Editing Alice in Wonderland (1933 film)

{{short description|1933 film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Alice in Wonderland
| image          = Alice In Wonderland 1933 Poster.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Norman Z. McLeod]]
| producer       = [[Louis D. Lighton]] {{small|(uncredited)}}
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist |
* [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]]
* [[William Cameron Menzies]]
}}
| based_on       = {{Based on|''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' and ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]''|[[Lewis Carroll]]}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist |
* [[Charlotte Henry]]
* [[Richard Arlen]]
* [[Roscoe Ates]]
* [[Gary Cooper]]
* [[Leon Errol]]
* [[Louise Fazenda]]
* [[W. C. Fields]]
* [[Skeets Gallagher]]
* [[Cary Grant]]
* [[Raymond Hatton]]
* [[Edward Everett Horton]]
* [[Roscoe Karns]]
* [[Baby LeRoy]]
* [[Mae Marsh]]
* [[Polly Moran]]
* [[Jack Oakie]]
* [[Edna May Oliver]]
* [[May Robson]]
* [[Charlie Ruggles]]
* [[Alison Skipworth]]
* [[Ned Sparks]]
* [[Ford Sterling]]
}}
| music          = [[Dimitri Tiomkin]]
| cinematography = {{Plainlist | 
* [[Bert Glennon]]
* [[Henry Sharp (cinematographer)|Henry Sharp]]
}}
| editing        = [[Ellsworth Hoagland]] {{small|(uncredited)}}
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1933|12|22}}
| runtime        = 77 minutes
| country        = [[United States]]
| language       = [[English language|English]]
}}
'''''Alice in Wonderland''''' is a 1933 American [[Pre-Code Hollywood|pre-Code]]<!--"p" in prefixed adjective "pre-Code" should always be lowercased within narrative.!--> [[fantasy film]] adapted from the novels by [[Lewis Carroll]]. The film was produced by [[Paramount Pictures]], featuring an [[ensemble cast|all-star cast]]. It is all [[live action]], except for the [[The Walrus and the Carpenter|Walrus and The Carpenter]] sequence, which was animated by [[Harman and Ising|Harman-Ising Studio]]. The film was seen by [[Walt Disney]], and inspired him to create [[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|his company's 1951 animated adaptation]]. <ref name=splog>{{cite web|title=Harman-Ising's Alice|date=September 30, 2010|website=Michael Sporn Animation|url=http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2391}}</ref>

Stars include [[W. C. Fields]] as [[Humpty Dumpty]], [[Edna May Oliver]] as the [[Red Queen (Through the Looking Glass)|Red Queen]], [[Cary Grant]] as the [[Mock Turtle]], [[Gary Cooper]] as [[White Knight (Through the Looking-Glass)|The White Knight]], [[Edward Everett Horton]] as [[The Hatter]], [[Charles Ruggles]] as [[March Hare|The March Hare]], [[Richard Arlen]] as the [[Cheshire Cat]], [[Baby LeRoy]] as [[Joker (playing card)|The Joker]], and [[Charlotte Henry]] in her first leading role as [[Alice (Alice in Wonderland)|Alice]].

This adaptation was directed by [[Norman Z. McLeod]] from a screenplay by [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]] and [[William Cameron Menzies]], based on [[Lewis Carroll]]'s books ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1865) and ''[[Through the Looking-Glass|Alice Through the Looking-Glass]]'' (1871). It also drew heavily from [[Eva Le Gallienne]] and [[Florida Friebus]]'s then-recent stage adaptation.

When Paramount previewed the film in 1933, the original running time was 90 minutes. By the time it was shown to the press, it was truncated to 77 minutes. Many reviews, including the savage one in ''Variety'', made a point of how long it seemed at an hour-and-a-quarter. Though being released at this shorter time, it is often mistakenly reported that [[Universal Pictures]] edited it when it bought the television rights in the late 1950s.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023753/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv|title=Alicia en el país de las Maravillas (1933)|work=IMDb}}</ref> Universal released the film on [[DVD]] on March 2, 2010, as the first [[home video]] release.

It is the only major live-action Hollywood theatrical production to adapt the original ''Alice'' stories. The next major live-action Hollywood production to do so is a [[Alice in Wonderland (1985 film)|two-part adaptation for television in 1985]], and the second major live-action Hollywood production for movie theaters to use the title ''[[Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' was made by [[Tim Burton]] for [[Disney]] in 2010 as a sequel to the original story.

==Plot==
Alice (Charlotte Henry) and Dinah live peacefully in their home, until chasing a White Rabbit into a hole. Falling in, Alice is transported to various doors. She drinks a bottle that reads "Drink Me, Not Poison", which makes her grow big. Her tears flood the room while weeping. She eats a cookie and turns tiny. Swimming in her tears, she meets a couple of odd men named Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. She encounters a tea party, where the Mad Hatter and March Hare live. She meets the Cheshire Cat, then she meets Humpty Dumpty, who tells her what an unbirthday is. She leaves and meets a caterpillar and changes size again. Alice returns to her normal size and runs away from the caterpillar and meets the Queen of Hearts. They play croquet by grabbing a flamingo by the neck. Alice is welcomed to a castle, realizing that she is Queen or Princess of the land. The people of Wonderland start to go crazy and gang up on Alice by running towards her, Then Alice gets choked by the Queen, wakes up in the drawing room, and relieved that it was only a dream.

