Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. The 13th in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New York City and London on July 29, 1951. 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.
On the bank of a tranquil English river, a young girl named Alice grows bored of listening to her older sister read aloud from a history book of William I of England. When her sister chastises Alice's daydreaming, Alice tells her cat Dinah that she would prefer to live in a nonsensical 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. Her dress balloons out and she begins to float. 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 Tweedledee and Tweedledum 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, getting stuck 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. Fed up with all the wonderlandians' rudeness and wackiness, Alice abandons 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 beheads 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, who then 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 Beaumont as Alice
Ed Wynn as Mad Hatter
Jerry Colonna as March Hare
Richard Haydn as Caterpillar
Sterling Holloway as Cheshire Cat
Verna Felton as Queen of Hearts
J. Pat O'Malley as Tweedledum and Tweedledee/The Walrus and the Carpenter/Mother Oyster
Bill Thompson as White Rabbit/Pat the Dodo
Heather Angel as Mathilda (Alice's sister)
Joseph Kearns as Doorknob
Larry Grey as Bill the Lizard/Card Painter
Queenie Leonard as A Bird in a Tree/Snooty Flower
Dink Trout as King of Hearts
Doris Lloyd as The Rose
Jimmy MacDonald as The Dormouse
The Mellomen (Thurl Ravenscroft, Bill Lee, Max Smith, and Bob Hamlin) as Card Painters
Don Barclay as Other Cards
Pinto Colvig as Flamingos (uncredited)
Norma Zimmer as White Rose (uncredited)
Marni Nixon as Singing Flower (uncredited)
Mel Blanc as Dinah/Wonderland creatures (uncredited)
Directed by Clyde Geronimi
Wilfred Jackson
Hamilton Luske
Produced by Walt Disney
Written by Winston Hibler
Ted Sears
Bill Peet
Erdman Penner
Joe Rinaldi
Milt Banta
William Cottrell
Dick Kelsey
Joe Grant
Dick Huemer
Del Connell
Tom Oreb
John Walbridge
Based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
and
Through the Looking-Glass:
Lewis Carroll
Starring Kathryn Beaumont
Ed Wynn
Richard Haydn
Sterling Holloway
Jerry Colonna
Verna Felton
J. Pat O'Malley
Bill Thompson
Heather Angel
Joseph Kearns
Music by Oliver Wallace
Editing by Lloyd L. Richardson
Studio Walt Disney Productions
Release date(s)
July 26, 1951 (United Kingdom)
July 28, 1951 (United States)
Running time 75 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3 million
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