Duke Reviews Xtra: Alice In Wonderland (1985) Part 1
Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Xtra As We Continue Our Look At The Movies Of Disney...
And On The Next 3 Shows We'll Be Looking At 2 Of My Favorite Adaptations Of The Alice In Wonderland Story, Starting With The 1985 Version Which Was Made By Irwin Allen, Who Created Both Land Of The Giants And Of Course, Lost In Space...
Let's Start With Part 1...
The Movie Starts With Alice (Played By Jenny From Oliver And Company) Helping Her Mother Set The Table For Tea Time, But Despite Asking Her Mother If She Could Join Them For Tea, She Unfortunately Tells Alice No...
This Leads Alice To Go Outside And Talk With Her Sister (Who Is Actually Played By The Actress Plays Alice's Real Life Sister)..
I Know, This Is My 2nd Favorite Version Of The Tale And Even I Didn't Know That...
But Gets Bored Reading A Book With No Pictures, Which Leads Her Sister To Tell Her That Understand More When She Grows Up, Despite Alice Thinking She's Already Grown Up As She's Seven And A Half...
Playing With Her Cat, Dinah, Alice Spots The White Rabbit (Played By Hoagie From Pete's Dragon) And Follows Him To A Rabbit Hole That She Falls Down...
Ok, She Doesn't Fall Like That, But Close Enough..
Eventually Landing, Alice Follows The Rabbit To A Door Which Opens To Another Door And Another And Another Until It Finally Opens To A Hall Of Doors Which Leads To The Scene We All Know...
With Alice Finding A Tiny Door She's Too Big For So She Drinks A Bottle Marked Drink Me Which Her Shrink But She Leaves The Key On The Table Which Leads To Her Eating A Cake Marked Eat Me Which Causes Her To Grow Too Big So She Starts To Cry...
But Unlike The Animated Version, The White Rabbit Appears As She Cries And Accidentally Scares Him Into Dropping His Fan And Gloves Which She Uses To Shrink Again To A Size Small Enough To Fit Through A Crack That Leads Her Outside Into A River Of Her Own Tears...
While Swimming, Alice Briefly Meets The Dodo Bird (Played By Mrs. Gogan From Pete's Dragon) The Lory Bird (Played By Cosmo Brown From Singin' In The Rain) And The Mouse (Played By Mr. Jefferson) Who Takes Us Into Our First Song As He Tells Alice Why He Hates Dogs And Cats...
Leaving Shortly After That Song, Alice Catches Up With The White Rabbit Only To Lead Us To The Scene Where He Mistakes Her For His Housemaid And Sends Her Off To His House To Get A New Fan And Glove Set For Him...
Only To Find Another Bottle Marked Drink Me Which Causes Her To Grow Once Again...
But Unlike The Animated Version, The Dodo Doesn't Show Up, But Instead The Rabbit's Butler Named Pat The Pig (Played By Donald Trump's Number One Supporter, Scott Baio, Who I Think Fits The Role Perfectly With His New Status) Shows Up..
As We Get The Scene With Bill The Lizard Who Goes To Pull Alice Out Of The Chimney Only To Get Kicked Out Of The Chimney By Alice...
This Leads To Pat And The Rabbit To Throw Berries That Turn Into Cakes That Allow Alice To Shrink To Normal Size Again As She Gets Away From The Rabbit And Pat Who Are Still Throwing Berries At Her..
Eventually Losing Them, Alice Soon Meets The Caterpillar (Played By The Candy Man Himself, Sammy Davis Jr.) Who Takes Us Into Our Next Song Called You Are Old Father William...
But Like The Animated Version, Alice Insults The Caterpillar By Saying That 3 Inches High Is Such A Wretched Height And He Disappears Instead Of Becoming A Butterfly...
Walking Toward A House That Is Visited By A Delivery Man For The Queen Of Hearts Who Gives A Frog Footmen With A Familiar Voice An Invitation From The Queen For The Duchess (Who We'll Meet In A Few Minutes) To Play Croquet...
And By Familiar Voice I Think You May Recognize The Voice Actor For Playing This Guy...
That's Right, It's Robert Axelrod Otherwise Known As Lord Zedd (He Also Voiced Finster Too But He's Most Remembered For Zedd RIP)
Visiting The House, The Frog Footman Tells Alice That It's Useless Ringing The Bell On The Outside As He's On The Outside Too, But Going Inside Anyway, Alice Meets The Duchess (Played By Benita Bizzare) And Her Maid (Played By Imogene Coca) Who Take Us Into The Next Song...
