title: Alice in Wonderland
director: Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow
cast: May Clark, Cecil Hepworth
one sentence or less: a story best suited for short adaptation
Do you have ten minutes to watch a movie? I’m sure you do. One of the free options at the Criterion Collection- sponsored MUBI is a rare gift from the BFI; a ten minute long silent adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” from 1903. This was the first ever adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s headrush of a tale, made 37 years after the story’s first appearance and a mere eight after the brothers Lumiere first filtered light through a piece of moving celluloid. It’s not the most interesting early film available to view, but it’s definitely worth the time needed to hunt it down.
“Alice in Wonderland” was a major achievement for the fledgling British film industry. Although the sole surviving print runs a bit over ten minutes, it was originally a twelve minute long production, making it the longest British film produced at the time, and along with Edwin S. Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery,” one of the longest films in the world.
The film itself is a bit of a hodge-podge, dropping large swaths of the Carroll story and leaving only the major events to play out in front of a stationary camera, which captures everything as if it were recording a play. Characters are seen in full body and enter and exit the frame to indicate a scene’s opening or closure. The print itself is badly damaged, with frames missing and pock marks appearing all over the film. Directors Hepworth and Stow use every trick in the early film book of photographic manipulation to make Alice shrink in the House of Many Doors and turn her giant again in the White Rabbit’s home. The blue tint that originally colored the picture was restored by the BFI for this release and can, at times, muddy the clarity of the image in a film with an already unclear narrative that presupposes a knowledge of plot that, standing one hundred forty-five years removed from the story’s first appearance, can no longer be assumed.
But, that doesn’t mean the short is bad. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the things that mark its weaknesses are also strengths. The print’s pops and crackles force the film’s tactility to the surface and offer viewers a constant reminder of the film’s age and, for lack of a better phrase, film-ness. Another reminder of that film-ness, the blue tint, provides a bizarre addition to the already psychedelic visuals. The men in rabbit costumes seen in full and the Mad Hatter sharing a lunch with the Cheshire Cat create a Lynchian air of menace. One final reason why this is worth your time is this: watching it on a computer allows you to mute the tinny piano soundtrack and choose a soundtrack of your own volition. It’s another example of the way that technology is changing viewing practices and the way audiences interact with film.
This version of Alice In Wonderland may demand a bit more of its viewer in terms of story knowledge, ability to sit through the film’s physical imperfections, and muddied composition but it’s ultimately a rewarding viewing experience. It may demand more than the average silent short, but it offers an interesting counter position to the big-budget, ultra-modern version recently rendered by Tim Burton, which leaves more of the story in the film than Lewis Carroll’s original really deserves. But, this particular telling does deserve your attention.
The Reel Debate 