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    Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic: Classic Movies from Cinema's Golden Age
    Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic: Classic Movies from Cinema's Golden Age
    Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic: Classic Movies from Cinema's Golden Age
    Ebook486 pages5 hours

    Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic: Classic Movies from Cinema's Golden Age

    By John Howard Reid

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    About this ebook

    I had one aim in writing this book. I wanted to bring together in one place, ALL my favorite films. This, of course, was not possible. I have so many. But I did manage to include "Alias Nick Beal" (which John Farrow regarded as the best film he ever made), plus that wonderful Technicolor spoof, "Arabian Nights", plus "The Band Wagon" (What a cast! Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant, Cyd Charisse), "Beauty and the Boss" (most aptly starring Marian Marsh and Warren William), "Doomed to Die" (one of the best films Monogram ever made), "Easy Living" (one of the best noir films), "Elephant Walk" (a masterpiece of stunning entertainment), "The Eve of St Mark" (Maxwell Anderson at his most potent), "Fabiola" (the spectacle that inspired MGM's "Quo Vadis"), "Family Honeymoon" (a delightful comedy with a fine cast in absolutely top form), "The Far Country" (which many regard as James Stewart's best Western), etc., etc... As in other books in this series, the films are arranged alphabetically for easy reference. In addition to complete cast and credit details, release information and background notes, each film carries extensive comments and reviews. Films covered in this book include such masterpieces as John Farrow's "Alias Nick Beal" (recently described as "the finest film noir NOT available commercially on DVD" -- hopefully it soon will be!), Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland", Maria Montez in "Arabian Nights", Judy Garland in "Babes on Broadway", Fred Astaire in "The Band Wagon" and "The Barkleys of Broadway", Marian Marsh in "Beauty and the Boss", Buck Jones in "Black Aces", Bela Lugosi in "Black Dragons", George Zucco in "The Black Raven", Buster Keaton in "The Boat", Robert Taylor in "The Bribe", Tim McCoy in "Bulldog Courage" -- and that's just the "A" and "B" entries. And every one of those movies is on sale in DVD and/or VHS. Why waste your money buying a movie you won't enjoy? Find out something about the film before you buy! "Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic" is great book to dip into. A lucky dip of revelation and information, of slapstick and romance, of music and enchantment, of wonderment and surprise. Until quite recently, a question I was always asked at movie events was: "What's the name of the movie that featured Humpy, the Educated Camel?" The answer: "Slave Girl". And as a bonus, I've reprinted my highly acclaimed monograph on director Fred Zinnemann of "High Noon", "The Sundowners" and "From Here to Eternity" fame.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Howard Reid
    Release dateApr 7, 2011
    ISBN9781458197603
    Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic: Classic Movies from Cinema's Golden Age
    Author

    John Howard Reid

    Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

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      Book preview

      Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic - John Howard Reid

      FILMS, FAMOUS, FANCIFUL, FROLICSOME & FANTASTIC

      Classic Movies from Cinema’s Golden Age

      John Howard Reid

      ****

      Published by:

      John Howard Reid at Smashwords

      Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid

      ****

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      ****

      Original text copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

      Enquiries: johnreid@mail.qango.com

      ****

      Hosted by John Howard Reid

      Hollywood Classics 15

      2011

      --

      OTHER BOOKS

      in the Hollywood Classics Series

      1. New Light on Movie Bests

      2. B Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies

      3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s

      4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West

      5. Memorable Films of the Forties

      6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s

      7. Your Colossal Main Feature plus Full Support Program

      8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Entertainment

      9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties

      10. Hollywood B Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills and Thrills

      11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

      12. These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards: A Film-Lover’s Guide to the Best of the Rest

      13. Movie Mystery & Suspense

      14. America’s Best, Britain’s Finest: A Survey of Mixed Movies

      15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome & Fantastic: Classic Movies from Cinema’s Golden Age

      16. Hollywood Movie Musicals: Great, Good and Glamorous

      17. Hollywood Classics Index to Books 1-16: A - Z

      18. More Movie Musicals: 100 Best Films plus 20 B Pictures

      19. Success in the Cinema: Money-Making Movies and Critics’ Choices

      20. Best Western Movies: Winning Pictures, Favorite Films and Hollywood B Entries

      21: Great Cinema Detectives: Best Movies of Mystery, Suspense & Film Noir

      22. Great Hollywood Westerns: Classic Pictures, Must-See Movies & B Films

      23. Science Fiction & Fantasy Cinema: Classic Films of Horror, Sci-Fi & the Supernatural

      24: Hollywood’s Classic Comedies featuring Slapstick, Romance, Music, Glamour or Screwball Fun!

