Alice in Wonderland (1933 film)

Lore & Background

The film was all live action except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Harman-Ising Studio. It was seen by Walt Disney and inspired him to create his company's 1951 animated adaptation. When Paramount previewed the film in 1933, the original running time was 90 minutes, but by the time it was shown to the press it was truncated to 77 minutes. Many reviews, including a savage one in Variety, noted how long it seemed at an hour-and-a-quarter. It is often mistakenly reported that Universal Pictures edited it when it bought the television rights in the late 1950s, but the shorter version was actually released at the time. There is no verifiable historical evidence that the film was banned in China as a 'superstitious film' for its strangeness and unscientific elements.

Reader's Guide

Alice in Wonderland (1933) holds significance as the first major Hollywood live-action attempt to adapt Lewis Carroll's surreal stories. Its status as a box office bomb cast doubt on whether a live-action fantasy with strange-looking characters could succeed on screen, until MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939). The film was banned in China under a category of 'superstitious films' for its strangeness and unscientific elements. Variety magazine noted that the timeless classic book is too surrealistic and adult-oriented for a good film adaptation, calling the film 'vividly realized' with genuine humor but a non-sequitur 'volume of separate four-line gags.' Universal released the film on DVD on March 2, 2010, as the first home video release. The next major live-action Hollywood production for movie theaters to use the title Alice in Wonderland was Tim Burton's 2010 sequel for Disney.

Did You Know?

• The film was seen by Walt Disney and inspired his company's 1951 animated adaptation.
• It is the only major live-action Hollywood theatrical production to adapt the original Alice stories until a 1985 television adaptation.
• The Walrus and The Carpenter sequence was animated by Harman-Ising Studio.

An Unprecedented Gathering of Stars

Paramount's 1933 live-action fantasy brought together a cast that no other studio could have matched. W. C. Fields took on the role of Humpty Dumpty, while Edna May Oliver embodied the Red Queen. Cary Grant appeared as the Mock Turtle, Gary Cooper as the White Knight, and Edward Everett Horton as the Hatter. Charles Ruggles played the March Hare, Richard Arlen the Cheshire Cat, and Baby LeRoy the Joker. Charlotte Henry, in what marked her first leading role, portrayed Alice herself. Norman Z. McLeod directed the ensemble from a screenplay penned by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and William Cameron Menzies. The script drew not only on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel and his 1871 sequel but also leaned heavily on the then-recent stage adaptation by Eva Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus. The production was entirely live action with one exception: the Walrus and the Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Harman-Ising Studio.

A Bomb at the Box Office and a Banned Film

Despite its extraordinary talent, the picture was a commercial failure, and its reception was far from kind. When Paramount first previewed the film in 1933, it ran ninety minutes, but by the time it reached press screenings the runtime had been trimmed to seventy-seven minutes. Critics were quick to point out that even at an hour and a quarter the film felt interminable. Variety's particularly scathing review called the experience a string of disconnected gags, though it did acknowledge the genuine humor and the impressive literary treatment of Carroll's source material. The film's fate extended beyond the United States: in China it was outright banned, classified under a category of superstitious films because of its strangeness and unscientific elements. A persistent myth holds that Universal Pictures re-edited the picture when it acquired the television rights in the late 1950s, but the shorter version audiences saw was the one released in 1933. Universal finally issued the film on DVD on March 2, 2010, marking its first home video release.

A Singular Milestone in Adaptation History

The 1933 Paramount picture holds a unique place in cinema history: it is the only major live-action Hollywood theatrical production ever made from the original Alice stories. For over five decades, no other major studio attempted a comparable screen adaptation. The next significant live-action Hollywood production to tackle the material was a two-part television adaptation in 1985. It was not until 2010 that a second major live-action Hollywood theatrical film used the Alice in Wonderland title, when Tim Burton directed a Disney sequel to the original story. The 1933 film also left a mark far beyond its own box-office failure. Walt Disney reportedly saw the picture and found in it the inspiration that would eventually lead to his studio's 1951 animated adaptation. In that sense, the very film that critics dismissed as a collection of disconnected sketches planted the seed for one of the most beloved animated features of the twentieth century.

A Dream Told in Sudden Shifts

The narrative follows Alice and her cat Dinah in their quiet home until a White Rabbit lures Alice down a hole. She lands in a room full of doors, where a bottle labeled Drink Me, Not Poison sends her growing until her tears flood the space. A cookie shrinks her to a tiny size, and she swims through her own tears to encounter Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. A chaotic tea party with the Mad Hatter and March Hare follows, then a meeting with the Cheshire Cat. Humpty Dumpty explains the concept of an unbirthday before Alice runs into a caterpillar, triggering yet another change in size. Back to normal, she stumbles into the Queen of Hearts' croquet game, where players grab flamingos by the neck. Alice is welcomed into a castle and told she is Queen or Princess of the land. The inhabitants of Wonderland descend into madness, swarming toward her. The Queen chokes Alice, and she jolts awake in the drawing room, relieved it was all a dream.