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Alice in Wonderland

Director: Norman McLeod (Dir) Release Date: 22 Dec 1933 Production Date: began late Sep 1933 Duration (in mins): 75-76 Duration (in reels): 8			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:	Leon Errol	(Uncle Gilbert)
	Louise Fazenda	(White Queen)
	Ford Sterling	(White King)
	Skeets Gallagher	(Rabbit)
	Raymond Hatton	(Mouse)
	Polly Moran	(Dodo Bird)
	Ned Sparks	(Caterpillar)
	Sterling Holloway	(Frog)
	Roscoe Ates	(Fish)
	Alison Skipworth	(Duchess)
	Lillian Harmer	(Cook)
	Richard Arlen	(Cheshire Cat)
	Edward Everett Horton	(Mad Hatter)
	Jackie Searl	(Dormouse)
	Charlie Ruggles	(March Hare)
	Baby LeRoy	(Joker)
	May Robson	(Queen of Hearts)
	Alec B. Francis	(King of Hearts)
	William Austin	(Gryphon)
	Cary Grant	(Mock Turtle)
	Edna May Oliver	(Red Queen)
	Jack Oakie	(Tweedledum)
	Roscoe Karns	(Tweedledee)
	Mae Marsh	(The Sheep)
	W. C. Fields	(Humpty Dumpty)
	Gary Cooper	(White Knight)
	Charlotte Henry	(Alice)
	Billy Barty	(White Pawn/The Baby)
	Billy Bevan	(Two of Spades)
	Colin Campbell	(Garden Frog)
	Harvey Clark	(Father William)
	Jack Duffy	(Leg of Mutton)
	Harry Ekezian	(First executioner)
	Meyer Grace	(Third executioner)
	Ethel Griffies	(Governess)
	Colin Kenny	(The Clock)
	Lucien Littlefield	(Father William's Son)
	Charles McNaughton	(Five of Spades)
	Patsy O'Byrne	(The Aunt)
	George Ovey	(Plum Pudding)
	Will Stanton	(Seven of Spades)
	Joe Torrillo	(Second executioner)
	Jacqueline Wells	(Alice's sister)

Summary:

In nineteenth century England, Alice becomes bored while reading a book in the company of her cat, and climbs on top of the fireplace to look into a mirror. Alice steps through the mirror and falls into an enchanted land where chess pieces come to life, among other amazements. While following a White Rabbit, she falls down a tunnel, and after changing sizes several times, and nearly drowning in a puddle of mouse tears, she enters a garden. There she encounters the Dodo Bird who recites History to dry her off. A hookah-smoking caterpillar demonstrates how to change sizes by eating bits of mushroom, and at the Duchess', where the cook and the Duchess are fighting, Alice takes the Duchess's baby into her arms, but the child soon changes into a pig and Alice drops it. Alice continues through the garden, asking directions of the Cheshire Cat who only confuses her and dissolves into air. She then joins a tea party with the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse. Later, Alice is saved from execution ordered by the Queen of Hearts because it is the executioner's day off. While walking with the Duchess, who is instructing her on morals, Alice encounters the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle. Twin brothers Tweedledee and Tweedledum recite the tale, "The Carpenter and the Walrus," but when they start to battle over a broken rattle, a crow appears and scares them off. An egg that Alice purchases grows into Humpty Dumpty, who attempts to explain the poem "Jabberwocky" until he falls off the wall and shatters. The bumbling White Knight has already sent his men to put Humpty back together again, so he escorts Alice to the end of the forest, after which she falls down a hill and becomes a queen. At a party in her honor, all the dishes start to dance and fly into the air. The Red Queen begins to strangle Alice, however, and she awakens back in her chair at home, with Dinah, her cat, who was the Red Queen in her dream.

Production Company:	Paramount Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company:	Paramount Productions, Inc.
Director:	Norman McLeod	(Dir)
	Ewing Scott	(Asst dir)
Producer:	Louis D. Lighton	(Prod)
	Benjamin Glazer	(Assoc prod)
Writer:	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	(Scr)
	William Cameron Menzies	(Scr)
Photography:	Henry Sharp	(Photog)
	Bert Glennon	(Photog)
	Gordon Jennings	(Tech eff)
	Farciot Edouart	(Tech eff)
Art Direction:	Robert Odell	(Settings)
Film Editor:	Ellsworth Hoagland	(Ed)
Costumes:	Wally Westmore	(Masks and cost)
	Newt Jons	(Masks and cost)
Music:	Dimitri Tiomkin	(Mus)
	Nathaniel Finston	(Mus supv)
Sound:	Eugene Merritt	(Rec eng)
Country:	United States
Language:	English