      25: Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24

      --

      OTHER MOVIE BOOKS

      by John Howard Reid

      26. CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope

      27. CinemaScope Two: 20th Century Fox

      28. CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge

      29. Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD: A Classic Movie Fan’s Guide

      31. Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

      32. WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD

      33. British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD

      --

      Table of Contents

      A

      Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops 1955

      Alias Nick Beal 1949

      Alice in Wonderland 1951

      Aloma of the South Seas 1941

      Arabian Nights 1942

      Audioscopiks 1935

      B

      Babes on Broadway 1941

      Bandwagon 1953

      Barkleys of Broadway 1949

      Beauty and the Boss 1932

      Big Rainbow (see Underwater)

      Big Time Operators (see Smallest Show on Earth)

      Black Aces 1937

      Black Dragons 1942

      Black Raven 1943

      Boat 1921

      Bribe 1949

      Bulldog Courage 1936

      C

      Chad Hanna 1940

      Chandu on the Magic Island (see Return of Chandu)

      Clairvoyant (see Evil Mind)

      Cowboy and the Senorita 1944

      Creatures of the Jungle (see White Orchid)

      D

      Desperate Cargo 1941

      Doomed to Die 1940

      Drums across the River 1954

      Drum Taps 1933

      E

      Easiest Way 1931

      East Side, West Side 1949

      Easy Living 1949

      Elephant Walk 1954

      Elopement 1951

      Eve of Saint Mark 1944

      Ever Since Eve 1944

      Evil Mind 1935

      F

      Fabiola 1949

      Faithless 1932

      Family Honeymoon 1948

      Far Country 1954

      Fatal Hour 1940

      Ferdinand the Bull 1938

      Fiddlers Three 1944

      Fifth Chair 1945

      Fifth Column Mouse 1943

      Fifty Roads to Town 1937

      52nd Street 1937

      First Comes Courage 1943

      First Love 1939

      Five Fingers 1952

      5,000 Fingers of Dr T 1953

      Flame and the Arrow 1950

      Flirtation Walk 1934

      Flirting with Danger 1934

      Flying Doctor 1936

      Flying Squad 1940

      Fog Over Frisco 1934

      Follow That Man 1961

      Foreign Affair 1948

      Forever Female 1953

      For Me and My Gal 1942

      Forsyte Saga (see That Forsyte Woman)

      Fort Algiers 1953

      Fountain 1934

      Four’s a Crowd 1938

      Fox and the Rabbit 1935

      Foxes of Harrow 1947

      Foxfire 1953

      French Without Tears 1940

      Frogmen 1951

      Frontier Marshal 1939

      Frontiersman 1938

      Front Page 1931

      Fugitive 1947

      Fuller Brush Man 1948

      Fun in Acapulco 1963

      G

      Gentlemen Marry Brunettes 1955

      Girl in Every Port 1928

      Girl in Every Port 1953

      Glen Gary and His Casa Loma Orchestra 1942

      Golden Ivory 1954

      Great Schnozzle (see Palooka)

      Green Pastures 1936

      Gulliver’s Travels 1939

      H

      Halfway House 1943

      Headless Horseman 1922

      Heartbeat 1946

      He Found a Star 1941

      Hell Below 1933

      Hell Below Zero 1953

      Hidden Eye 1945

      High Voltage 1929

      Hit the Saddle 1937

      House Across the Street 1949

      I

      Ibanez’ Torrent (see Torrent)

      In Old Arizona 1929

      Interference (see Easy Living)

      Iron Horse 1924

      Isle of Forgotten Sins (see Monsoon)

      It Shouldn’t Happen to a Dog 1946

      It’s in the Bag (see Fifth Chair)

