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Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)
Encyclopedia
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature
produced by Walt Disney
and based primarily on Lewis Carroll
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass
. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New York City
and London on July 29, 1951 by RKO Radio Pictures. The film features the voices of Kathryn Beaumont
(who also voiced Wendy Darling in the 1953 Disney Peter Pan
) as Alice, and Ed Wynn
as the Mad Hatter
.
. When her sister chastises Alice's daydreaming, Alice tells her cat Dinah that she would prefer to live in a nonsenscial dreamland called Wonderland. Alice and Dinah spot a waistcoat-wearing White Rabbit
passing by, and Alice gives chase as he rushes off claiming to be late for an unknown event. Alice follows him into a rabbit hole and falls into a labyrinth. She sees the White Rabbit disappear into a tiny door and tries to follow, but the door's talking knob advises her to alter her size
using a mysterious drink and food. Alice eventually manages to shrink and passes through the door's keyhole and into Wonderland. She meets several strange characters including the Dodo
and Tweedledum and Tweedledee
who recount the tale of "The Walrus and the Carpenter
."
Alice eventually finds the White Rabbit in his house, but before she can ask what he is late for, she is sent to fetch some gloves. She eats a cookie and grows into a giant again, trapping herself in the rabbit's house. The White Rabbit, the Dodo, and chimney sweep Bill the Lizard
believe Alice to be a monster and plot to burn the house down. Alice escapes by eating a carrot and shrinking down to the size of an insect. She meets and sings with some talking flowers, but they chase her away upon accusing her of being a weed
. Alice is then instructed by the hookah-smoking Caterpillar
to eat a part of his mushroom grow back to her original size. Alice decides to keep the remaining pieces of the mushroom on hand.
Alice meets the Cheshire Cat
who advises her to visit the Mad Hatter
, March Hare
and the Dormouse
. The three are hosting a mad tea party and celebrate Alice's "unbirthday
", a day where it is not her birthday. The White Rabbit appears, but the March Hare and Mad Hatter destroy his pocketwatch and throw him out of the party. Alice gives up on her pursuit of the White Rabbit and decides to go home, but gets lost in the Tulgey Wood. The Cheshire Cat appears and leads Alice into a giant hedge maze ruled by the tyrannical Queen of Hearts
and her smaller husband, the King of Hearts
. The Queen executes anyone who enrages her, and invites Alice in a bizarre croquet match using flamingoes and hedgehogs as the equipment.
The Cheshire Cat appears again and pulls a trick on the Queen which she accuses Alice of doing, and Alice is put on trial. However, she eats the remains of the Caterpillar's mushroom and grows to an enormous height which the King claims is forbidden in court. Tired of Wonderland, Alice openly insults the Queen until she shrinks to her normal size and is forced to flee after the Queen orders her execution. Alice becomes pursued by most of Wonderland's characters until she finally reunites with the Doorknob. The Doorknob tells her she is having a dream, forcing Alice to wake herself up. The film ends as Alice and her sister head home for tea.
) stretches all the way back to 1923, when Disney was still a 21-year-old filmmaker trying to make a name for himself in Kansas City. When his first series of short cartoons, the Newman Laugh-O-Grams, failed to recoup production costs, the struggling young producer tried to create other short films hoping that one of them would point the way forward. The last of these Kansas City works was called Alice's Wonderland, featuring a live action
girl (Virginia Davis
) interacting with cartoon characters. While charming, the short failed to receive much notice, and so Walt Disney decided to abandon producing animated films, and left Kansas City to become a live-action film director in Hollywood.
After months of trying, and failing, to find work in live-action, Disney partnered with his older brother Roy to create the Disney Brothers Studio, and they revived the idea of producing animated shorts. The independent distributor M. J. Winkler screened Walt's 1923 Alice short and found it promising, so Winkler agreed to distribute a series of Alice Comedies for the Disney brothers. Jubilant, Walt contacted his former Kansas City colleagues and brought them to Hollywood to work on the new series (a group that today reads like a who's who of American animation legends, including Ub Iwerks
, Rudolph Ising, Isadore "Friz" Freleng, and Hugh Harman). From 1924 to 1926, the Disney Brothers Studio produced over fifty short Alice Comedies. The success of this silent film
series established Disney as a film producer, and was probably significant for the success of the later Mickey Mouse
, usually credited as the first great Disney success.
Walt Disney had a long-standing affection for Alice in Wonderland. For instance, as soon as he began discussing making feature-length films
, he returned repeatedly to the idea of making a feature-length version of Alice, but for various reasons, these attempts were never realized. Prior to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937), Disney planned on making Alice in Wonderland his first feature-length film instead. Like the early Alice Comedies, he planned on using a combination of live-action and animation for the "wonderland" sequences, and in early 1933, a Technicolor screen test
was shot with Mary Pickford
as Alice. This first attempt by Disney at producing an Alice feature was eventually tabled when Paramount released their own 1933 live-action version
, with a script by Cleopatra director Joseph Mankiewicz (brother of Citizen Kane
(1941) scribe Herman J. Mankiewicz
) and a cast that included Gary Cooper
as the White Knight
, Cary Grant
as the Mock Turtle
, and W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty
.
Disney did not abandon the idea of making an Alice feature. After the enormous success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – as Leonard Maltin
writes in his history of Walt Disney's film career, The Disney Films, Walt Disney officially recorded the title Alice in Wonderland with the MPAA
in 1938. As preparatory work began on this possible "Alice" feature, the economic devastation of the Second World War
as well as the demands of the productions of Pinocchio
(1940), Fantasia
(1940), and Bambi
(1942) pushed the "Alice" project aside. After the war, in 1945, Disney proposed a live-action/animated version of Alice in Wonderland that would star Ginger Rogers
and would utilize the techniques seen in Disney's The Three Caballeros
(1944). This, too, fell through, and in 1946, work began on an all-animated version of Alice in Wonderland that would feature art direction
heavily based on the famous illustrations of Sir John Tenniel
. This version was storyboarded, but was ultimately rejected by Walt, as was yet another proposed live-action/animated version of Alice that would star Luanna Patten (seen in Disney's Song of the South
(1946) and So Dear to My Heart
(1948)).
