Alice in Wonderland (1966, Jonathan Miller)
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:45 am
I just finished watching the Warner re-issue (for the BBC) of Jonathan Miller's Alice in Wonderland, which was originally released on DVD by Home Vision in 2003. I did some comparing, and I can say with confidence that owners of the original edition may very well want to upgrade.
The transfers on both DVDs look very much the same, with a few negligible differences. It appears that the Warner transfer may have had some contrast boosting, as black levels are a bit richer. There is also a little more information on all four sides on the Warner transfer. Both look quite good, though.
The real improvement on Warner's edition is with the extras. They have retained the same informative commentary by Jonathan Miller from the older release, as well as the 1903 silent verion of Alice with commentary by Simon Brown. They also have a still gallery featuring photos by Terence Spencer of Life Magazine, but interestingly it's not the same gallery from the Home Vision release. I don't believe any of the photos from the Home Vision release are shown, but a collection of new ones, including many in color, are featured, so make of that what you will. There is also a vintage featurette showing Ravi Shankar recording the score for the film, running just under 10 minutes.
But the best new feature, by far, is the 1965 TV film Alice, written by Dennis Potter for the BBC series "The Wednesday Play," the same series Miller made his film for. Potter's movie focuses on the relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, which Potter clearly depicts as romantic desire. At times, there are almost traces of Lolita in this film. It is basically an early version of Potter's later DreamChild, only without the elder Alice in New York storyline. Some scenes were practically re-filmed line by line in the later movie. As Carroll, George Baker gives a very good performance. At times, the film is a bit stilted (as you would expect of a 1960s TV film), but it is also fascinating both in its own right and as a warm-up to the more polished DreamChild. In my opinion, the inclusion of this movie alone makes the Warner DVD worthy of picking up, even if you have the older release.
The only minor gripes I have (and I do mean minor) are that the Warner cover art is ghastly and there are fewer chapter stops. Aside from that, this is a fantastic release, much better than I had anticipated.
The transfers on both DVDs look very much the same, with a few negligible differences. It appears that the Warner transfer may have had some contrast boosting, as black levels are a bit richer. There is also a little more information on all four sides on the Warner transfer. Both look quite good, though.
The real improvement on Warner's edition is with the extras. They have retained the same informative commentary by Jonathan Miller from the older release, as well as the 1903 silent verion of Alice with commentary by Simon Brown. They also have a still gallery featuring photos by Terence Spencer of Life Magazine, but interestingly it's not the same gallery from the Home Vision release. I don't believe any of the photos from the Home Vision release are shown, but a collection of new ones, including many in color, are featured, so make of that what you will. There is also a vintage featurette showing Ravi Shankar recording the score for the film, running just under 10 minutes.
But the best new feature, by far, is the 1965 TV film Alice, written by Dennis Potter for the BBC series "The Wednesday Play," the same series Miller made his film for. Potter's movie focuses on the relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, which Potter clearly depicts as romantic desire. At times, there are almost traces of Lolita in this film. It is basically an early version of Potter's later DreamChild, only without the elder Alice in New York storyline. Some scenes were practically re-filmed line by line in the later movie. As Carroll, George Baker gives a very good performance. At times, the film is a bit stilted (as you would expect of a 1960s TV film), but it is also fascinating both in its own right and as a warm-up to the more polished DreamChild. In my opinion, the inclusion of this movie alone makes the Warner DVD worthy of picking up, even if you have the older release.
The only minor gripes I have (and I do mean minor) are that the Warner cover art is ghastly and there are fewer chapter stops. Aside from that, this is a fantastic release, much better than I had anticipated.