Songs:	"Fill Up the Glasses" and "Walk a Little Faster," lyrics by Lewis Carroll, music by Dave Franklin.
Composer:	Lewis Carroll
	Dave Franklin
Source Text:	Based on the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (London, 1865) and his novel Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (London, 1870).
Authors:	Lewis Carroll

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number	Passed By NBR:
Paramount Productions, Inc.	22/12/1933 dd/mm/yyyy	LP4386	Yes

Physical Properties:	b&w:
	Sd:	Western Electric Noiseless Recording


Genre:	Fantasy

Subjects (Major):	Dreams
	Imaginary creatures
	Innocents
	Transmutation

Subjects (Minor):	Cats
	Chess
	Executions
	Falls from heights
	Great Britain--History--Social life and customs
	Imaginary lands
	Knights and knighthood
	Mushrooms
	Parties
	Rabbits and hares
	Royalty
	Twins

Note:	In the opening cast credits, Charlotte Henry appears last, however, the opening title card reads: "Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with Charlotte Henry as 'Alice.'" End credits were missing from the viewed print. The release dialogue script in the Paramount story files at the AMPAS Library reveals that the end credits were listed in alphabetical order, as appears above. According to Paramount files, over 7,000 applicants were screened for the role of "Alice" before Charlotte Henry was chosen after a five month search. A news item in MPD notes that Charles Laughton and Mary Boland were originally cast in the film, and a HR news item noted that Charles Butterworth was tested for a role. A HR news item reported that William Cameron Menzies was loaned by Fox to co-direct the "trick sequences" of this film; however, the extent of his contribution to the film other than as screenwriter has not been determined. Various 1933 news items in MPD and correspondence between Mary Pickford and Walt Disney reveal they had planned a combination live action and animated production, possibly in color, of Alice in Wonderland , but were unable to obtain the rights to the story as the rights had been purchased in England by Paramount on 9 May 1933. Copyright records note that research was conducted at the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, CA, which maintains first editions of Lewis Carroll's works. The film was released one year after the 100th anniversary of Carroll's birth, which brought public attention to Carroll's most famous work. In Jun 1931, Eva LeGallienne produced a play at her Civic Repertory Theatre based on Carroll's novel, and again presented an adaptation of the novel by herself and Florida Friebus as a play on 12 Dec 1932, starring Josephine Hutchinson as "Alice." According to modern sources, Columbia was then interested in producing a film of Alice in Wonderland starring LeGallienne; however, Columbia abandoned the idea after Paramount bought the film rights. According to a 1934 DV news item, Samuel Drantowich filed suit against Paramount to prevent the exhibition of this film "on the grounds that it was made into a film in 1914" (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20 ; F1.0053). Drantowich's connection to the 1914 film and the outcome of the lawsuit has not been determined. Modern sources, including a filmography of W. C. Fields and a biography of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, indicate that Ida Lupino was considered for the role of Alice. Modern sources also credit LeRoy Prinz with Pageantry . Although one modern source speculates that the animated sequence of "The Carpenter and the Walrus" was created by the Fleischer brothers, other sources credit the team of Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising with the animation. In December, 1935, Kinematrade, Inc. released a 58 min. British film of the same title. Other films based on Lewis Carroll's novel are the 1951 Disney animated feature, directed by Clyde Geronimi, and Hamilton and Wilfred Jackson; and the 1972 British film Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , directed by William Sterling and starring Fiona Fullerton. In 1990 Woody Allen directed Alice , starring Mia Farrow, which loosely embodies the spirit of Carroll's novel. Dreamchild , a 1985 British film directed by Gavin Millar and starring Coral Browne and Ian Holm, explored the relationship between Lewis Carroll and the girl on whom his novel was based.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Daily Variety	5 Dec 33	p. 3.
Film Daily	11 Dec 33	p. 7.
Hollywood Reporter	26 Jun 33	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	1 Jul 33	p. 5.
Hollywood Reporter	15 Aug 33	p. 7.
Hollywood Reporter	27 Nov 33	p. 3.
Motion Picture Daily	29 Mar 33	p. 4.
Motion Picture Daily	10 May 33	p. 2, 4
Motion Picture Daily	19 May 33	p. 2.
Motion Picture Herald	16 Dec 33	p. 3.
New York Times	31 Mar 33	p. 22.
New York Times	23 Dec 33	p. 19.
Variety	26 Dec 33	p. 10.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



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