The film cost $3,000,000, $21 million in 2010, so Alice in wonderland was a slightly low budget film. In the late 1940s, work resumed on an all-animated Alice with a focus on comedy, music and spectacle as opposed to rigid fidelity to the books, and finally, in 1951, Walt Disney released a feature-length version of Alice in Wonderland to theaters, eighteen years after first discussing ideas for the project and almost thirty years after making his first Alice Comedy. Disney's final version of Alice in Wonderland followed in the traditions of his feature films like Fantasia and The Three Caballeros in that Walt Disney intended for the visuals and the music to be the chief source of entertainment, as opposed to a tightly-constructed narrative like Snow White or Cinderella
(1950). Instead of trying to produce an animated "staged reading" of Carroll's books, Disney chose to focus on their whimsy and fantasy, using Carroll's prose as a beginning, not as an end unto itself.
Another choice was decided upon for the look of the film. Rather than faithfully reproducing the famous illustrations of Sir John Tenniel, a more streamlined and less complicated approach was used for the design of the main characters. Background artist
Mary Blair
took a Modernist
approach to her design of Wonderland, creating a world that was recognizable, and yet was decidedly "unreal." Indeed, Blair's bold use of color is one of the film's most notable features.
Finally, in an effort to retain some of Carroll's imaginative verses and poems, Disney commissioned top songwriters to compose songs built around them for use in the film. A record number of potential songs were written for the film, based on Carroll's verses—over 30—and many of them found a way into the film, if only for a few brief moments. Alice in Wonderland would boast the greatest number of songs included in any Disney film, but because some of them last for mere seconds (like "How Do You Do and Shake Hands," "We'll Smoke the Monster Out," "'Twas Brillig
," "The Caucus Race," and others), this fact is frequently overlooked. The original song that Alice was to sing in the beginning was titled "Beyond the Laughing Sky". The song, like so many other dropped songs, was not used by the producers. However, the composition was kept and the lyrics were changed. It later became the title song for Peter Pan
(which was in production at the same time), "The Second Star to the Right".
The title song, composed by Sammy Fain
, was later adopted by jazz
pianist Bill Evans
and featured on his Sunday at the Village Vanguard
.
and literary critics
who accused Disney of "Americanizing" a great work of English literature
. Disney was not surprised by the critical reception to Alice in Wonderland - his version of Alice was intended for large family audiences, not literary critics - but despite all the long years of thought and effort, the film met with a lukewarm response at the box office and was a sharp disappointment in its initial release. Though not an outright disaster, the film was never re-released theatrically in Walt Disney's lifetime, airing instead every so often on network television. Alice in Wonderland aired as the second episode of Walt Disney's Disneyland
TV series on ABC
in 1954, in a severely edited version cut down to less than an hour. In The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin
relates animator Ward Kimball
felt the film failed because, "it suffered from too many cooks - directors. Here was a case of five directors each trying to top the other guy and make his sequence the biggest and craziest in the show. This had a self-canceling effect on the final product."
Almost two decades after its original release, after the North American success of George Dunning
's animated feature Yellow Submarine (1968), Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland suddenly found itself in vogue with the times. In fact, because of Mary Blair's art direction
and the long-standing association of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with the drug culture, the feature was re-discovered as something of a "head film" (along with Fantasia
and The Three Caballeros
) among the college-aged and was shown in various college town
s across the country. The Disney company resisted this association, and even withdrew prints of the film from universities, but then, in 1974, the Disney company gave Alice in Wonderland its first theatrical re-release ever, and the company even promoted it as a film in tune with the "psychedelic
" times (mostly from the hit song "White Rabbit
" performed by Jefferson Airplane
). This re-release was successful enough to warrant a subsequent re-release in 1981.
Later, with the advent of the home video
market, the Disney company chose to make Alice in Wonderland one of the first titles available for the rental market
on VHS
and Beta
and for retail sale on RCA's short-lived CED Videodisc format. The film was released on October 15, 1981 on VHS
, CED Videodisc, and Betamax
and May 28, 1986 on VHS, Betamax, and Laserdisc in the Walt Disney Classics
, (though it was mastered for tape in 1985), staying in general release ever since, with a 40th Anniversary video release in 1991 (this and the 1986 video release were in Disney's Classics Collection
), and again on October 28, 1994 on VHS and Laserdisc in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection
, and finally in 1999 (these two were in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection
.) It was released on DVD
in Region 2 on July 13, 1999 and in Region 1 on July 4, 2000 (under the Gold Classic Collection DVD series). A fully restored 1.33:1 ratio two-disc "Masterpiece Edition" was released in 2004, including the full hour-long episode of the Disney television show with Kathryn Beaumont, Edgar Bergen
, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, Bobby Driscoll
and others that promoted the film, computer games, deleted scenes, songs and related materials, which went back on moratorium in January 2009. Disney released a 2-disc Special "Un-Anniversary" Edition DVD on March 30, 2010 in order to promote the new Tim Burton Film
. The movie was released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo on February 1, 2011 to celebrate its 60th Anniversary.
On the film aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes
, the overall rating of the film is a "fresh" 80% from 25 critical reviews.
This motion picture received an Academy Award nomination for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
, but it lost to An American in Paris
.
American Film Institute
Lists
on July 28, 1951. The soundtrack was re-released on Audio CD
by Walt Disney Records on February 3, 1998.
Songs in the film
Songs written for film but not used
s "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
", two new reprises of "I'm Late!", and three new numbers entitled "Ocean of Tears", "Simon Says", and "Who Are You?" respectively. This 60-80 minute version is owned by Music Theatre International
in the Broadway, Jr. Collection along with other Disney Theatrical shows such as Disney's Aladdin, Jr., Disney's Mulan, Jr., Beauty and the Beast
, Disney's High School Musical
: On Stage!, Elton John
and Tim Rice
's Aida
, and many more.
, Donald Duck
wears Alice's dress and has her hairstyle but brown not blond. A larger pencil bird is in the film as well. Alice and several other characters from the film were featured as guests in House of Mouse, and the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts were two of the villains featured in Mickey's House of Villains
. The Mad Hatter was also featured in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare were also featured in several episodes of Bonkers. Bill the Lizard, Tweedledum, Cheshire Cat, the doorknob, and an orange-colored version of one of the bulb-horn birds also appear in the 1988 Disney
film Who Framed Roger Rabbit
. In the opening of Aladdin
the peddler tries to sell a hookah much like the one the Caterpillar used. In Aladdin and the King of Thieves
, the Genie turns into the White Rabbit. In Darkwing Duck
, there is a villain called Tuskernini, a character that resembles the walrus in some ways. Weebo shows clips of the movie on her screen in Flubber
. An episode Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
, entitled "Mickey's Adventures in Wonderland", is based on the film.
