 2010.
Scenes
- Alice drinks from the bottle and cannot yet fit the little door.
- The baby turns into a pig in her arms.
- The cards rush her, and she wakes on the garden seat.
Influenced by
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Also available
- Internet Archive (Alice_in_Wonderland_1903)
