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Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)

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Alice in Wonderland is the thirteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released to theaters on July 28, 1951 by RKO Radio Pictures. Lewis Carroll's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have been frequently adapted for film; this adaptation solved the problems of the setting by using animation. The film features the voices of Kathryn Beaumont as Alice and Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter. Made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself, this film and its animation are often regarded as some of the finest work in Disney studio history, despite the lackluster, even hostile, reviews it originally received, especially in the UK.

Contents

History

Production

Walt Disney had been interested in the Alice novels and had tried adapting the first book during the late 1930s and early 1940s; unfortunately, World War II caused the project to be shelved. After the war, Disney decided to take characters from both of the Alice novels and use them in the planned movie. Disney also thought of making Alice In Wonderland as a mix of live action and animation (as in Disney's early Alice shorts, which featured a live-action Alice in an animated setting, as well as the feature Song of the South), with Luana Patten as Alice, until this idea eventually grew into a fully animated musical. In fact, in the course of the production, some 30 to 40 songs (many of which with lyrics copied directly from Carroll's text) were thought up for the movie and then 2/3 of them were placed on the cutting room floor (including one that did eventually show up as part of Peter Pan). Oliver Wallace and Frank Churchill were called on to help with the compositions of some of the songs, but Walt still needed help with the creations of "novelty songs". Consequently, he called on the same Tin Pan Alley songwriters he asked to compose the songs for Cinderella.

Kathryn Beaumont is the voice actress who played Alice in the film. It was said that animators were so impressed with her curly haired and proper appearance that she was used as an additional inspiration while designing the character of Alice. She also voices on the dark ride version at Disneyland.

Release: Reactions & criticisms

Upon its release, the film was panned by critics and failed miserably at the box office. Disney later said he despised the film, claiming that, unlike Cinderella, Alice had a lack of "heart" and that compared to the sympathetic Cinderella (whom most people felt for), most people didn't care about Alice. (It seems that Disney proposed the movie to be 75 minutes, mainly because he didn't want the movie to be too long for people to watch.) As a result, it was not re-issued theatrically like most of the other Disney films until 23 years later. It was, however, the first Disney animated feature to be shown on television, as an episode of Disneyland, where it was edited severely to run within a running time of an hour.

Re-release schedule, home video, & beyond

The surreal elements in the film sparked a revival of the film in the psychedelic generation, which led to theatrical reissues on March 15, 1974 and April 3, 1981 and reruns on network television. The psychedelic association was furthered by synchronization enthusiasts who found simliarities in run time and themes between the film and the Pink Floyd album The Wall. The film was released on video in 1981 and 1986 (though it was mastered for tape in 1985), staying in general release ever since, with a 40th Anniversary video release in 1991 (this and the 1986 video release were in Disney's Classics Collection), and again in 1994 and 1999 (these two were in Disney's Masterpiece Collection.) It was released on DVD in Region 2 in 1999 and in Region 1 in 2000 (under the Gold Classic Collection DVD series), and on a fully restored two disc edition in 2004. A video game version of the film was released on Game Boy Color by Nintendo of America on October 4, 2000 in North America. Additionally, Disney's take on Wonderland also appeared as one of the first worlds in Disney and Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts. Alice is also one of the fabled Princesses of Heart needed to open the Keyhole to Hollow Bastion.

Today, the film has a devout cult following. That's something that can't be said for all animated films.

Titles in different languages

Trivia

Alice sings "In the Golden Afternoon" with a garden of flowers in this scene from Walt Disney's 1951 animated feature Alice In Wonderland.
Enlarge
Alice sings "In the Golden Afternoon" with a garden of flowers in this scene from Walt Disney's 1951 animated feature Alice In Wonderland.

Voice cast

Songs

Songs in Film Songs written for film but not used

External links


Disney theatrical animated features
Official canon (Walt Disney Animated Classics)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) • Pinocchio (1940) • Fantasia (1940) • Dumbo (1941) • Bambi (1942) • Saludos Amigos (1942) • The Three Caballeros (1944) • Make Mine Music (1946) • Fun and Fancy Free (1947) • Melody Time (1948) • The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) • Cinderella (1950) • Alice in Wonderland (1951) • Peter Pan (1953) • Lady and the Tramp (1955) • Sleeping Beauty (1959) • One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) • The Sword in the Stone (1963) • The Jungle Book (1967) • The Aristocats (1970) • Robin Hood (1973) • The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) • The Rescuers (1977) • The Fox and the Hound (1981) • The Black Cauldron (1985) • The Great Mouse Detective (1986) • Oliver & Company (1988) • The Little Mermaid (1989) • The Rescuers Down Under (1990) • Beauty and the Beast (1991) • Aladdin (1992) • The Lion King (1994) • Pocahontas (1995) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) • Hercules (1997) • Mulan (1998) • Tarzan (1999) • Fantasia 2000 (1999) • The Emperor's New Groove (2000) •  (2001) • Lilo & Stitch (2002) • Treasure Planet (2002) • Brother Bear (2003) • Home on the Range (2004) • Chicken Little (2005) • Meet the Robinsons (2007) • American Dog (2008) • Rapunzel Unbraided (2009)
Live-action films with animation
The Reluctant Dragon (1941) • Victory Through Air Power (1943) • Song of the South (1946) • So Dear to My Heart (1949) • Mary Poppins (1964) • Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) • Pete's Dragon (1977) • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) • Enchanted (2007)
DisneyToons Studio animated features
 (1990) • A Goofy Movie (1995) • Doug's 1st Movie (1999) • The Tigger Movie (2000) •  (2001) • Return to Never Land (2002) • The Jungle Book 2 (2003) • Piglet's Big Movie (2003) • Teacher's Pet (2004) • Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)
Other theatrical animated features
Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons (1937) • The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) • James and the Giant Peach (1996) • Dinosaur (2000) 

 

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