, a teacups
ride based on Disney's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
Alice in Wonderland is also frequently featured in many parades and shows in the Disney Theme Parks, including The Main Street Electrical Parade
, SpectroMagic
, Fantasmic, Dreamlights
, The Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party and Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams
. Disneyland contains a dark ride based on the film
in addition to the teacups, and Disneyland Paris also contains a hedge maze
called Alice's Curious Labyrinth
, which takes its inspiration from the film. The now-defunct Mickey Mouse Revue
, shown at Walt Disney World and later at Tokyo Disneyland
, contained characters and scenes from the film.
by Nintendo of America
on October 4, 2000 in North America. Additionally, in the video games Kingdom Hearts
and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
, Wonderland is a playable world. Alice is also a major character in the overall plot of the first game due to her role as one of seven "Princesses Of Heart". Other characters from the movie that appear include The Queen of Hearts, The Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Doorknob,the Caterpillar (V-cast Only), and the Deck of Cards. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare appear in portrait form as well. All except the Doorknob also appear in Chain of Memories, albeit in the form of illusions made from the main character's memory. While the world is absent in Kingdom Hearts II
, it returns in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
and Kingdom Hearts coded
, the latter featuring a digitized version of the world originating from data in Jiminy Cricket
's royal journal.
In Disney's Villains' Revenge
the queen of hearts is one of the villains who tries to turn the ending to her story to where she finally cuts off Alice's head. In Toy Story 3: The Video Game
the Mad Hatter
's hat is one of the hats you can have the town's folk wear. Mickey Mousecapade
features various characters from the film. The Japanese version, in fact, is based very heavily on the film, with almost every reference in the game coming from the film.
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
produced by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
and based primarily on Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and London on July 29, 1951 by RKO Radio Pictures. The film features the voices of Kathryn Beaumont
Kathryn Beaumont
Kathryn Beaumont is an English actress, singer, school teacher, and a Disney Legend who was born in London. She is best known for playing the voice of both Alice, in Disney's Alice in Wonderland and Wendy in Disney's Peter Pan...
(who also voiced Wendy Darling in the 1953 Disney Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1953 film)
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
) as Alice, and Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
as the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
.
Plot
On the bank of a tranquil England river, a young girl named Alice grows tired of her older sister's retelling of the history of William I of EnglandWilliam I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
. When her sister chastises Alice's daydreaming, Alice tells her cat Dinah that she would prefer to live in a nonsenscial dreamland called Wonderland. Alice and Dinah spot a waistcoat-wearing White Rabbit
White Rabbit
The White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice...
passing by, and Alice gives chase as he rushes off claiming to be late for an unknown event. Alice follows him into a rabbit hole and falls into a labyrinth. She sees the White Rabbit disappear into a tiny door and tries to follow, but the door's talking knob advises her to alter her size
Resizing (fiction)
Resizing , is a theme in fiction, in particular in fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction.- Early instances in fiction :...
using a mysterious drink and food. Alice eventually manages to shrink and passes through the door's keyhole and into Wonderland. She meets several strange characters including the Dodo
Dodo (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
-Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland version:The Dodo, who in this adaptation of the book is named Uilleam and is portrayed by Michael Gough, bears a down of brilliant blue and is one of Alice's advisers, who also took first note of her identity as the true Alice. Mysteriously, the dodo vanishes...
and Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Tweedledum and Tweedledee are fictional characters in an English language nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom. The nursery rhyme has a Roud Folk Song Index number...
who recount the tale of "The Walrus and the Carpenter
The Walrus and the Carpenter
"The Walrus and the Carpenter" is a narrative poem by Lewis Carroll that appeared in his book Through the Looking-Glass, published in December 1871. The poem is recited in chapter four, by Tweedledum and Tweedledee to Alice. The poem is composed of 18 stanzas and contains 108 lines, in an...
."
Alice eventually finds the White Rabbit in his house, but before she can ask what he is late for, she is sent to fetch some gloves. She eats a cookie and grows into a giant again, trapping herself in the rabbit's house. The White Rabbit, the Dodo, and chimney sweep Bill the Lizard
Bill the Lizard
Bill the Lizard is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.- History :Introduced in chapter four, Bill is perceived by Alice to be someone who does all of the hard work for The White Rabbit and the denizens of the community...
believe Alice to be a monster and plot to burn the house down. Alice escapes by eating a carrot and shrinking down to the size of an insect. She meets and sings with some talking flowers, but they chase her away upon accusing her of being a weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
. Alice is then instructed by the hookah-smoking Caterpillar
Caterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Caterpillar is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.-Appearance in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:...
to eat a part of his mushroom grow back to her original size. Alice decides to keep the remaining pieces of the mushroom on hand.
Alice meets the Cheshire Cat
Cheshire Cat
The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Known for his distinctive mischievous grin, the Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture.-Origins:...
who advises her to visit the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
, March Hare
March Hare
Haigha, the March Hare is a character most famous for appearing in the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The main character, Alice, hypothesises,...
and the Dormouse
Dormouse (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Dormouse is a character in "A Mad Tea-Party", Chapter VII from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He sat between the March Hare and the Hatter...
. The three are hosting a mad tea party and celebrate Alice's "unbirthday
Unbirthday
An unbirthday is an event that can be celebrated on any day that is not the person's birthday. It is a neologism coined by Lewis Carroll in his Through the Looking-Glass, giving rise to "The Unbirthday Song" in the 1951 Disney animated feature film Alice in Wonderland.In Through the Looking-Glass,...
", a day where it is not her birthday. The White Rabbit appears, but the March Hare and Mad Hatter destroy his pocketwatch and throw him out of the party. Alice gives up on her pursuit of the White Rabbit and decides to go home, but gets lost in the Tulgey Wood. The Cheshire Cat appears and leads Alice into a giant hedge maze ruled by the tyrannical Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The Queen of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll. She is a foul-tempered monarch, that Carroll himself pictured as "a blind fury", and who is quick to decree death sentences at the slightest offense...
and her smaller husband, the King of Hearts
King of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)
The King of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:He seems to, when compared to the Queen of Hearts, be the moderate part of the Wonderland government...
. The Queen executes anyone who enrages her, and invites Alice in a bizarre croquet match using flamingoes and hedgehogs as the equipment.
The Cheshire Cat appears again and pulls a trick on the Queen which she accuses Alice of doing, and Alice is put on trial. However, she eats the remains of the Caterpillar's mushroom and grows to an enormous height which the King claims is forbidden in court. Tired of Wonderland, Alice openly insults the Queen until she shrinks to her normal size and is forced to flee after the Queen orders her execution. Alice becomes pursued by most of Wonderland's characters until she finally reunites with the Doorknob. The Doorknob tells her she is having a dream, forcing Alice to wake herself up. The film ends as Alice and her sister head home for tea.