==Cast==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
*[[Richard Arlen]] as [[Cheshire Cat]]
*[[Roscoe Ates]] as Fish Footman
*[[William Austin (actor)|William Austin]] as [[Gryphon (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Gryphon]]
*[[Gary Cooper]] as [[White Knight (Through the Looking-Glass)|White Knight]]
*[[Leon Errol]] as Uncle Gilbert
*[[Louise Fazenda]] as [[White Queen (Through the Looking-Glass)|White Queen]]
*[[W.C. Fields]] as [[Humpty Dumpty]]
*[[Alec B. Francis]] as [[King of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|King of Hearts]]
*[[Richard "Skeets" Gallagher]] as [[White Rabbit]]
*[[Cary Grant]] as [[Mock Turtle]]
*[[Lillian Harmer]] as The Cook
*[[Raymond Hatton]] as [[Mouse (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|The Mouse]]
*[[Charlotte Henry]] as [[Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Alice]]
*[[Sterling Holloway]] as Frog Footman{{efn|Holloway would later star in [[Disney]]'s [[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|1951 film adaptation]] as the voice of the Cheshire Cat.}}
*[[Edward Everett Horton]] as [[Hatter (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|The Hatter]]
*[[Roscoe Karns]] as [[Tweedledee and Tweedledum|Tweedledee]]
*[[Baby LeRoy]] as The Joker
*[[Mae Marsh]] as [[The Sheep]]
*[[Polly Moran]] as [[Dodo (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|The Dodo]]
*[[Jack Oakie]] as [[Tweedledee and Tweedledum|Tweedledum]]
*[[Edna May Oliver]] as [[Red Queen (Through the Looking-Glass)|Red Queen]]
*[[May Robson]] as [[Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Queen of Hearts]]
*[[Charlie Ruggles]] as [[March Hare]]
*[[Jackie Searl]] as [[The Dormouse]]
*[[Alison Skipworth]] as [[Duchess (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Duchess]]
*[[Ned Sparks]] as [[Caterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Caterpillar]]
*[[Ford Sterling]] as [[White King (Through the Looking-Glass)|White King]]
{{div col end}}

===Uncredited===
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Billy Barty]] as White Pawn/The Pig-Baby
* [[Billy Bevan]] as Two of Spades
*Colin Campbell as Frog Gardener
*[[Jack Duffy (actor)|Jack Duffy]] as Leg of Mutton
*Meyer Grace as the Third Executioner
*[[Ethel Griffies]] as Ms. Simpson
*Charles McNaughton as Five of Spades
*Patsy O'Byrne as Aunt
*[[George Ovey]] as Plum Pudding
*[[Will Stanton (actor)|Will Stanton]] as Seven of Spades
*Joe Torillo as Second Executioner
{{div col end}}

==Reception==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Alice In Wonderland 1933 film.jpg|right|thumb|350px|[[Ethel Griffies]] and [[Charlotte Henry]] in ''Alice in Wonderland''<br/>{{ffdc|1=Alice In Wonderland 1933 film.jpg|log=2015 June 15}}]] -->
Its status as a [[box office bomb]] cast doubt on whether a live-action fantasy with strange-looking characters could be successfully presented on the screen, until [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]'s ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939).{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} It was banned in [[China]] under a category of "superstitious films" for its "strangeness" and unscientific elements.<ref name="china">{{Cite book|title=Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922–1943|last=Yingjin|first=Zhang|date=1999|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804735728|pages=190|oclc=40230511}}</ref>

''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine said that the timeless classic book is too surrealistic and adult-oriented to have a good film adaptation. It said the film is "vividly realized" with genuine humor and a satisfying literary treatment, and the cast is "a stunning aggregation of screen names", but the experience is a non-sequitur "volume of separate four-line gags".<ref name="Variety 112">{{cite magazine | magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] | date=December 1933 | author=Rush | title=Alice in Wonderland | page=10 | volume=112 | url=https://archive.org/details/variety112-1933-12/page/n201 | access-date=July 23, 2021}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0023753|title=Alice in Wonderland}}
*{{AFI film|6980|Alice in Wonderland}}
*{{tcmdb title|id=67021|title=Alice in Wonderland}}
*[http://movies.tvguide.com/alice-wonderland/review/111309 Review at TVGuide.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405215647/http://movies.tvguide.com/alice-wonderland/review/111309 |date=April 5, 2010 }}
*[http://www.carygrant.net/reviews/alice.html Reprints of historic reviews, photo gallery at CaryGrant.net]
*[https://archive.org/details/AliceInWonderland1933NormanMcleodCaryGrantCharlotteHenryLeonErrolEnglish ''Alice in Wonderland''] available for free download from the [https://archive.org/ Internet Archive]

{{Alice}}
{{Norman Z. McLeod}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alice in Wonderland (1933 film)}}
[[Category:1930s fantasy films]]
[[Category:1933 films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American fantasy films]]
[[Category:Censored films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin]]
[[Category:Films based on Alice in Wonderland]]
[[Category:Films based on multiple works]]
[[Category:Films directed by Norman Z. McLeod]]
[[Category:Puppet films]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Joseph L. Mankiewicz]]
[[Category:Works banned in China]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy films]]