Alice May: “Alice in Wonderland” (1915 silent film)

This silent Alice has an interesting history, and it’s a real shame that it only survives in an incomplete form. The original film was two hours long, and it adapted both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland andThrough the Looking-Glass: as in other early Alice adaptations, the first half seems to have adapted the first book, while the second half covered the sequel. But circa 1920, the film was rereleased in two separate hour-long installments, WonderlandandLooking-Glass. Unfortunately, all but the last reel ofLooking-Glass is lost, as is the original cut of the film that featured both parts. The very scene on the 1915 movie poster, Alice’s meeting with Humpty Dumpty, is sadly one of the lost scenes. So are the scenes in Wonderland where Alice shrinks or grows. Still, the truncated Wonderland that still exists is a charming version; we’re lucky that it survived at all.

For the most part this is a faithful adaptation. The main embellishment is an opening sequence of Alice playing in the kitchen, then going for a walk with her sister before they sit down on the riverbank, and seeing various things – the cook baking tarts, a deck of cards, a white rabbit, Dinah the cat in a tree, and a piglet in the farmyard – that influence her dream. In Wonderland, all the animal characters wear full-body suits and masks with articulated eyes and mouths, as do the Duchess, the Cook, and the Mad Hatter to make them look like Tenniel’s illustrations. While by modern standards these costumes are fairly clunky and grotesque, it’s clear that great love and care was put into creating them, and they most definitely create a fanciful atmosphere. Meanwhile, the lively, endearing Alice of 15-year-old Viola Savoy excellently holds the picture together. She and the other performers bring the story to life despite the fact that the film direction is bare-bones, with no closeups and very little editing.

Despite its incompleteness and its slightly primitive qualities, this is still an appealing Alice, which anyone who loves both the books and the genre of silent film should see.

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