Cast
- Kathryn BeaumontKathryn BeaumontKathryn Beaumont is an English actress, singer, school teacher, and a Disney Legend who was born in London. She is best known for playing the voice of both Alice, in Disney's Alice in Wonderland and Wendy in Disney's Peter Pan...
as Alice - Ed WynnEd WynnEd Wynn was a popular American comedian and actor noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor....
as Mad HatterMad HatterHatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll... - Richard HaydnRichard HaydnRichard Haydn was an English comic actor in radio, films and television.-Early life and career:Born George Richard Haydon in London, he was known for playing eccentric characters, such as Edwin Carp, Claud Curdle, Richard Rancyd and Stanley Stayle. Much of his stage delivery was done in a...
as CaterpillarCaterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)The Caterpillar is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.-Appearance in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:... - Sterling HollowaySterling HollowaySterling Price Holloway, Jr. was an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television programs. He was also a voice actor for The Walt Disney Company...
as Cheshire CatCheshire CatThe Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat popularised by Lewis Carroll's depiction of it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Known for his distinctive mischievous grin, the Cheshire Cat has had a notable impact on popular culture.-Origins:... - Jerry Colonna as March HareMarch HareHaigha, the March Hare is a character most famous for appearing in the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.The main character, Alice, hypothesises,...
- Verna FeltonVerna FeltonVerna Felton was an American character actress who was best-known for providing many female voices in numerous Disney animated films, as well as voicing Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law Pearl Slaghoople for Hanna-Barbera...
as Queen of HeartsQueen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)The Queen of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll. She is a foul-tempered monarch, that Carroll himself pictured as "a blind fury", and who is quick to decree death sentences at the slightest offense... - J. Pat O'MalleyJ. Pat O'MalleyJames Patrick O'Malley was an English singer and character actor, who appeared in many American films and television programs during the 1940s–1970s, using the stage name J. Pat O'Malley...
as Tweedledum and TweedledeeTweedledum and TweedledeeTweedledum and Tweedledee are fictional characters in an English language nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom. The nursery rhyme has a Roud Folk Song Index number...
; Walrus; Carpenter; Mother Oyster - Bill ThompsonBill Thompson (voice actor)Bill Thompson was an American radio actor and voice actor whose career stretched from the 1930s until his death.-Early career:...
as White RabbitWhite RabbitThe White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice...
; The DodoDodo (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)-Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland version:The Dodo, who in this adaptation of the book is named Uilleam and is portrayed by Michael Gough, bears a down of brilliant blue and is one of Alice's advisers, who also took first note of her identity as the true Alice. Mysteriously, the dodo vanishes... - Heather Angel as Alice's sister
- Joseph KearnsJoseph KearnsJoseph Sherrard Kearns was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson in the CBS television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962.-Biography:...
as Doorknob - Larry Grey as Bill the LizardBill the LizardBill the Lizard is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.- History :Introduced in chapter four, Bill is perceived by Alice to be someone who does all of the hard work for The White Rabbit and the denizens of the community...
, Card Painter - Queenie LeonardQueenie LeonardQueenie Leonard was a British character actress and singer.-Early life and career:She was born as Pearl Walker in London in 1905 and began her career on stage in 1921, and debuted on film in 1931. She had already amassed 20 years of stage and screen experience when, in 1941, she made the first of...
as A Bird in a Tree, Snooty Flower - Dink Trout as King of HeartsKing of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)The King of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:He seems to, when compared to the Queen of Hearts, be the moderate part of the Wonderland government...
- Doris LloydDoris LloydHessy Doris Lloyd was an English actress.She appeared in over 150 films between 1920 and 1967, including the 1933 low-budget Monogram Pictures version of Oliver Twist, in which she played Nancy...
as Rose - Jimmy MacDonaldJimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)John James "Jimmy" MacDonald was a Scottish voice actor and the original head of the Disney sound effects department, and the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1946 to 1977.-Career and sound effects:...
as The DormouseDormouse (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)The Dormouse is a character in "A Mad Tea-Party", Chapter VII from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He sat between the March Hare and the Hatter... - The MellomenThe MellomenThe Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. The Mellomen recorded under a variety of names, including Big John & The Buzzards, The Crackerjacks, The Lee Brothers, and The Ravenscroft...
(Thurl RavenscroftThurl RavenscroftThurl Arthur Ravenscroft was an American voice actor and singer best known as the deep voice behind Tony the Tiger's "They're grrreat!" in Frosted Flakes television commercials for more than five decades. Ravenscroft was also known, however uncredited, as the vocalist for the song "You're a Mean...
, Bill LeeBill Lee (singer)Bill Lee was an American playback singer who provided a voice or singing voice in many films, for actors in musicals and for many Disney characters. He was born in Johnson, Nebraska and died in 1980 in Los Angeles, California, of a brain tumor.Lee was part of a popular singing quartet known as The...
, Max SmithThe MellomenThe Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. The Mellomen recorded under a variety of names, including Big John & The Buzzards, The Crackerjacks, The Lee Brothers, and The Ravenscroft...
, and Bob HamlinThe MellomenThe Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. The Mellomen recorded under a variety of names, including Big John & The Buzzards, The Crackerjacks, The Lee Brothers, and The Ravenscroft...
) as Card Painters - Don BarclayDon BarclayDon Barclay was an American actor.He played the character Mr. Binnacle in the Disney film Mary Poppins.-Selected filmography:* That Little Band of Gold * Honky Donkey Barclay...
as Other Cards - Pinto ColvigPinto ColvigVance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig was an American vaudeville actor, radio actor, newspaper cartoonist, prolific movie voice actor, and circus performer whose schtick was playing clarinet off-key while mugging....
as Flamingos (uncredited) - Norma ZimmerNorma ZimmerNorma Zimmer was a vocalist, best remembered for her 22-year tenure as Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" on The Lawrence Welk Show.-Biography:...
as White Rose (uncredited) - Mel BlancMel BlancMelvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros...
as Dinah, Wonderland creatures (uncredited)
Production
The history of Walt Disney's association with Lewis Carroll's Alice books (Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking-GlassThrough the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
) stretches all the way back to 1923, when Disney was still a 21-year-old filmmaker trying to make a name for himself in Kansas City. When his first series of short cartoons, the Newman Laugh-O-Grams, failed to recoup production costs, the struggling young producer tried to create other short films hoping that one of them would point the way forward. The last of these Kansas City works was called Alice's Wonderland, featuring a live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
girl (Virginia Davis
Virginia Davis
Virginia Davis was an American movie child actor. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri.-Early career:Davis began working for Walt Disney's Kansas City company, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, in the summer of 1924. She was hired to act in a film called Alice's Wonderland, which combined live action with...
