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 Film and TV productions across the years |
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1930 - THE BEGINNING OF THE 'SOUND' ERA |
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Although the opening credits say that the production number "Alice in Wonderland" is to be presented in Technicolor, it exists today only in black and white. Originally released in theaters at 88 minutes, current TV prints, which can be seen occasionally on American Movie Classics, run 69 minutes.
| 1931 - THE FIRST ALICE IN WONDERLAND 'TALKIE' - with RUTH GILBERT |
Unique Foto FilmFeature Film (1931) USA Directed and edited by Bud Pollard Alice played by RUTH GILBERT The strong impression I get is that this was an inexpensive, independent production. Some good news: It's NOT a lost film. Impossible to see, perhaps, but not lost. That's because a detailed description of the first talking "Alice" appears in volume F3 of "The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931-1940." The plot description contains the entry "print viewed." So the person who wrote the description must have seen it. AFI offers this interesting tidbit: the film contains the song "Alice in Wonderland" by Irving Berlin; Berlin had written the song for the 1916 Broadway musical "Century Girl." I've only been able to find one review, written by Mordaunt Hall for The New York Times of December 28, 1931. It begins: "Notwithstanding the drawbacks of poor photography and none too efficient vocal recording, the film version of 'Alice in Wonderland,' which is now at the Warners' Theatre, possesses something of the charm Lewis Carroll gave to his memorable work. There is an earnestness about the direction and the acting that elicits sympathy, for poor little Alice had to go through the ordeal of coming to shadow life in an old studio in Fort Lee, N.J., instead of enjoying the manifold advantages of her rich cousins who hop from printed pages to the screen amid the comforts of a well-equipped Hollywood studio." |
"There are times when the scenes in this film look as though Sir John Tenniel's illustrations had staggered to life armed with Carroll's pleasingly imaginative lines." "Much more might have been done with the camera, for aside from one or two double exposures and some wabbly flashes of Alice getting shorter and shorter or taller and taller, things run along too smoothly." [Yes, "wabbly," whatever that means. Maybe it's a misspelling of "wobbly."] 
"Ruth Gilbert plays Alice. She wears a blond wig and gives her own
sincere impressions, which are acceptable. Ralph Hertz impersonates the Rabbit and Leslie T. King does quite well as the Mad Hatter. Vie Quinn appears as the Queen and N.R. Cregan as the King. Gus Alexander sounds
the necessary chagrin as the Mock Turtle, but Jimmy Rosen as the inquisitive Caterpillar might be almost any strange living thing. Even Alice might have told him that, whatever he thinks he looks like, he does not look much like a caterpillar. Lillian Ardell is energetic and peppery as the Cook."
"And although none of the acting is any too good, it will probably meet with favor from youngsters who go to see an articulate Alice on the screen." I asked a research assistant at the Library of Congress if they had a copy of this "Alice" - alas, no. It's not listed in their holdings. Not surprising, since the AFI book says "although the viewed print included a copyright statement, the title was not found in the copyright records." AFI also says this film was re-released in 1933 "when Paramount was making their version of the story." Article researched and written by Eugene Kim.
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