Customer Reviews

The Life Of Lewis Carroll

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Don't be deceived by the black and white photo on the cover. This documentary is recently done, in color, and gives a good background on the life of "Alice in Wonderland" creator Lewis Carroll. It runs 75 minutes in length, with no extras. The program is narrated by one person, which gets a little dull. Perhaps some interviews with Carroll experts would have helped break up the narration a bit. On the whole, good, though.

As the other two reviewers have noted, this DVD is boring and lame. If one is interested in Lewis Carroll AKA Charles Dodgson, one should get a copy of Morten Cohen's or Karoline Leach's bio of him (I recommend the former: though published 15 years ago, it's still the best and sticks pretty much to the facts, whereas Ms. Leach's book makes some wild speculations that are backed up by specious evidence - there's also a new bio by Jenny Woolf that is to be released in Feb. and has attracted some buzz). Of course, if one has their heart set on a DVD or video, I recommend the ALICE IN WONDERLAND "episode" from The Learning Channel's GREAT BOOKS series. Although it's a bit dated and can only be found on videotape (occasionally, a used copy can be found here on Amazon), it's very informative and entertaining (Cohen appears on it and gives his two cents). Indeed, becuz it's a videotape (I don't think that TLC put out any of the Great Books episodes on DVD), it can often be had pretty cheap.

Drone, drone, buildings, rivers, drone, drone. Too much left out or minimized (e.g., Dodgson's work with math, logic, puzzles). Just the one guy talking. Very few examples shown (no family newsletters, very thin on non-Alice material). His rooms at Oxford not shown. The Alice shop at Oxford not mentioned or shown. Russian trip mentioned, but no views of Russia. There are quotations, but not many and not the best. Dodgson's massive guilt trip glossed over, hypochondria overemphasized. Justification of nude photography undermined by statement that he liked to go to the beach to see scantily clad children (haven't heard this anywhere else). Sorry. I was prepared to like and defend this video, but I just can't.

Sadly, this documentary is a mere slow moving attempt @ using visual fluff to beat around the bush. The viewer follows redundant scenery as the narrator drones on about Carroll's mundane life as a math professor until the film finally reaches its point. The narrator intermittently hints about Carroll's fascination & attachment to a real life friend named, "Alice." Alice is a child & Carroll is an adult who often photographs her naked. The disillusioning part is not the length of this boring film, but the fact that the narrator actually has the audacity to frame Carroll's practice in the context of a culturally appropriate pass time for that period in time. It's no wonder Carroll's character, "Alice" has to follow a path of confusion. I'm sure that little girl's life felt maddening @ times indeed. Today, Carroll would not be a legend. He would be a registered sex offender.