) interacting with cartoon characters. While charming, the short failed to receive much notice, and so Walt Disney decided to abandon producing animated films, and left Kansas City to become a live-action film director in Hollywood.
After months of trying, and failing, to find work in live-action, Disney partnered with his older brother Roy to create the Disney Brothers Studio, and they revived the idea of producing animated shorts. The independent distributor M. J. Winkler screened Walt's 1923 Alice short and found it promising, so Winkler agreed to distribute a series of Alice Comedies for the Disney brothers. Jubilant, Walt contacted his former Kansas City colleagues and brought them to Hollywood to work on the new series (a group that today reads like a who's who of American animation legends, including Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
, Rudolph Ising, Isadore "Friz" Freleng, and Hugh Harman). From 1924 to 1926, the Disney Brothers Studio produced over fifty short Alice Comedies. The success of this silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
series established Disney as a film producer, and was probably significant for the success of the later Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, usually credited as the first great Disney success.
Walt Disney had a long-standing affection for Alice in Wonderland. For instance, as soon as he began discussing making feature-length films
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
, he returned repeatedly to the idea of making a feature-length version of Alice, but for various reasons, these attempts were never realized. Prior to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
(1937), Disney planned on making Alice in Wonderland his first feature-length film instead. Like the early Alice Comedies, he planned on using a combination of live-action and animation for the "wonderland" sequences, and in early 1933, a Technicolor screen test
Screen test
A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film and/or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a camera to see if they are suitable...
was shot with Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
as Alice. This first attempt by Disney at producing an Alice feature was eventually tabled when Paramount released their own 1933 live-action version
Alice in Wonderland (1933 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1933 film version of the famous Alice novels of Lewis Carroll. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, featuring an all-star cast. It is all live-action, except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Stars featured...
, with a script by Cleopatra director Joseph Mankiewicz (brother of Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
(1941) scribe Herman J. Mankiewicz
Herman J. Mankiewicz
Herman Jacob Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter, who, with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane . Earlier, he was the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the drama critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Alexander Woollcott, said that Herman Mankiewicz was...
) and a cast that included Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
as the White Knight
White knight
White knight may refer to:*a literary stock character, see knight *The White Knight Fitzgibbon, an extinct hereditary Anglo-Norman title of nobility used in Ireland-In literature:...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
as the Mock Turtle
Mock Turtle
The Mock Turtle is a fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll from his popular book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Its name is taken from a dish that was popular in the Victorian period, mock turtle soup....
, and W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English language nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an egg and has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture...
.
Disney did not abandon the idea of making an Alice feature. After the enormous success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – as Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
writes in his history of Walt Disney's film career, The Disney Films, Walt Disney officially recorded the title Alice in Wonderland with the MPAA
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
in 1938. As preparatory work began on this possible "Alice" feature, the economic devastation of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as well as the demands of the productions of Pinocchio
Pinocchio (1940 film)
Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It is the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by...
(1940), Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
(1940), and Bambi
Bambi
Bambi is a 1942 American animated film directed by David Hand , produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten...
(1942) pushed the "Alice" project aside. After the war, in 1945, Disney proposed a live-action/animated version of Alice in Wonderland that would star Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
and would utilize the techniques seen in Disney's The Three Caballeros
The Three Caballeros
The Three Caballeros is a 1944 American animated feature film, produced by Walt Disney and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the United States on February 3, 1945...
(1944). This, too, fell through, and in 1946, work began on an all-animated version of Alice in Wonderland that would feature art direction
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
heavily based on the famous illustrations of Sir John Tenniel
John Tenniel
Sir John Tenniel was a British illustrator, graphic humorist and political cartoonist whose work was prominent during the second half of England’s 19th century. Tenniel is considered important to the study of that period’s social, literary, and art histories...
. This version was storyboarded, but was ultimately rejected by Walt, as was yet another proposed live-action/animated version of Alice that would star Luanna Patten (seen in Disney's Song of the South
Song of the South
Song of the South is a 1946 American musical film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. The live actors provide a sentimental frame story, in which Uncle Remus relates the folk tales of the...
(1946) and So Dear to My Heart
So Dear to My Heart
So Dear to My Heart is a 1948 feature film produced by Walt Disney, released in Chicago on November 29, 1948 and nationwide on January 19, 1949 by RKO Radio Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. Like 1946's Song of the South, the film combines animation and live action...
(1948)).
The film cost $3,000,000, $21 million in 2010, so Alice in wonderland was a slightly low budget film. In the late 1940s, work resumed on an all-animated Alice with a focus on comedy, music and spectacle as opposed to rigid fidelity to the books, and finally, in 1951, Walt Disney released a feature-length version of Alice in Wonderland to theaters, eighteen years after first discussing ideas for the project and almost thirty years after making his first Alice Comedy. Disney's final version of Alice in Wonderland followed in the traditions of his feature films like Fantasia and The Three Caballeros in that Walt Disney intended for the visuals and the music to be the chief source of entertainment, as opposed to a tightly-constructed narrative like Snow White or Cinderella
Cinderella (1950 film)
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
(1950). Instead of trying to produce an animated "staged reading" of Carroll's books, Disney chose to focus on their whimsy and fantasy, using Carroll's prose as a beginning, not as an end unto itself.
Another choice was decided upon for the look of the film. Rather than faithfully reproducing the famous illustrations of Sir John Tenniel, a more streamlined and less complicated approach was used for the design of the main characters. Background artist
Background artist
A background artist or sometimes called a background stylist or background painter is one who is involved in the process of animation who establishes the color, style, and mood of a scene drawn by an animation layout artist. The methods used can either be through traditional painting or by digital...
Mary Blair
Mary Blair
Mary Blair , born Mary Robinson, was an American artist who was prominent in producing art and animation for The Walt Disney Company, drawing concept art for such films as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Song of the South and Cinderella...
took a Modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
approach to her design of Wonderland, creating a world that was recognizable, and yet was decidedly "unreal." Indeed, Blair's bold use of color is one of the film's most notable features.
Finally, in an effort to retain some of Carroll's imaginative verses and poems, Disney commissioned top songwriters to compose songs built around them for use in the film. A record number of potential songs were written for the film, based on Carroll's verses—over 30—and many of them found a way into the film, if only for a few brief moments. Alice in Wonderland would boast the greatest number of songs included in any Disney film, but because some of them last for mere seconds (like "How Do You Do and Shake Hands," "We'll Smoke the Monster Out," "'Twas Brillig
Jabberwocky
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
," "The Caucus Race," and others), this fact is frequently overlooked. The original song that Alice was to sing in the beginning was titled "Beyond the Laughing Sky". The song, like so many other dropped songs, was not used by the producers. However, the composition was kept and the lyrics were changed. It later became the title song for Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1953 film)
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
(which was in production at the same time), "The Second Star to the Right".
