Not the best film adaptation. Fantasy #1
Unfortunately, mice do not live in the air. But you can catch a bat.
After watching horror movies change over the past 50 years, I decided to do the same with the fantasy genre. I’m not a big fan of fantasy, quite the opposite, but there are a lot of good films in this genre. And it is quite possible that thanks to this experiment I will find many more useful ones. Same conditions. One movie a year. I don’t take sequels into account, only the originals. Let's go.
Being on a picnic with his sister, young Alice begins to miss. Her attention is drawn to a hurried white rabbit. Following him, Alice falls into a rabbit hole and finds herself in a strange world where it constantly increases and decreases in size. She has a fascinating journey to the land of miracles.
This Lewis Carol story was read by me as a child. But I didn't understand much. It's too strange a story for me. Even with a good imagination, this story still seemed to me blatant nonsense. So many different events, so many different characters that it is easy to get confused.
Plus
One of the few advantages is not the length of the film. Somehow, the director and screenwriter William Sterling managed to frame this story in an hour and a half film. And without loss for the storyline. Some scenes and dialogue had to be cut a bit, but it even benefited the film. It's not too long and that's a plus.
I don’t even know if it should be attributed to the pluses, but the musical accompaniment here turned out to be very relevant. The filmmakers added an element of the musical to the main story. Light, unobtrusive songs perfectly diluted the dull narrative. If it weren’t for them, I’d probably fall asleep by the end of the first half hour.
Well, probably it is worth to take the pluses of acting. I’m obviously not familiar with the other actors’ work, but in this film, they performed very well. I would especially like to mention Fiona Fullerton, who played the main role. At the beginning of the film, she did not even try to play, but by the middle she began to show emotions. And at the end of the day, it was pretty good.
Minuses
The main disadvantage for me is the story. Of course, this fairy tale is loved and revered by many, but I do not feel delighted with it. I didn’t like it when I was a kid and I don’t like it now. Sumbur narrative, too quickly successive events that barely begin to understand. Well, little-understood characters that only reinforce the absurdity of the story.
Even for the early 70s, there are disgusting costumes and scenery. And maybe you should bring the makeup guy here. Everything looks toy and as if plastic. The scenery consists of painted ass, against which the events take place. Costumes are hastily sewn carnival costumes, but makeup is terrible. About special effects in the form of crudely pasted characters in the frame do not even want to talk.
Result
This film is one of many adaptations of this Lewis Carol tale. Before this movie, I had only seen a Disney interpretation of Tim Burton with Mia Wasikowski and Johnny Depp. That version didn’t really hit me either, but it had a lot of advantages, ranging from a unique star cast to modern visual effects. And the narrative was much more interesting. There is nothing like that in this movie. But this version in its kind is also not bad. At least for those years.
4 out of 10