Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Film and TV productions across the years

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland starring Fiona Fullerton made in 1972

introduction	picnic and rabbit	the pool of tears	caterpillar to duchess	a mad tea party
a game of croquet	the lobster quadrille	the trials beginning	odds and ends	next film

As the Gryphon and Turtle come to the end their dance, the White Rabbit enters with the news that"The trial's beginning, the trial's beginning", and he runs off.

Alice follows the White Rabbit down a dark corridor which opens out into the courtroom. She sits down alongside the Gryphon. Almost all the characters we've seen before appear in this scene and the dialogue is exactly as the Lewis Carroll wrote it. The Mad Hatter, still only moderately mad, is called as a witness, along with his hapless colleagues. The Cook sweeps in, trailing agression and pepper in equal parts, and promptly sweeps out again!

Michael Crawford plays his part to the limit, with more than a passing nod to his old "Frank Spencer" character. He also gets to sing the splendidly lunatic "Tarts" song - and, again, the lyrics are Lewis Carroll's.

Alice notices that she's growing again and gradually edges everyone off their seats. The effect is again achieved by the use of blue screen. Not quite so effective as previously it has to be said, the need to get both Alice in near-shot and the rest of the courtroom in long-shot results in a mismatch of focus which gives the game away. Anyway, Alice gets the "Rule 42" treatment and the courtroom starts baying for her head. Lots of scary distorted closeups here. Time to wake up!

The courtroom seems to swirl around her as Alice is engulfed with playing cards. The chaotic scene dissolves into a close-up of her sleeping face, and so, with dry leaves blowing around her, Alice wakes to find it's all been a dream.

Charles Dodgson smiles enigmatically and the five of them pack up the picnic things. Back in the boat, we see Alice's face in closeup as she muses on her wonderful dream as they row back down the river and towards home.

"Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" was made at Shepperton Studios, London, on the banks of the Thames. The river scenes were filmed not far from the studios.
The real-life boat trip and the picnic, which led to Charles Dodgson writing the original story, took place at Godstow Lock just outside Oxford. It's still the Thames, although at that point it's local name is the Isis. Same bit of water but ninety miles upstream!

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