As the name suggests, this is an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It was released on January 19th, 1915, and directed by W.W. Young. He never directed anything again, and the film itself came from a studio that barely existed. The Nonpareil Feature Film Corporation released this film, which was the second and final production they ever put out. Little, if any, information regarding Young, or the company, seems to exist, and if I had to guess, I’d say this was created by a group of amateur actors and artists, and they made it as more of a one-off.
As for the film itself, in many ways it feels like a lower stakes Dante’s Inferno. Alice wanders from situation to situation, each the same as the previous one in that she has encountered. It’s rather rote, but the costumes are so freaky that I remained invested to the very end.
Viola Savoy makes a good Alice, though she seems a bit old for the part. In Lewis Carroll’s story, she’s seven years old, but Savoy is 16, though this change in age is hardly a deal-breaker. The film, as with many of these early adaptations of classic literature I’ve been watching, only loosely follows its source. In this film, Alice takes a walk in the woods, and we’re reminded by a title card that “things we do and things we see shortly before we fall asleep are apt to influence our dreams.” Alice sees things and does things, before deciding to take a nap, during which, you guessed it, she dreams of the things she’s seen and done.
From here, the film is very much a dream come to life, as Alice encounters one actor after another in costumes reminiscent of what one sees at Chuck E. Cheese’s, or Disneyland— large, cartoonish animal heads atop furry body suits. It’s a little unnerving after awhile, though I imagine for its time it was somewhat unusual. Either way, it remains effective today, if only for its freakiness.
Plot-wise, not much happens. Alice wanders from scenario to scenario, scoping out the anthropomorphized animals. A rabbit, a bear, an owl, a dodo bird, a monkey and other animals interact with our heroine, as she makes her way to the Animal Convention, where they all dance together. After that she follows the white rabbit, talks to a caterpillar, meets the queen, talks with the Cheshire Cat, plays croquet, and does all the things one expects Alice to do during her time in Wonderland. Eventually she heads to the beach, meets the mock turtle and some parasol-carrying lobsters before heading to the trial of the Knave of Hearts. Just as she’s called to the stand to testify, she awakens from her dream and the film ends.
I don’t own a copy of this film, but it is available on Amazon Prime, which is where I watched it.
Next I’m watching: Young Romance [1915], directed by George Melford.
Alice in Wonderland (Jan. 19, 1915)