DbcultAccessing Vault...
6.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Alice in Wonderland remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like your fantasy movies to feel like a fever dream you had after eating bad cheese, you might dig this. If you need a coherent story or actually like child actors, stay away. It’s definitely not for the casual fan of modern, glossy adaptations.
There is something fundamentally weird about the 1933 version of Alice in Wonderland. It feels less like a movie and more like a collection of people in heavy, uncomfortable animal suits trying to remember their lines while suffocating. Every time someone speaks, you can almost hear the cardboard sets creaking.
Charlotte Henry as Alice is... well, she’s there. She has this wide-eyed, slightly terrified look that honestly makes sense given the masks she’s interacting with. Most of the time, she’s just reacting to things that weren't even on set during filming. You can tell.
The cast list is absolutely bonkers for 1933. You’ve got W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty, which sounds like a stroke of genius on paper. In practice? It’s just W.C. Fields, looking grumpy in a giant egg costume. He’s not really playing a character; he’s just being himself, which is fine, but it totally breaks the spell. It’s like watching a celebrity cameo in a school play.
Then there is the White Knight. That’s Cary Grant under there. Yes, the Cary Grant. It’s almost impossible to recognize him under the makeup. It’s one of those bits of trivia that makes you want to squint at the screen for ten minutes trying to spot his chin.
The pacing is all over the place. One minute you’re in a scene that lasts for an eternity, and the next, you’re rushing through the Queen of Hearts like someone hit the fast-forward button. It doesn't have the steady rhythm of something like The Movie Daredevil, which at least knows what it wants to be.
There’s a moment with the Cheshire Cat that is legitimately nightmare fuel. It’s just a floating, disembodied head that looks like it’s seen the end of the world. I don't know who decided that should be the look, but they definitely weren't trying to keep the kids happy.
It’s not a good movie by any professional standard. The masks are stiff, the dialogue is stilted, and it feels incredibly small despite the huge effort. But it has this haunting, dusty quality that you just don't get anymore. It feels like a relic from a time when movies were still trying to figure out how to do fantasy without just throwing money at a screen.
If you want to see what happens when the studio system tries to force a classic into a weird, experimental mold, this is it. Just don't expect a relaxing watch. It feels like the whole production is held together with tape and spite. 🎭
IMDb 7.4
1918
Community
Log in to comment.