      J

      Joe Palooka (see Palooka)

      Judge Priest 1934

      Jungle Jim 1948

      Jungle Man Eaters 1954

      Just For You 1952

      K

      Killer Diller 1948

      L

      Lady Refuses 1931

      Latin Lovers 1953

      Leave It To Blondie 1945

      Life With Blondie 1945

      Lost Tribe 1949

      Love 1927

      Love on a Budget (see Play-Girl)

      M

      Magnificent Obsession 1954

      Mala, Secret Agent of the South Seas

      (see Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island)

      Male and Female 1919

      Managed Money 1934

      Man Wanted 1932

      Man Who Knew Too Much 1955

      Maria Candelaria 1944

      Marriage Circle 1924

      Mary Stevens, M.D. 1933

      Mirrors 1934

      Miss Lulu Bett 1921

      Mister Wong at Headquarters (See Fatal Hour)

      Mister Wong, Detective 1938

      Mister Wong in Chinatown 1939

      Mystery of the Wentworth Castle (see Doomed To Die)

      N

      Narrow Margin 1952

      Night at the Movies 1937

      O

      October Man 1947

      Old Mill 1937

      Old Mother Riley’s New Venture 1949

      Old West 1952

      Old Wives for New 1918

      Operation Cicero (see Five Fingers)

      Orphans of the Storm 1921

      Outside the Law 1921

      P

      Palooka 1934

      Phantom of Chinatown 1940

      Playgirl 1954

      Play-Girl 1932

      Prison Break 1938

      Q

      Quiet Man 1952

      Quiet Weekend 1946

      Quiet Woman 1951

      Quo Vadis 1951

      R

      Reet, Petite and Gone 1947

      Return of Chandu 1934

      Robin Hood of the Pecos 1941

      Robin Hood of the Range 1941 (see Robin Hood of the Pecos)

      Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island 1936

      Robinson Crusoe of Mystery Island 1936 (see Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island)

      Rockabye 1932

      Rock Island Trail 1950

      Rope 1948

      Ruby Gentry 1952

      S

      Salute 1929

      Scandal Sheet 1952

      Scarlet Letter 1934

      Secret of Madame Blanche 1933

      Shadows 1922

      Shock 1923

      Slave Girl 1947

      Sleepers West 1941

      Smallest Show on Earth 1957

      Speak Easily 1932

      Speed tp Spare 1948

      Steamboat Bill, Jr 1928

      Story of Will Rogers 1952

      Strange Love of Molly Louvain 1933

      Symphony of Swing 1939

      T

      Tall T 1957

      Tall Target 1951

      Texas Ranger 1931

      That Forsyte Woman 1949

      That Mad Mr Jones (see Fuller Brush Man)

      They Were Not Divided 1950

      Third Dimensional Murder 1941

      Timid Toreador 1940

      Tomorrow the World 1944

      Torrent 1926

      Transcontinent Express (see Rock Island Trail)

      Transgression 1931

      U

      Under the Red Robe 1937

      Underwater! 1955

      Unholy Three 1925

      Unholy Three 1930

      W

      White Huntress (see Golden Ivory)

      White Orchid 1954

      Wild Irish Nights (see Old Mother Riley’s New Venture)

      Window 1949

      Y

      Young Bill Hickok 1940

      Fred Zinnemann (an article on the famous director)

      --

      Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops

      Bud Abbott (Harry Pierce), Lou Costello (Willie Piper), Lynn Bari (Leota Van Cleef), Fred Clark (Joseph Gorman), Maxie Rosenbloom (Hinds), Frank Wilcox (Rudolph Snavely), Harold Goodwin (cameraman), Mack Sennett (himself), Roscoe Ates (stuttering wagon driver), Paul Dubov (Jason), Joe Besser (Hunter), Murray Leonard (studio guard), Harry Tyler (nickelodeon pianist), Carole Costello (nickelodeon cashier), Jack Stoney, Henry Kulky (brakeman), Joe Devlin (policeman), William Haade (hobo ringleader), Heinie Conklin (comic), Houseley Stevenson junior (pilot), Jack Daly (burglar), Hank Mann (prop man), Byron Keith (officer), Sam Flint (conductor), Marjorie Bennett (patron Willie sits on), Charles Dorety (watermelon man), Donald Kerr (studio projectionist), Forrest Burns, Don House (cops), Pat Costello (Lou’s double), Colin Campbell, Frank Hagney.

