Alice in Wonderland (1931 film)


Alice in Wonderland is an independently made black-and-white Pre-Code American film based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, directed by Bud Pollard, produced by Hugo Maienthau, and filmed at Metropolitan Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
This was the first sound version of the story, and therefore the first film in which Carroll's original dialogue was heard. The film stars Ruth Gilbert as Alice and Leslie King as the Mad Hatter. The film opened at the Warner Theatre in New York City. The movie begins with a jazzy theme song written by Irving Berlin.

Synopsis

This version of the classic story does not depict Alice's arrival in Wonderland, nor the events of the first four chapters of the book. Immediately after the opening credits, the confused heroine simply discovers herself in a strange forest without explanation or introduction. She soon meets the White Rabbit, the bad-tempered Cook and the Duchess. She joins a mad tea-party with the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse, while the Cheshire Cat leaves his grin behind.
The Caterpillar becomes annoyed with her, and the Queen of Hearts threatens to cut off her head. With the Duchess, Alice meets the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, and at a bizarre trial, Alice finally becomes fed up with all the strange events and people. Alice awakes in a lawn chair in the back garden of her home, and goes inside for tea as the film ends.

Cast

This low-budget film was made in 1931 at the Metropolitan Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The film's release came out one year before the centenary of the birth of Lewis Carroll, an event which was causing a wave of 'Alice' fever on both sides of the Atlantic.
In the United States, a number of 'Alice in Wonderland' plays, films, songs and puppet shows in the early 1930s attempted to cash in on this Carroll and 'Alice' fever. For example, in the Betty Boop cartoon Betty in Blunderland Betty went to Wonderland, as did Eva Le Gallienne in a 1932 Broadway adaptation that combined Alice in Wonderland with Through the Looking Glass, and which was one of the hits of the year.
Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures was preparing a big-budget Alice in Wonderland which starred an unknown, Charlotte Henry, with an all-star cast that featured W.C. Fields, Cary Grant and Gary Cooper. In 1932, Alice Liddell, the inspiration for the 'Alice' of the original books, and by now an elderly lady, visited America to take part in these centenary celebrations.
The film opened at the prestigious Warner Theatre in New York City. However, the film was not financially successful and received little critical attention.