Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The famous and critically-lauded Victorian classic Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, was very first published in 1865. Written by author Lewis Carroll (real name - Charles Dodgson), this fantasy-adventure story has been adapted to both the stage and screen countless times. There's the familiar Walt Disney animated classic of_ Alice In Wonderland_ which was miserably underrated at the time, while there are a listless number of ambitious live-action screen adaptations that have largely failed to truly capture the spirit and flavour of Lewis Carroll's vivid vision of Wonderland. The Film

This 1972 adaptation is something of an exception and stands out as the best live-action version of the book. Some may beg to differ, however, as critical response was somewhat mixed but has since steadily grown in reputation. Director William Sterling, shrewdly manages to encapsulate the often dark and frightening vision of Wonderland. Not to say that this is some sort of kid's horror film - far from it - but there is just something I can't quite put my finger on that slightly gives me the creeps, more than likely due to its intentional surreal, off-the-wall absurdity.

A fifteen-year-old Fiona Fullerton heads the cast making, for me, the perfect Alice, to which I always compare to. This was my first taster of Alice In Wonderland so I always immediately think of this film whenever the story is discussed, probably as it mirrors the book so admirably. What Fullerton succeeds in doing is taking with you with her on a magical journey, allowing you to view the strange adventures through her eyes and evoking a vague feeling of being drawn into a child's dream that escalates into a nightmare (I am, of course, writing from the perspective of how I felt as a child when watching this).

Fiona Fullerton is not least given noble support from a stellar cast featuring some of Britain's finest thespians of the era. The multi-talented Michael Crawford assumes the role of the jittery White R...