      Director: CHARLES LAMONT. Screenplay: John Grant. Story: Lee Loeb. Photography: Reggie Lanning. Film editor: Edward Curtiss. Art directors: Alexander Golitzen, Bill Newberry. Set decorators: Russell A. Gausman and Julia Heron. Costumes designed by Jay A. Morley junior. Make-up: Bud Westmore. Hair styles: Joan St Oegger. Music director: Joseph Gershenson. 2nd unit director: Tom Shaw. Stunts: Bob Herron, Carey Loftin, Vic Parks. Assistant directors: William Holland (1st), Ira S. Webb (2nd). Sound recording: Leslie I. Carey and William Hedgcock. Western Electric Sound Recording. Producer: Howard Christie.

      Copyright 1 December 1954 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. A Universal-International Picture. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: February 1955. U.K. release: February 1955. Australian release: 1 July 1955. Sydney opening at the Lyceum. 8 reels. 7,083 feet. 79 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: A New York confidence man poses as a Russian film director in 1912 Hollywood.

      NOTES: Abbott and Costello’s second last film for Universal. Meet the Mummy (1955) followed. Their last movie, Dance With Me, Henry (1956), was released by United Artists.

      Carole Costello is Lou’s daughter.

      The silent film shown at the beginning of the picture is Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927), featuring Margarita Fisher (wife of the film’s director, Harry Pollard) as Eliza.

      COMMENT: A reasonably amusing A&C entry, whose main drawback is Fred Clark. Fred’s heavy-handed impersonation of a Michael Curtiz-type director becomes not only wearisome but slows down the action. Special effects are likewise a bit wonky, though the plane, train and other chase episodes are otherwise expertly handled with engrossing running inserts and exciting camerawork. In fact, by the humble standards of the later A&Cs, production values are surprisingly elaborate. Our two comics are also in fine fettle, taking their cue from a surrounding combination of seasoned character players and silent film veterans.

      --

      Alias Nick Beal

      Ray Milland (Nick Beal), Audrey Totter (Donna Allen), Thomas Mitchell (Joseph Foster), George Macready (Reverend Garfield), Fred Clark (Frankie Faulkner), Henry O’Neill (Judge Hobbs), Geraldine Wall (Martha Foster), Darryl Hickman (Larry Price), Nestor Paiva (Karl), King Donovan (Peter Wolfe), Charles Evans (Paul Norton), Erno Verebes (Cox, the tailor), Arlene Jenkins (Aileen), Pepito Perez (poster man), Joey Ray (Tommy Ray), Stuart Holmes, Tom Whitehead (ministers), Lester Dorr, Ethan Laidlaw (fishermen), Tim Ryan (Detective Dodds), Harold Vermilyea (chief justice), Douglas Spencer (Henry T. Finch), Percy Helton (Kafka), James Davies (gym instructor), John Shay (assistant district attorney), Maxine Gates (Josie), Tom Dugan (man), Donya Dean (information girl), Charles Flickinger (page boy), Steve Pendleton (Sergeant Hill), Phil Van Zandt (watchman), Jean Ruth (adding machinist), Pat Phelan (photographer), Pat O’Malley, Frank Mayo, Howard M. Mitchell (committee men), Elaine Riley (telephone girl), Everett Glass, Edward Biby (party guests), James Burke (bum), Don Shelton (banker), Robert R. Stephenson (truck driver), Allan Douglas, Jerry James (phone workers), Jimmie Dundee (tough politician), Julia Faye, Frances Morris, Richard Kipling (reformers), Theresa Harris (Opal), Jean Marshall (secretary), Sid Tomack (bartender), Ralph Montgomery, Diane Stewart, Bess Flowers, Al Ferguson, James Cornell, Louise Saraydar (pedestrians), Bob Coleman (bellhop), Helen Chapman (stenographer), Frank Darien (assistant tailor), Jack Gargan, Harold Gardiner, Bret Hamilton, Weldon Heyburn, Kippee Valez, Ben Mantz, Virginia Whitmore (bits), Billy Snyder (politician), Bill Sheehan (porter), Diana Mumby (girl), Alyn Lockwood (woman in China Coast café), Orley Lindgren (boy with note), Geraldine Jordan (switchboard operator/Salvation Army worker), Ray Dolciame (Tony).