But Finding The House To Be Too Violent, Alice Takes The Duchess' Baby Away Only For It To Become A Pig..
After This, She Meets The Cheshire Cat (Played By Kojak) Who Leads Us Into Our Next Song After Telling Her That She Won't Be Able To Leave Wonderland...
Thinking That He's A Bad Cat, Alice Attempts To Leave But Before She Does, The Cheshire Cat Points Alice To The Mad Hatter (Played By Anthony Newley) And The March Hare (Played By Roddy McDowell Who Would Later Play The Batman Villain, Jervis Tetch Otherwise Known As The Mad Hatter On Batman The Animated Series) Before He Disappears...
Walking Along The Road, Alice Finds The Mad Hatter And The March Hare Having Tea With The Doormouse (Played By Arte Johnson) And Sits Down To Join Them...
As A Little Tea Time Entertainment, The Mad Hatter Leads Us Into Our Next Song Because He Doesn't Like Alice's Version Of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...
Eventually Upset By All The Rudeness At The Tea Party, Alice Continues Her Search For The White Rabbit As She Meets A Fawn In The Woods Which Leads To Our Next Song...
Finding A Doorway In The Woods, Alice Opens It And Finds Herself At A Beautiful Rose Garden Where She Meets Some Cards Who Are Painting The Roses Red, Only To Be Confronted By The Queen (Played By Jayne Meadows) And King (Played By Robert Morley) Of Hearts...
Who Arrives With Not Only The White Rabbit But A Whole Entourage Of People And Cards....
Introducing Herself To The Queen, She Asks Alice What's Going On Here Only For Alice To Tell Her That She Doesn't Know Much Of Anything As She's Only Been There For A Few Seconds Which Leads The Queen To Yell Off With Her Head.,.
But The King Defends Alice Believing That There's No Reason To Behead Her When She Doesn't Know Much Of Anything, Which Leads To Our Next Song...
Sparring Alice's Head For Now, The Queen Invites Her To Play A Game Of Croquet, Which Unlike The Disney Version Doesn't End With Alice Getting Her Head Nearly Chopped Off...
But Is Instead Just A Game Of Croquet With Flamingos...
With The Queen Pointing Alice In The Direction Of The Mock Turtle, Alice Goes Down The Path The Queen Suggested And Instead Runs Into The Gryphon (Played By Sid Caeser) Who Takes Alice To Meet The Mock Turtle (Played By Ringo Starr) Who Sings The Next And Probably Favorite Song From Part 1 Of This Movie..
Hearing Someone Yell That The Trial Is Beginning, Alice And The Gryphon Leave The Mock Turtle And Return To The Queen's Garden Where The Knave Of Hearts Is On Trial For Stealing One Of The Queen's Tarts, Despite There Being No Proof That He Did...
Bringing In The First Witness Or Should I Say Witnesses As They Bring In The Mad Hatter, The March Hare And The Doormouse, We Get Our Last Song For This Movie...
They Also Bring In The Duchess' Cook As A Witness As Well But Eventually Alice Argues The Ways Of The Queen's Court Which Leads Her To Grow As The Queen And Alice Continue To Argue...
Having Enough Of Alice's BS, The Queen Shouts Off With Her Head And Has Her Guards Chase Giant Alice But She's Not Afraid Of Them As They're Nothing But A Pack Of Cards...
Returning To Her Original Size As She Runs, Alice Eventually Trips And Falls Which Leads Her To Find Herself Back Home...
Now, This Is Where Things Get Interesting...
Entering Her House, She Finds Nobody There But Hearing And Seeing Her Cat Dinah On The Other Side Of The Mirror, Along With Her Parents Who Can't See Or Hear Alice But Their Own Reflections, Alice Can't Figure Out How To Get Through The Mirror...
So, She Sits In The Chair And Reads A Poem Called Jabberwocky Which Is About A Scary Monster But Getting Very Scared As She Reads It The Room Becomes Dark And The Jabberwocky Appears In The House...
You Know, I Once Saw A Video By James Rolfe (The Angry Video Game Nerd) And He Said That This Scene Scared Him As A Child To The Point He Was In Tears...
Saying That You Spend The Last Half Hour Looking At These Actors In Goofy Costumes Where This Thing Is Huge And Scary Compared To Alice...
Of Course, He Also Said That No Other Scene With The Jabberwocky Tops This Scene In Part 1 Which I Kindly Disagree With As There Are 2 That Could Possibly Be Scary...
To Be Continued...
Tomorrow...
