Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a 1972 British musical film based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel of the same name and its 1871 sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, directed by Australian television producer-director William Sterling.[3] It had a distinguished ensemble cast with a musical score by John Barry and lyrics, Don Black.[4]

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Produced byDerek Horne
Written byWilliam Sterling
Don Black (lyrics)
Lewis Carroll (novel)
Based onAlice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
StarringFiona Fullerton
Music byJohn Barry
CinematographyGeoffrey Unsworth
Edited byPeter Weatherley
Production
company
Josef Shaftel Productions
Distributed byFox-Rank Distributors
Release date
  • 20 November 1972 (1972-11-20)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£700,000[1] or $1.5 million[2]

In 1973, the film won the BAFTA Film Award at the BAFTA Awards Ceremony for Best Cinematography, won by Geoffrey Unsworth, and Best Costume Design, won by Anthony Mendleson. Stuart Freeborn created make-up for the film based closely on the original John Tenniel drawings in the first edition of the novel.

Premise

In this musical film, young Alice falls in a rabbit hole. From there, she enters an unusual land of unusual people and talking creatures.

Cast

Production

Casting

It was originally intended to cast an actress who was close to the age of Alice in the original book. They began their search looking for girls who were between seven and ten years old. This concept was later scrapped when they realized that most girls of that age "lose their teeth, lisp a great deal, and have short attention spans."[5]

When the decision was made to audition older actresses, the director, William Sterling, orchestrated a nationwide search across Great Britain for an unknown young actress to play the title role of Alice. Over 2,000[6] girls between the ages of thirteen to seventeen years old auditioned for this highly sought after role. This search had been considered to be one of the biggest in the UK since Franco Zeffirelli's search for the roles of Romeo and Juliet six years earlier.

In addition to Fiona Fullerton, other actresses who auditioned for the coveted role included Rosalyn Landor and Lynne Frederick. Landor,[7] who had just turned thirteen at the time, impressed everyone at her audition and was asked back a few times, but the producers and director ultimately decided that she was too young. Lynne Frederick[8] was nearing the age of eighteen at the time, and after doing a few screen tests was deemed too sophisticated and mature for the part. Landor and Frederick were later cast in the Lionel Jeffries film The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972), which came out the same year as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972).

Fifteen year old Fiona Fullerton was ultimately cast as Alice. For the role of Alice, Fullerton had her long waist length brown hair dyed chestnut blonde.

Possible Deleted Scene

A dialogue scene was filmed between Alice and the Cheshire Cat, with the latter perched in a tree. Although some stills survive the footage itself was cut from the final print and may no longer exist.[9]

Soundtrack
  • "The Duchess Is Waiting"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Michael Crawford
  • "Curiouser And Curiouser"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Natalie Farmer
  • "You've Got To Know When To Stop"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Davy Kaye
  • "The Royal Processions"
Music by John Barry
  • "The Last Word Is Mine"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Michael Crawford and Natalie Farmer
  • "Digging For Apples"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Freddie Earlle
  • "There Goes Bill"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Freddie Earlle and Mike Elles
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Natalie Farmer
  • "Dum And Dee Dance (Nursery Rhyme)"
Lyrics by Lewis Carroll and Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Natalie Farmer
  • "From The Queen, An Invitation For The Duchess To Play Croquet"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Peter O'Farrell and Ian Trigger
  • "The Duchess's Lullaby"
Lyrics by Lewis Carroll and Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Peter Bull and Patsy Rowlands
  • "It's More Like A Pig Than A Baby"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Natalie Farmer
  • "I See What I Eat"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Robert Helpmann, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore and Fiona Fullerton
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Robert Helpmann, Peter Sellers
  • "The Pun Song"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Robert Helpmann, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore and Natalie Farmer
  • "Off With Their Heads"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Flora Robson
  • "The Croquet Game"
Music by John Barry
  • "Off With Their Heads (Reprise)"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Flora Robson
  • "I've Never Been This Far Before"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Michael Crawford and Natalie Farmer
  • "The Moral Song"
Lyrics by Lewis Carroll and Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Peter Bull
  • "The Me I Never Knew"
Lyrics by Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Natalie Farmer
  • "The Lobster Quadrille (The Mock Turtle's Song)"
Music by John Barry
  • "Will You Walk A Little Faster, Said A Whiting To A Snail"
Lyrics by Lewis Carroll and Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Michael Hordern and Spike Milligan
  • "They Told Me (Evidence Read At The Trial Of The Knave Of Hearts)"
Lyrics by Lewis Carroll and Don Black
Music by John Barry
Performed by Michael Crawford

Home media

The film has been released on VHS and DVD several times.

References
  1. Alexander Walker, National Heroes: British Cinema in the Seventies and Eighties, Harrap, 1985 p 126
  2. "The summer visitors". The Bulletin. 6 January 1973. p. 24.
  3. William Sterling on IMDb
  4. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland(1972)". Yahoo movies. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  5. Scott, Vernon (26 December 1972). "What would Lewis Carroll think? Alice's musical wonderland". Detroit News.
  6. Scott, Vernon (26 December 1972). "What would Lewis Carroll think? Alice's musical wonderland". Detroit News.
  7. "The Amazing Mr Blunden: Interview: Rosalyn Landor". Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy & Horror!.
  8. Edwards, Jonathan (1 January 2020). "Lynne Frederick Remembered » We Are Cult". We Are Cult. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  9. "Las aventuras de Alicia (1972)". IMDb.

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