      Director: JOHN FARROW. Screenplay: Jonathan Latimer. Original story: Mindret Lord. Uncredited screenplay contributor: John Farrow. Photography: Lionel Lindon. Art directors: Hans Dreier and Franz Bachelin. Set decorators: Sam Comer, Ross Dowd. Film editor: Eda Warren. Costumes designed by Mary Kay Dodson. Make-up: Wally Westmore. Make-up men: Delven Armstrong, Ted Larson. Hair styles: Gale McGarry, Merle Reeves. Music: Franz Waxman. Included in the music score are excerpts from A Mighty Fortress Is Our God by Martin Luther, Said I To My Heart, Said I by Earl Robinson and E.Y. Harburg, In the Sweet Bye and Bye by J. P. Webster and S.F. Bennett, and There’s Mercy Still For Thee by Herbert Booth. Stills: Ed Henderson. Chief electrician: Stanley Williams. Grip: Charles Sickler. Camera operator: William Rand. Set continuity: Charles Morton. Assistant director: Francisco Day. Production managers: Stanley Goldsmith, John Murphy. Sound recording: Philip Wisdom, Gene Garvin. Western Electric Sound Recording. Producer: Endre Bohem.

      Copyright 4 March 1949 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 9 March 1949. U.S. release: 4 March 1949. U.K. release: September 1949. Australian release: 10 November 1949. 8,463 feet. 93 minutes.

      U.K. release title: The Contact Man.

      SYNOPSIS: A crooked politician accepts help from the devil.

      NOTES: Second of only two Hollywood movies produced by writer, Endre Bohem. John Farrow directed the first, Night Has a Thousand Eyes in 1948.

      COMMENT: Alias Nick Beal is one of the best examples of Farrow’s work, marred only by the conclusion forced on him by Paramount’s front office. Despite this, Farrow still regarded it as his best film when I interviewed him in March 1961.

      An engrossing political drama, directed with intensity and atmospheric flair, Alias Nick Beal retains every whit of its power and appeal in 2011. It is a modern morality play, brought to vivid life by a combination of terse writing, charismatic acting, stunning camerawork and offbeat visual effects.

      Latimer was Farrow’s regular writer at this period. He’d worked with him on The Big Clock, Night Has a Thousand Eyes and Beyond Glory. Subsequent collaborations were Copper Canyon, Plunder of the Sun and Botany Bay.

      The Nick Beal script has all the virtues of the superlative movies in this series, and none of the vices of the clinkers (Night Has a Thousand Eyes and Botany Bay). Farrow himself worked closely with Latimer on the screenplay, but, following his usual practice, did not claim any writing credit.

      The best of the Latimer-Farrow screenplays have the following characteristics: (1) A plot that is familiar in outline transforms into a story rivetingly fresh and original, not so much by unexpected plot twists but by developing and rounding out the characters and often giving them unusual traits; (2) A fondness for the bizarre; (3) Sharp, naturalistic dialogue; (4) A meticulous attention to detail.

      A martinet on the set, Farrow often found it difficult to assemble the actors he wanted. He directed five films with Alan Ladd, but did not relish these assignments. He hated working with George Coulouris. On the other hand, many stars like Barbara Stanwyck disliked working with Farrow and actually fought the studio to get out of such roles. The only featured player who really enjoyed his Farrow casting was Ray Milland. In fact, Milland and Farrow had a professional rapport unmatched in the director’s usual relationships with his stars.

      For Nick Beal, Audrey Totter was borrowed from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Other players like Thomas Mitchell were also new to Paramount (and Farrow).

      Lionel Lindon’s camerawork must be ranked as outstanding, his somber lighting considerably enhancing the eerie mood and atmosphere of the story.

