Alices, Blu’s and Oscars

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer

Last week was a good one for Blu-ray collectors, with the release of several classics including the film with the most-ever Academy Award nominations, “All About Eve.” It won 1950’s Best Picture, Director and Screenplay Oscars plus three more, and its record 14 nominations was never equaled until “Titanic” nearly a half-century later. Also out last week were the 1957 Cary Grant “An Affair to Remember” (with 4 Oscar nominations), the original 1962 Frank Sinatra version of “The Manchurian Candidate,” (2 nominations), the original 1968 Steve McQueen-Faye Dunaway version of “The Thomas Crown Affair” (2 nominations and 1 win), Nicolas Cage’s devastating 1995 Oscar-winning performance in “Leaving Las Vegas” (4 nominations, 1 win) and several other films.

The Oscars are now a little over two weeks away, and up for three nominations is the Tim Burton re-imagination of “Alice in Wonderland.” The release of Disney’s flashy 2010 version is doubtless what inspired Universal Home Video to issue a DVD last spring of Paramount’s all-star production of “Alice in Wonderland” from 1933. It’s quite possible Disney timed last week’s 60th anniversary Blu-ray release of its classic 1951 animated cartoon version (which itself was nominated for best music score) to take advantage of the Oscar publicity for the 2010 film.

Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” like his “Sleepy Hollow” over a decade ago, is not really an adaptation of the original, but rather an interesting variation freely inspired by it. And like most of his films, it is quirky fun, with some entertaining performances by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, among others, but in this case it lacks the dramatic drive and pacing of many of his other films. Visually it’s a spectacular treat, however, and that is what the Academy recognized with its nominations for best art direction, costume design and visual effects. It’s been out on Blu-ray for a few months already, but watching it mainly makes you want to see the other versions again, especially the 1951 cartoon. “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” (2010) on Blu-ray—Movie: B   /  Video: A+  /  Audio: A+  /  Extras: B+

Disney’s 1951 “Alice in Wonderland” remains the best screen version of Lewis Carroll’s beloved comically surrealist story so far. While it expectedly leaves out a number of episodes and makes a few changes, it is unusually close to its source for a Disney film. It’s got much tighter pacing than any other “Alice” film, along with some memorable songs, beautiful use of color and design and first-rate hand-drawn animation.

The Blu-ray has a beautifully-restored HD picture that looks brand-new, and a fine soundtrack in both a well-restored version of the original mono and a very nicely remixed 5.1 stereo surround soundtrack. It is packed with great bonus features, the best of which is an in-depth 75-minute documentary about Lewis Carroll, the story and the film, which runs concurrently with the film picture-in-picture in lieu of an audio commentary track.

The Carroll-inspired 1936 Mickey Mouse short “Thru the Mirror” is presented in hi-def, and there is a classic “Alice in Cartoonland” short from 1923 (but only in standard-def and previously available with six others from the series on a “Disney Rarities” DVD set). There are several new featurettes, deleted songs, plus all the bonuses from the last DVD release, a couple now re-scanned in HD.  Interesting SD items include a half-hour of highlights from a 1951 “Fred Waring” TV episode with live-action performances of scenes and songs from the movie and a complete Christmas Day 1950 Disney TV special with Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy, spotlighting various Disney films (including the now-rare “Song of the South”) and giving a sneak peek at a scene from the upcoming “Alice in Wonderland.” “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” (1951) on Blu-ray—Movie: A   /  Video: A+  /  Audio: A   /  Extras: A

Fans of “Alice in Wonderland” should also seek out two other feature-length films of the story that are not yet on Blu-ray but can be found on DVD. The 1933 Paramount production, which was based more on “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” received a beautiful transfer for Universal’s DVD. As a whole the film is rather lethargic and not as engaging as the Disney version, but individual episodes hold up wonderfully and the cast includes many of the biggest Hollywood stars of the 1930s, from Cary Grant and Gary Cooper to Charlie Ruggles and W. C. Fields. In fact, Sterling Holloway (the voice of the Cheshire cat in Disney’s cartoon) shows up as the frog in this version.

A lesser-known but admirable adaptation from 1915 has been preserved by the Library of Congress from a surviving 35mm reissue print. Grapevine Video has a reasonably adequate DVD-R transfer of this interesting production (as a double-feature with an abridgement of an amusing 1917 all-child-cast production of “Aladdin”). It’s a bit slow at times, with many more long shots than close-ups, but has unexpectedly ambitious costumes, production values and special effects for such an early feature. The 1915 film is just as entertaining in its way as the more lavish and better-known 1933 version. (A 1972 British production that may be easier to find on video has some great casting—including Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore and Ralph Richardson—but is a disappointing curiosity.)

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