Alice in Wonderland | |
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Based on | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll |
Written by | Jonathan Miller |
Directed by | Jonathan Miller |
Starring | |
Music by | Ravi Shankar |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Jonathan Miller |
Cinematography | Dick Bush |
Editor | Pam Bosworth |
Running time | 72 minutes |
Original release | |
Release | 28 December 1966 |
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) |
Alice in Wonderland is a 1966 BBC television play, shot on film, based on Lewis Carroll's 1865 book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was adapted, produced and directed by Jonathan Miller, then best known for his appearance in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe.
Miller's production is unique among live-action Alice films in that he consciously avoided the standard Tenniel-inspired costume design and "florid" production values. Most of the Wonderland characters are played by actors in standard Victorian dress, with a real cat used to represent the Cheshire Cat. Miller justified his approach as an attempt to return to what he perceived as the essence of the story: "Once you take the animal heads off, you begin to see what it's all about. A small child, surrounded by hurrying, worried people, thinking 'Is that what being grown up is like?'"[1]
Unlike many 1960s BBC productions, the play survived destruction, and was issued onto DVD by both the BFI and the BBC themselves.