      Throughout his screen career, Farrow displayed a particular interest in the degree to which camera movement could involve an audience. In fact, he invented several devices to ensure free movement of the camera during the long, complicated takes of which he was a master.

      OTHER VIEWS: I’m glad you liked The Big Clock, but I don’t agree with you that it’s my best film. I consider the best picture I have made to be Alias Nick Beal. This was a film made with both inspiration and honesty. It was good in very sense of the word. I said what I wanted to say, and the way I wanted to say it, without any studio interference. The only problem with the studio occurred when the picture was finished. When I made the picture, it was called The Dark Circle. But Paramount’s New York office lost heart. They changed the ending and the title and then advertised it to fit its new name!

      — John Farrow.

      Despite a melodramatic ending, the story is a powerful and absorbing one, though destined for the thoughtful patron rather than the simple entertainment seeker, since there is no attempt at light relief. Ray Milland and Thomas Mitchell are equally impressive, and there is strong support from the remainder of the cast.

      — Monthly Film Bulletin.

      Milland makes a gentlemanly Lucifer. His evil aura is a fine work of subtle and ironic understatement.

      — Robert Hatch in The New Republic.

      Nick Beal! I loved that picture! It was my first hand at directing. I asked John. I said, Do you mind if I suggest a few shots? I want to learn about directing. I was always more interested in directing than acting. Always! I said, In that waterfront dive, let’s build the furniture up kind of cockeyed, so that all the planes are out of true. And let’s change the names of the strange people you see there. They’re just stock names. There was one little fellow, a good little actor, Percy Helton, in all John Farrow’s films. I said, "Let me walk past him and just say, ‘Good evening, Kafka!’ Just that! And when I’m on the wharf outside in the fog, they had some cornball kind of music for me to whistle. I said, ‘Let me whistle something different.’ So I whistled the Berceuse from Jocelyn and John said, ‘That sounds great!’ and he printed it. Those little things came in like that. A lot of other shots I did. I hid behind Thomas Mitchell and when he moved the audience saw me and wondered where I came from. Farrow was very good for me and very good with me. We got along very well together though he was the most disliked man at Paramount, but a good director.

      — Ray Milland, interviewed by Barrie Pattison.

      --

      Alice in Wonderland

      The voices of: Kathryn Beaumont (Alice), Ed Wynn (Mad Hatter), Richard Haydn (Caterpillar), Sterling Holloway (Cheshire Cat), Jerry Colonna (March Hare), Verna Felton (Queen of Hearts), Heather Angel (Alice’s sister), Pat O’Malley (Tweedledum/Tweedledee/Walrus/Carpenter/Oysters), Bill Thompson (White Rabbit), Joe Kearns (Door Knob), Bill Thompson (Dodo), Ed Penner (Eaglet), Larry Grey (Bill, the Lizard), Doris Lloyd (Rose), Queenie Leonard (other flower voices), Stan Freberg (Jabberwock), Rhythmaires (Singing Group Voices in the Jabberwock sequence), Stan Freberg and Daws Butler (augmented Voices in Jabberwock sequence), Queenie Leonard (Bulb-Horn Bird in Tree), Jim MacDonald (Dormouse), Dink Trout (King of Hearts), Larry Grey and Ken Beaumont (Card Painters), Mello-Men (Vocal Group of Card Painters), Don Barclay, Pinto Colvig (Flamingos).

      Directed by CLYDE GERONIMI, HAMILTON LUSKE and WILFRED JACKSON. Directing animators: Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Ollie Johnston, Wolfgang Reitherman, Mark Davis, Les Clark and Norman Ferguson. Special processes: Ub Iwerks. Film editor: Lloyd Richardson. Character animators: Hal King, Judge Whitaker, Hal Ambro, Bill Justice, Phil Duncan, Bob Carlson, Don Lusk, Cliff Nordberg, Harvey Toombs, Fred Moore, Marvin Woodward, Hugh Fraser and Charles Nichols. Effects animators: Josh Meador, Dan MacManus, George Rowley and Blaine Gibson. Screenplay: Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Joe Rinaldi, Bill Cottrell, Joe Grant, Del Connell, Ted Sears, Erdman Penner, Milt Banta, Dick Kelsey, Dick Huemer, Tom Oreb and John Walbridge, adapted from book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). Music score: Oliver Wallace. Orchestrations: Joseph Dubin. Songs: Very Good Advice, In a World of My Own, All in a Golden Afternoon, Alice in Wonderland, The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Caucus Race, I’m Late, Painting the Roses Red, March of the Cards, by Bob Hilliard and Sammy Fain. ’Twas Brillig by Don Raye and Gene DePaul. A Very Merry Un-birthday by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. We’ll Smoke the Blighter Out, Old Father William, A-E-I-O-U by Oliver Wallace and Ted Sears. Vocal arrangements: Jud Conlon. Production supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen. Color by Technicolor. Sound recording: O.C. Slyfield, Robert O. Cook and Harold J. Steck. Producer: Walt Disney. Walt Disney Productions. Released by RKO Radio Pictures.

