http://fandomania.com/dvd-review-alice-in-wonderland-1966-bbc-television-play/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:03:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://fandomania.com/dvd-review-alice-in-wonderland-1966-bbc-television-play/comment-page-1/#comment-168503 Greg Cameron Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:01:26 +0000 http://fandomania.com/?p=21432#comment-168503 This adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" is very redolent of its time - the wrong time, unfortunately(i.e., the sixties). A very glacially arty project with attitudinizing photography, as it were. The director thinks the girl here was perfect for the project - in effect, impervious to jokes and haughty in an upper-class sort of way. To me, she only projected in a 'flat affect' sort of way. She is, of course, too old for the role, but adaptations often take liberties. Really, to me, only Peter Cook, John Gielgud, and (of all people) Malcolm Muggeridge seem to be in the spirit of the thing. Nice to see Peter Sellers, but he's on automatic pilot here. Notice him at one point trotting through some 'Goon Show' voices('Henry Crun', etc.). The director, in the commentary, tries to defend his various production decisions. Mostly, I found his reasons unconvincing. He says that he needed name actors to anchor the project, but then saw no point in putting them in animal costumes(hiding them, in effect). Stuff and nonsense. Actors do what they're paid to do and viewers are not complete idiots, one hopes. I can't find it in myself to complain about the Ravi Shankar soundtrack. Another odd production decision, but Shankar is a great musician, always great to hear him, etc. Overall, the whole thing feels like it's on tranquillizers. The guy who wanted to edit some dreamily langourous passages out was probably correct. It's worth watching to see another person's take on the material(if nothing else, it's interesting at worst)and to see some famous actors go through their paces. The people in British parliament who thought this film encouraged pedophilic appetites are, as it were, too easily excited. More a reflection on British Parliament than the work itself. This film irritates me somehow, but I still give it a kind of guarded recommendation. Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada This adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” is very redolent of its time – the wrong time, unfortunately(i.e., the sixties). A very glacially arty project with attitudinizing photography, as it were. The director thinks the girl here was perfect for the project – in effect, impervious to jokes and haughty in an upper-class sort of way. To me, she only projected in a ‘flat affect’ sort of way. She is, of course, too old for the role, but adaptations often take liberties. Really, to me, only Peter Cook, John Gielgud, and (of all people) Malcolm Muggeridge seem to be in the spirit of the thing. Nice to see Peter Sellers, but he’s on automatic pilot here. Notice him at one point trotting through some ‘Goon Show’ voices(‘Henry Crun’, etc.). The director, in the commentary, tries to defend his various production decisions. Mostly, I found his reasons unconvincing. He says that he needed name actors to anchor the project, but then saw no point in putting them in animal costumes(hiding them, in effect). Stuff and nonsense. Actors do what they’re paid to do and viewers are not complete idiots, one hopes. I can’t find it in myself to complain about the Ravi Shankar soundtrack. Another odd production decision, but Shankar is a great musician, always great to hear him, etc. Overall, the whole thing feels like it’s on tranquillizers. The guy who wanted to edit some dreamily langourous passages out was probably correct. It’s worth watching to see another person’s take on the material(if nothing else, it’s interesting at worst)and to see some famous actors go through their paces. The people in British parliament who thought this film encouraged pedophilic appetites are, as it were, too easily excited. More a reflection on British Parliament than the work itself. This film irritates me somehow, but I still give it a kind of guarded recommendation. Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada

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