The title song, composed by Sammy Fain
Sammy Fain
Sammy Fain was an American composer of popular music.-Biography:Sammy Fain was born in New York City. In 1923, Fain appeared with Artie Dunn in a short film directed by Lee De Forest filmed in DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. In 1925, Fain left the Fain-Dunn act to devote himself to...
, was later adopted by jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
pianist Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
and featured on his Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Sunday at the Village Vanguard is a 1961 album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. The album is routinely ranked as one of the best live jazz recordings of all time.-History:...
.
Release and reception
All of these creative decisions were met with great criticism from fans of Lewis Carroll, as well as from British filmCinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
and literary critics
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
who accused Disney of "Americanizing" a great work of English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
. Disney was not surprised by the critical reception to Alice in Wonderland - his version of Alice was intended for large family audiences, not literary critics - but despite all the long years of thought and effort, the film met with a lukewarm response at the box office and was a sharp disappointment in its initial release. Though not an outright disaster, the film was never re-released theatrically in Walt Disney's lifetime, airing instead every so often on network television. Alice in Wonderland aired as the second episode of Walt Disney's Disneyland
Disney anthology television series
The Walt Disney anthology television series refers to a television series which has been produced by the Walt Disney Company under several different titles from 1955 to 2008...
TV series on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1954, in a severely edited version cut down to less than an hour. In The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
relates animator Ward Kimball
Ward Kimball
Ward Walrath Kimball was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as Disney's Nine Old Men.-Career:...
felt the film failed because, "it suffered from too many cooks - directors. Here was a case of five directors each trying to top the other guy and make his sequence the biggest and craziest in the show. This had a self-canceling effect on the final product."
Almost two decades after its original release, after the North American success of George Dunning
George Dunning
George Garnett Dunning was a Canadian film maker and animator. He is best known for animating and directing the 1968 Beatles' film Yellow Submarine.-Biography:...
's animated feature Yellow Submarine (1968), Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland suddenly found itself in vogue with the times. In fact, because of Mary Blair's art direction
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
and the long-standing association of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with the drug culture, the feature was re-discovered as something of a "head film" (along with Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
and The Three Caballeros
The Three Caballeros
The Three Caballeros is a 1944 American animated feature film, produced by Walt Disney and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the United States on February 3, 1945...
) among the college-aged and was shown in various college town
College town
A college town or university town is a community which is dominated by its university population...
s across the country. The Disney company resisted this association, and even withdrew prints of the film from universities, but then, in 1974, the Disney company gave Alice in Wonderland its first theatrical re-release ever, and the company even promoted it as a film in tune with the "psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
" times (mostly from the hit song "White Rabbit
White Rabbit (song)
"White Rabbit" is a song from Jefferson Airplane's 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow. It was released as a single and became the band's second top ten success, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100...
" performed by Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
). This re-release was successful enough to warrant a subsequent re-release in 1981.
Later, with the advent of the home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
market, the Disney company chose to make Alice in Wonderland one of the first titles available for the rental market
Rental shop
A rental shop, also known as a video library, is a business that allows a consumer to temporarily obtain a reusable good or product for a specified period of time in exchange for payment, a process known as renting...
on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and Beta
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
and for retail sale on RCA's short-lived CED Videodisc format. The film was released on October 15, 1981 on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, CED Videodisc, and Betamax
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
and May 28, 1986 on VHS, Betamax, and Laserdisc in the Walt Disney Classics
Walt Disney Classics
Walt Disney Classics was a brand name used by Walt Disney Home Video on their American, Japanese, European and Australian home video releases of Disney animated features. The first title arrived in stores on December 6, 1984...
, (though it was mastered for tape in 1985), staying in general release ever since, with a 40th Anniversary video release in 1991 (this and the 1986 video release were in Disney's Classics Collection
Walt Disney Classics
Walt Disney Classics was a brand name used by Walt Disney Home Video on their American, Japanese, European and Australian home video releases of Disney animated features. The first title arrived in stores on December 6, 1984...
), and again on October 28, 1994 on VHS and Laserdisc in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection
Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection
The Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection was a line of VHS videos and Laserdiscs released by Walt Disney Home Video from 1994 to 1999. The Spanish counterparts began selling in 1995. Limited issue DVDs also have the same cover art....
, and finally in 1999 (these two were in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection
Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection
The Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection was a line of VHS videos and Laserdiscs released by Walt Disney Home Video from 1994 to 1999. The Spanish counterparts began selling in 1995. Limited issue DVDs also have the same cover art....
.) It was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in Region 2 on July 13, 1999 and in Region 1 on July 4, 2000 (under the Gold Classic Collection DVD series). A fully restored 1.33:1 ratio two-disc "Masterpiece Edition" was released in 2004, including the full hour-long episode of the Disney television show with Kathryn Beaumont, Edgar Bergen
Edgar Bergen
Edgar John Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist.-Early life:...
, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, Bobby Driscoll
Bobby Driscoll
Robert Cletus "Bobby" Driscoll was an American child actor known for a large body of cinema and TV performances from 1943 to 1960. He starred in some of The Walt Disney Company's most popular live-action pictures of that period, such as Song of the South , So Dear to My Heart , and Treasure Island...
and others that promoted the film, computer games, deleted scenes, songs and related materials, which went back on moratorium in January 2009. Disney released a 2-disc Special "Un-Anniversary" Edition DVD on March 30, 2010 in order to promote the new Tim Burton Film
Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American computer-animated/live action fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton, written by Linda Woolverton, and released by Walt Disney Pictures...
. The movie was released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo on February 1, 2011 to celebrate its 60th Anniversary.
On the film aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, the overall rating of the film is a "fresh" 80% from 25 critical reviews.
This motion picture received an Academy Award nomination for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
Academy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
, but it lost to An American in Paris
An American in Paris (film)
An American in Paris is a 1951 MGM musical film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guetary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner...
.
American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
Lists
- AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - Nominated
- AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
- Nominated Animated Film
Soundtrack
The film soundtrack was first released on LP recordLP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
on July 28, 1951. The soundtrack was re-released on Audio CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by Walt Disney Records on February 3, 1998.