      Copyright 4 May 1951 by Walt Disney Productions. New York opening at the Criterion: 28 July 1951. U.S. release: 28 July 1951. U.K. release: 20 August 1951. Australian release: 21 December 1951. Sydney opening at the Plaza. 6,772 feet. 75 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: Walt Disney bought the film rights to Alice from Paramount and announced his intention to make a cartoon version as early as May 20th, 1938. On November 15th, 1940 Disney stated that Alice was to be his next work and that he had already engaged Deems Taylor to compose the music.

      Disney’s Alice bears no more than a passing resemblance to the Alice of Carroll and Tenniel, published in 1865, and the film is best regarded as an original work. In that way it can be seen as a typical piece of Disney whimsy, more frantic than usual and with more reliance on slapstick, but just as inventively characterized, just as vividly drawn and colored in impeccable three-dimensional style with flawless synchronization of image and sound (including an amusing use of music to counterpoint the action), and with just as much assurance and technical polish. None of his imitators have ever been able to approach Disney in sheer technical expertise, in his loving, no-expense-spared attention to the minutest degree of detail. They may argue that they don’t want to emulate Disney, but the fact remains that they can’t afford to, and therefore they have no choice. Just as no-one can compete with Disney on his home ground — he is the undisputed master of the traditional cartoon — so he rarely ventures forth to do battle with the avant-garde, and when he has done so he has at the best (with the one exception of the brilliantly outré delirium tremens sequence in Dumbo) been only moderately successful. The few attempts in Alice in Wonderland, notably in the Enchanted Forest sequence, where his love of the bizarre and grotesque gets full play, are among Disney’s least appealing. Otherwise Alice is a delight.

      NOTES: Layout: Mac Stewart, Hugh Hennesy, Tom Codrick, Don Griffith, Charles Philippi, Thor Putnam, A. Kendall O’Connor, Lance Nolley. Backgrounds: Ray Huffine, Ralph Hulett, Art Riley, Brice Mack, Dick Anthony, Thelma Witmer.

      Color stylists John Hench, Mary Blair, Claude Coats, Don Da Gradi and Ken Anderson gave the film a haunting, dream-like atmosphere through the use of shapes and colors which verged on the surreal, while the animators vied with one another to produce wildly comic sequences, which owed more to the Studio’s short subjects and compilation movies than to any of its conventional features. As a result, the picture had, what Walt himself called ‘the tempo of a three-ring circus’, and animator Ward Kimball later felt that one of the film’s problems was its unrelenting mood of zaniness.

      After some 50,000 man hours and some 700,000 drawings, Alice in Wonderland was completed, at a cost of almost $4 million, and premiered at London’s Leicester Square Theatre on 26 July 1951.

      — Richard Hollis and Brian Sibley in The Disney Studio Story.

      Oliver Wallace was nominated for a prestigious Hollywood award for scoring of a musical, losing to An American in Paris.

      VIEWER’S GUIDE: Too bizarre for younger children.

      COMMENT: If I hadn’t regarded Alice in Wonderland as one of the masterpieces of all time, for both adults and children, I would not have undertaken a film version. I undertook it with the greatest respect.

      However, there are more than 80 characters in the two Alice books and they move in and out of the narrative very erratically. It was imperative that we create a plot structure, for Carroll had had no need for such a thing. We decided that Alice’s curiosity was the only possible prime mover for our story and generator of the necessary suspense. The result is a basic chase pattern.

