Disney VHS: Alice in Wonderland w/ Case Animated Masterpiece

Description

Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection) [VHS]
Kathryn Beaumont (Actor), Ed Wynn (Actor), Clyde Geronimi (Director), Hamilton Luske (Director) Rated: G (General Audience) Format: VHS Tape

In the hands of Disney’s extraordinary animation artists, Lewis Carroll’s immortal literary classic comes to life like never before! Filled with fantasy and topsy-turvy fun, Alice in Wonderland is teeming with spectacular songs and astounding animation in the highest Disney tradition!

Imaginatively rendered, this 1951 Disney adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic is also appropriately surreal. Alice (voiced by Kathryn Beaumont) has all the anticipated experiences: shrinking and growing, meeting the White Rabbit, having tea with the Mad Hatter, etc. Characterization is very strong, and the Disney team worked hard to bring screen personality to Carroll’s eccentric creations.

Actors: Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway, Jerry Colonna
Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson
Writers: Aldous Huxley, Bill Peet, Del Connell, Dick Huemer, Dick Kelsey
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, Original recording reissued, NTSC
Rated: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Home Video
Run Time: 75 minutes

On the tape:
Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection Trailer
The Brave Little Toaster Trailer
Walt Disney Family Film Collection Trailer

The story of the animated film is similar to that of the first book, but contains parts of the second book. Dozy Alice is so silly she follows trouble by chasing a talking rabbit down hs hole. At the bottom, she drinks an unknown substance which helps her get through a talking door into Wonderland. Here she meets the Dodo, TweedleDum and TweedleDee (who tell her the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter), the Talking flowers (watch out for the snobby Iris!), the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat. She even has un-birthday tea with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. However, Alice gets caught up in a game of croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and later a trial. The whole thing becomes such a nightmare, Alice realises she’s had a dream while she dozed off.

I know Alice isn’t for everyone, but when you look at the other films made based on Children’s classics by Disney (eg- Jungle Book, Hunchback of Notre Dame), you’ll see it’s more faithful than those films to the original. However if you have read the books and haven’t seen this film, some characters are missing (eg- Duchess, Mock Turtle, Knave of Hearts, White Knight). This may just think that Disney has ruined this classic forever. They haven’t. It’s the best adaption I’ve ever seen.

The best bits are the Walrus and the Carpenter, the garden of singing flowers and flamingo croquet. And the Mad Tea Party is still the funniest part of a Disney classic.

Walt Disney first attempted unsuccessfully to adapt Alice into an animated feature film during the 1930s. However, he finally revived the idea in the 1940s. The film was originally intended to be a live-action/animated film, however, Disney decides making it an all-animated feature in 1946. The theme song of the same name has since become a jazz standard. While the film was critically panned on its initial release, the movie proved to be ahead of its time and has since been regarded as one of Disney’s greatest animated classics, notably one of the biggest cult classics in the animation medium, as well as one of the best film adaptations of Alice.

1-55890-036-5

Case slightly squished. VHS itself is near mint. Tape is completely rewinded for your convenience.