Songs in the film
- "Alice in Wonderland" - The Jud Conlon Chorus and The MellomenThe MellomenThe Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. The Mellomen recorded under a variety of names, including Big John & The Buzzards, The Crackerjacks, The Lee Brothers, and The Ravenscroft...
- "In A World of My Own" - Alice
- "I'm Late" - The White Rabbit
- "The Sailor's Hornpipe" - The Dodo
- "The Caucus Race" - The Dodo and Animals
- "How Do You Do and Shake Hands" - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
- "The Walrus and the Carpenter" - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
- "Old Father William" - Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
- "Smoke the Blighter Out" - The Dodo and The White Rabbit
- "All in the Golden Afternoon" - The Flowers and Alice
- "A-E-I-O-U" - The Caterpillar
- "'Twas Brillig" - The Cheshire Cat
- "The Unbirthday Song" - The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, and Alice
- "Very Good Advice" - Alice
- "Painting the Roses Red" - The Playing Cards (The MellomenThe MellomenThe Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. The Mellomen recorded under a variety of names, including Big John & The Buzzards, The Crackerjacks, The Lee Brothers, and The Ravenscroft...
) and Alice/"Who's Been Painting My Roses Red?" (Reprise) - The Queen of Hearts and The Playing Cards - "The Unbirthday Song" (Reprise) - The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, The Queen of Hearts, and The Playing Cards
- "The Caucus Race" (Reprise) - The Entire Cast Minus Alice
- "Alice in Wonderland" (Reprise) - The Jud Conlon Chorus and The MellomenThe MellomenThe Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. The Mellomen recorded under a variety of names, including Big John & The Buzzards, The Crackerjacks, The Lee Brothers, and The Ravenscroft...
Songs written for film but not used
- "Beyond the Laughing Sky" - Alice (replaced by "In A World of My Own"; this melody was later used for "The Second Star to the Right" in Peter PanPeter Pan (1953 film)Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
) - "Dream Caravan" - The Caterpillar (replaced by "A-E-I-O-U")
- "I'm Odd" - The Cheshire Cat (replaced by "Twas Brillig")
- "Beware the JabberwockJabberwocky"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense verse poem written by Lewis Carroll in his 1872 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
" - Chorus, referring to deleted character - "So They Say" - Alice
- "If You'll Believe in Me" - The Lion and The Unicorn (deleted characters)
- "Beautiful Soup" - The Mock TurtleMock TurtleThe Mock Turtle is a fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll from his popular book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Its name is taken from a dish that was popular in the Victorian period, mock turtle soup....
and The Gryphon (deleted characters) set to the tune of the Blue DanubeThe Blue DanubeThe Blue Danube is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 , a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866...
. - "Everything Has A Useness" - Meant for the Caterpillar, in which he explains to Alice that everything has a purpose—in this case, the use of the mushroom.
- "Curiosity"- Unknown purpose
- "Humpty Dumpty"
- "Speak Roughly To Your Little Boy"- From the original book, meant for the 1939 pitch with grotesque character deisgns.
- "Will You Join The Dance"
Audio CD track listing
- Main Title (Alice in Wondlerland)
- Pay Attention/In a World of My Own
- I'm Late
- Curiosity Leads to Trouble/Simply Impassable
- The Sailor's Hornpipe/The Caucus Race
- We're Not Waxworks
- How D'Ye Do and Shake Hands/Curious?
- The Walrus and the Carpenter
- Old Father William
- Mary Ann!/A Lizard with a Ladder/We'll Smoke the Blighter Out
- The Garden/All in the Golden Afternoon
- What Genus Are You?
- A-E-I-O-U (The Caterpillar Song/Who R U)
- A Serpent!
- Alone Again/'Twas Brillig/Lose Something
- The Mad Tea Party/The Unbirthday Song
- The Tulgey Wood (Music incomplete on audio CD)
- Very Good Advice
- Whom Did You Expect
- Painting the Roses Red/March of the Cards
- The Queen of Hearts/Who's Been Painting My Roses Red?
- A Little Girl/Let the Game Begin/I Warn You Child
- The Trial/The Unbirthday Song (Reprise)/Rule 42/Off with Her Head/The Caucus Race
Stage version
Alice in Wonderland has been condensed into a one act stage version entitled, Alice and Wonderland, Jr.. The stage version is solely meant for middle and high school productions and includes the majority of the film's songs and others including Song of the SouthSong of the South
Song of the South is a 1946 American musical film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the Uncle Remus cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. The live actors provide a sentimental frame story, in which Uncle Remus relates the folk tales of the...
s "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" is a song from the Disney 1946 live action and animated movie Song of the South, sung by James Baskett. With music by Allie Wrubel and lyrics by Ray Gilbert, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song...
", two new reprises of "I'm Late!", and three new numbers entitled "Ocean of Tears", "Simon Says", and "Who Are You?" respectively. This 60-80 minute version is owned by Music Theatre International
Music Theatre International
Music Theatre International, often abbreviated MTI, is a theatrical licensing agency based in New York City. The League of American Theatres and Producers calls MTI "A leader in the theatrical licensing industry."-Description:...
in the Broadway, Jr. Collection along with other Disney Theatrical shows such as Disney's Aladdin, Jr., Disney's Mulan, Jr., Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (musical)
Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...
, Disney's High School Musical
High School Musical
High School Musical is a 2006 American television film, first in the High School Musical film franchise. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful film that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2 released in 2007 and...
: On Stage!, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, and many more.
Referenced in other Disney films
In Donald in Mathmagic LandDonald in Mathmagic Land
Donald in Mathmagic Land is a 27-minute Donald Duck featurette released on June 26, 1959. It was directed by Hamilton Luske. Contributors included Disney artists John Hench and Art Riley, voice talent Paul Frees, and scientific expert Heinz Haber, who had worked on the Disney space shows. It was...
, Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
wears Alice's dress and has her hairstyle but brown not blond. A larger pencil bird is in the film as well. Alice and several other characters from the film were featured as guests in House of Mouse, and the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts were two of the villains featured in Mickey's House of Villains
Mickey's House of Villains
Mickey's House of Villains is a direct-to-video film produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a film adaptation of the Disney Channel animated television series Disney's House of Mouse, starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Daisy Duck and Disney Villains that have appeared in...
. The Mad Hatter was also featured in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse is the first direct-to-video movie spin off from the Disney Channel animated television series Disney's House of Mouse.-Plot:...
. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare were also featured in several episodes of Bonkers. Bill the Lizard, Tweedledum, Cheshire Cat, the doorknob, and an orange-colored version of one of the bulb-horn birds also appear in the 1988 Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
film Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
. In the opening of Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
the peddler tries to sell a hookah much like the one the Caterpillar used. In Aladdin and the King of Thieves
Aladdin and the King of Thieves
Aladdin and the King of Thieves is a 1996 animated film that is the second direct-to-video sequel to the Disney animated feature Aladdin...
