2018-02-23 18:58:03 +00:00
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created_at: '2016-03-09T05:37:34.000Z'
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title: The First Film Version of Alice in Wonderland (1903)
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url: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/watch_the_very_first_film_version_of_alice_in_wonderland_from_1903
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author: flannery
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points: 44
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story_text:
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comment_text:
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num_comments: 2
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story_id:
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story_title:
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story_url:
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parent_id:
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created_at_i: 1457501854
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_tags:
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- story
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- author_flannery
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- story_11251144
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objectID: '11251144'
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---
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Cecil Hepworth is one of the unsung heroes of early cinema. The son of a
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magic-lantern showman and novelist, Hepworth was one of the first
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producers/directors to realize the potential of making full-length
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“feature films” (his version of David Copperfield in 1913 ran for 67
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minutes) and the selling power of star actors (and animals—most notably
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his pet dog in Rescued by Rover in 1905).
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Hepworth began by making short one-minute films. Influenced by the
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Lumière Brothers and the early master of cinema Georges Méliès,
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Hepworth tried his own hand at advancing their ideas. With [How It Feels
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to be Run Over](https://youtu.be/m6F1VAPzvkU) he took the Lumiere’s
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[Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat](https://youtu.be/1dgLEDdFddk) (1895)
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and applied it to a motor car—where the vehicle heads straight for the
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camera apparently mowing down both cameraman and audience. The same
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year, he made [Explosion of a Motor Car](https://youtu.be/MNllVz6mKZ4)
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in which a car with four passengers explodes. The road (in comic
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fashion) is then littered with their body parts. This was shocking and
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surreal viewing for early cinema goers. It was also, as Michael Brooke
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of [BFI Screenonline](http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/444699/)
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points out, “one of the first films to play with the laws of physics for
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comic effect.” Hepworth pinched Méliès technique of editing in
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camera—stopping the film between sequences to create one complete and
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seemingly real
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event.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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In 1903, Hepworth decided to go large and make (as faithfully as
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possible) an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in
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Wonderland. Originally running twelve minutes in length, Hepworth’s
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Alice in Wonderland was the longest film yet produced in Britain.
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Hepworth co-directed the film with Percy Stow. He wanted to keep the
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style of the film in keeping with Sir John Tenniel’s original
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illustrations. Costumes were designed and elaborate sets were built at
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Hepworth’s film studio—including a rather impressive rabbit burrow.
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Family members, friends and their children were used in the cast.
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2018-02-23 18:19:40 +00:00
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2018-03-03 09:35:28 +00:00
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Unfortunately, the full version of Hepworth’s mini classic has been
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lost. The print that exists is damaged but is still a beautiful, trippy
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and incredible piece of work—which as far this little ole blogger’s
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concerned, still stands high above that Tim Burton
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atrocity.
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The BFI created a remastered version of this film in 2010, which can be
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seen [here](https://youtu.be/zeIXfdogJbA). I’m sticking with a scratchy,
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silent B\&W version—for which you can supply your own soundtrack.
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