      We then tried out every episode in both Alice books on our own test audience of some 500 persons. There are many characters that antagonized, repelled or confused even the most steadfast of Alice’s admirers. Some were pretty callous, and several were depressingly lugubrious. The child that turns into a pig in Alice’s arms, for example, was revolting according to one of our early tests. Other tests indicated that the sad and weepy Mock Turtle and Gryphon were without other compensating interest.

      A good example of how we worked out our problems is the way we animated the famous Tea Party. We have the Mad Hatter and the March Hare chant the Unbirthday lines which Humpty-Dumpty originally spoke in Through the Looking-Glass. The Tea Party is a perfectly appropriate occasion, and we thus eliminated Humpty-Dumpty, which we wanted to do anyway, because he was too talky.

      Another example is the way we shifted the reading of the dry history lesson from its original context in the Caucus Race, to the opening scene of our picture. Putting it there gives more coherence to all that follows, since it puts the reason for Alice’s descent into the rabbit hole where it is most effective dramatically, i.e., at the beginning. And no violence is done to Carroll’s mood, nor to any of the character relationships.

      We combined the four Queens and the Duchess into one figure, the raucous Queen of Hearts, who keeps demanding more decapitations. Many minor figures, casually alluded to, were not included in even our first muster. All told, our picture has 35 of the 80 or so original characters. In addition, we created one new character — the personified Door Knob, who guards the precincts of Wonderland. He was invented in order to avoid a long explanatory monologue at the beginning of the story and to give Alice a foil to talk to.

      Now we had another problem — the Tenniel illustrations. It is not easy technically to turn book illustrations into animated cartoons, and the cross-hatched etchings of Tenniel could not be animated just as they are. They had to be re-done in clean pen line and in the brilliant hues that Technicolor can reproduce. They had to seem round, not flat. They had to be made mobile and be seen in a life-like flow of action from various angles. For the cartoon medium, the characters virtually had to be born anew, since their behavior would have to be conveyed in movement, rather than with words and pen-and-ink drawings.

      And yet, I think we have managed to follow Tenniel in such close detail that no-one can say our delineations distort the images Carroll and Tenniel worked out together. But there are some slight deviations: The features of our Alice are more youthful and we have made her figure less stubby and her hair more kempt. Though her costume is unchanged, we have given her plain instead of striped stockings in order to save drawing time and for reasons related to Technicolor. We are somewhat less realistic than Tenniel in portraying some of the animal characters. We have made the Walrus, the March Hare and the White Rabbit more humanesque, for example.

      — Walt Disney.

      OTHER VIEWS: "The Lewis Carroll version of Alice in Wonderland was always a favorite of mine, but I think we blew it in the Disney version. It degenerated into a loud-mouthed vaudeville show. There’s no denying that there are many charming bits in our Alice, but it lacks warmth and an over-all story glue. Alice 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. For example, I was in charge of the animation for the Mad Tea Party, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and the Cheshire Cat, but because all the other sequences in the show tried to be mad, the result was that the only really mad thing in the whole picture, in my opinion, turned out to be the Cheshire Cat! Why? Because compared to the constant all-out, wild gyrations of the other characters, he played it real cool. His quiet, underplayed subtleties consequently stole the show!"

      — Ward Kimball, interviewed by Leonard Maltin in Film Fan Monthly.

      Nearly all the characters — the Caterpillar is one of the few successful elements — have been twisted to suit Disney’s tricks and mannerisms, so that their actions and their dialogue are incongruous appendages rather than realizations of the Lewis Carroll originals. If you don’t care about Lewis Carroll and like Disney, you will find the film a fair example of his later period — relentlessly ingenious, bright and crowded with movement; but if you like Lewis Carroll, the only advice is to stay away.

      — Gavin Lambert in the Monthly Film Bulletin.

      Inevitably, some incidents which are someone’s favorites have had to go. I still mourn, for instance, the absence of the Duchess, the Sneezing Baby and the Fish and Frog Footmen. I still regret that the White Knight and the White Queen are not present.

      On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the Caterpillar — and I

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