, the Genie turns into the White Rabbit. In Darkwing Duck
Darkwing Duck
DarkWing Duck is an American animated television series produced by The Walt Disney Company that ran from 1991–1992 on both the syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon and Saturday mornings on ABC. It featured the eponymous anthropomorphic duck superhero whose alter ego is mild-mannered...
, there is a villain called Tuskernini, a character that resembles the walrus in some ways. Weebo shows clips of the movie on her screen in Flubber
Flubber
Flubber is a 1997 comedy film and is a remake of The Absent-Minded Professor . The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures starring Robin Williams...
. An episode Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a children's television series, that premiered in prime time on Disney Channel on May 5, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
, entitled "Mickey's Adventures in Wonderland", is based on the film.
Theme Parks
Costumed versions of Alice, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Walrus, Tweedledum and Tweedledee make regular appearances at the Disney theme parks and resorts, and other characters from the film (including the Walrus and the March Hare) have featured in the theme parks. More famously, all five Disneyland-style theme parks feature Mad Tea PartyMad Tea Party
Mad Tea Party is a spinning tea cup ride at all five Disneyland-style theme parks around the world. The ride theme is inspired by the Unbirthday Party scene in Disney's Alice In Wonderland...
, a teacups
Teacups
Teacups is an amusement ride characterized by cup-style spinning vehicles atop a turntable-like floor.-Operation:Typically, each set of four teacup vehicles has a circular floor or a motor capable of turning 360 degrees. The circular floor or motor sits within a larger, turntable-like floor...
ride based on Disney's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.
Alice in Wonderland is also frequently featured in many parades and shows in the Disney Theme Parks, including The Main Street Electrical Parade
Main Street Electrical Parade
The Main Street Electrical Parade is a regularly scheduled parade, created by Bob Jani and project director Ron Miziker, famous for its long run at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort most summers between 1972–1974, 1977–1982, and 1985-1996...
, SpectroMagic
SpectroMagic
SpectroMagic was an evening parade presented at the Magic Kingdom park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Produced by longtime Disney Show Producer Ron Logan, it is similar to the Main Street Electrical Parade, which was its predecessor, directed by Don Frantz. The parade incorporates elaborate,...
, Fantasmic, Dreamlights
Main Street Electrical Parade
The Main Street Electrical Parade is a regularly scheduled parade, created by Bob Jani and project director Ron Miziker, famous for its long run at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort most summers between 1972–1974, 1977–1982, and 1985-1996...
, The Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party and Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams
Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams
Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams premiered on May 5, 2005 as part of the Happiest Homecoming on Earth, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Disneyland in California...
. Disneyland contains a dark ride based on the film
Alice in Wonderland (Disneyland attraction)
Alice in Wonderland is a dark ride in Fantasyland at Disneyland park. Based on the animated Disney adaptation of the same name, the attraction resides next to a second ride, the Mad Tea Party, based on a scene in that same adaptation...
in addition to the teacups, and Disneyland Paris also contains a hedge maze
Hedge Maze
A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges.-History:...
called Alice's Curious Labyrinth
Alice's Curious Labyrinth
Alice's Curious Labyrinth is a hedge maze attraction at the Disneyland Park within Disneyland Paris. It opened in 1992 with the Park, and belongs to the British part of Fantasyland.-The Labyrinth:...
, which takes its inspiration from the film. The now-defunct Mickey Mouse Revue
Mickey Mouse Revue
The Mickey Mouse Revue was an indoor stage show acted by audio-animatronic performers in the Fantasyland area of Magic Kingdom park and was one of the three original attractions on its opening day and was also an attraction at Tokyo Disneyland...
, shown at Walt Disney World and later at Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo Disneyland
is a 115 acre theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be built outside of the United States and opened on April 15, 1983...
, contained characters and scenes from the film.
Video games
A video game version of the film was released on Game Boy ColorGame Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
by Nintendo of America
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
on October 4, 2000 in North America. Additionally, in the video games Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Japanese studio Jupiter and published by Square Enix in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. The game serves as an intermediary between the two larger-scale PlayStation 2 games in the Kingdom Hearts series. It was one of the first GBA games to...
, Wonderland is a playable world. Alice is also a major character in the overall plot of the first game due to her role as one of seven "Princesses Of Heart". Other characters from the movie that appear include The Queen of Hearts, The Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Doorknob,the Caterpillar (V-cast Only), and the Deck of Cards. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare appear in portrait form as well. All except the Doorknob also appear in Chain of Memories, albeit in the form of illusions made from the main character's memory. While the world is absent in Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
, it returns in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
is an action roleplaying game developed and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS with assistance from h.a.n.d. It is the fifth installment in the best-selling Kingdom Hearts series, and serves as an interquel beginning near the end of the first game, Kingdom Hearts, and covering the period...
and Kingdom Hearts coded
Kingdom Hearts coded
is an episodic puzzle video game developed and published by Square Enix, in collaboration with the Walt Disney Internet Group for mobile phones. It is the fourth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series and is set after the events of the Kingdom Hearts II. The story focuses on a message written in...
, the latter featuring a digitized version of the world originating from data in Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket is the Walt Disney version of "The Talking Cricket" , a fictional character created by Carlo Collodi for his children's book Pinocchio, which was adapted into an animated film by Disney in 1940...
's royal journal.
In Disney's Villains' Revenge
Disney's Villains' Revenge
Disney's Villains' Revenge is a video game produced by Disney Interactive for PCs or Macintosh computers, released in 1999. The gameplay is a simple interactive "point-and-click" method in various forms, featuring the player helping Jiminy Cricket save the happy endings of several of the Walt...
the queen of hearts is one of the villains who tries to turn the ending to her story to where she finally cuts off Alice's head. In Toy Story 3: The Video Game
Toy Story 3: The Video Game
Toy Story 3: The Video Game is a platform video game loosely based on the film Toy Story 3. It was published by Disney Interactive Studios and developed by Avalanche Software , Asobo Studio and n-Space...
the Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
's hat is one of the hats you can have the town's folk wear. Mickey Mousecapade
Mickey Mousecapade
Mickey Mousecapade is an NES game where the character of Mickey Mouse travel through the Fun House, the Ocean, the Forest, the Pirate Ship, and the Castle in an effort to save a young girl who happens to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland...
features various characters from the film. The Japanese version, in fact, is based very heavily on the film, with almost every reference in the game coming from the film.