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82 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FINALLY!!!!, May 28, 2006
Finally after years of waiting, fans (and children of the 80s) can finally take home the fondly-remembered 1985 two-part television musical production of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, produced by Irwin Allen and featuring just about every single showbusiness personality of the time.
Part One opens with Alice (played winningly by Natalie Gregory) wishing she was old enough to enjoy afternoon tea with all of the grownups. After going down to the lake she spies a White Rabbit (Red Buttons), follows him down a rabbit-hole and into a kaleidoscope of colour and fantasy. Alice meets many wonderful characters like the Caterpillar (Sammy Davis Jr.), the Duchess and her eccentric cook (Martha Raye and Imogene Coca), the Mad Hatter (Anthony Newley), the Mock Turtle (Ringo Starr) and the Cheshire Cat (Telly Savalas). Finally after a brush with the head-chopping Queen of Hearts (Jayne Meadows), Alice escapes, only to discover she is in fact trapped on the wrong side of the mirror.
Part Two finds Alice now somehow in Looking-glass Land, which is actually a giant chess-game. In order to win the game and hopefully return home, Alice must make it to the eighth square of the board. On her way Alice meets many more wondrous characters like Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee (Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme), the Red Queen (Ann Jillian), the White Queen (Carol Channing), the White King (Harvey Korman) and the White Knight (Lloyd Bridges). But throughout her journey Alice is terrorised by the scary Jabberwocky dragon which thrives on fear. Alice must conquer her fears of the Jabberwocky if she is ever to return home...
Famous for star-studded films of the 70s like "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno", producer Irwin Allen made sure the cast of this spectacular ALICE IN WONDERLAND featured just about every single showbusiness veteran and notable of the day. It would have been easy for Natalie Gregory to have become overwhelmed or overshadowed by her cavalcade of co-stars but the appealing young actress holds her own and gives a very solid performance, though it must be noted that her singing was in fact dubbed by another little girl called Lara Beeson. The musical numbers, written by legendary host Steve Allen (who also appears as the Paper Suit Man during Part Two), are all very fine and perfect for the characters but the best number by far is the beautiful ballad "Emotions", delivered by Ann Jillian in a tear-inducing rendition.
Children of the 80s remember this version with a lot of nostalgia, and it's so lovely to think we can now introduce this gem to our own children.
THE COMPLETE CAST LIST:
Part One (Alice in Wonderland)
Sheila Allen.......Mother
Scott Baio.......Pat the Guinea Pig
Red Buttons.......White Rabbit
Sid Caesar........Gryphon
Imogene Coca.........Cook
Sammy Davis Jr............Caterpillar
Natalie Gregory.........Alice
Sherman Hemsley.........Mouse
Arte Johnson..........Dormouse
Roddy McDowall........March Hare
Jayne Meadows.........Queen of Hearts
Robert Morley ..........King of Hearts
Anthony Newley..........Mad Hatter
Donald O'Connor...........Lory Bird
Martha Raye.............Duchess
George Savalas...........Courtier
Telly Savalas.............Cheshire Cat
Ringo Starr............Mock Turtle
Shelley Winters...........Dodo Bird
Part Two (Through the Looking Glass)
Steve Allen.............Gentleman in the Paper Suit
Ernest Borgnine..........Lion
Beau Bridges...............Unicorn
Lloyd Bridges..............White Knight
Carol Channing.............White Queen
Patrick Duffy.............Goat
George Gobel...............Gnat
Eydie Gorme...............Tweedle-Dee
Merv Griffin..................Conductor
Ann Jillian....................Red Queen
Harvey Korman...............White King
Steve Lawrence...............Tweedle-Dum
Don Matheson.................Red Knight
Karl Malden....................Walrus
Donna Mills......................Rose
Pat Morita.....................Horse
Louis Nye.........................Carpenter
John Stamos....................The Messenger
Sally Struthers..................Tiger-Lily
Jack Warden........................Owl
Jonathan Winters.............Humpty-Dumpty
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Single-sided, dual-layer disc
Keep case
Audio: 2-channel stereo
Subtitles: French (English closed-captioned)
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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
OH MY GOD!, January 25, 2000
U know.....it's so weird to read everyone else's reviews and find that so many people had the same problem as me 8) I saw this movie when I was very young, my mom had taped it for me, and I'd watched it everyday! But unfortunately my dad thought the Miami Hurricanes was a more important thing to have on tape and thus recorded over it. That's when I was in 3rd grade. Here it is, 12 years later and I've finally found the version I was looking for. It was impossible to find and no one else I know has even heard of this version. If u want to see this movie, order it now, cause I know first hand that it's impossible to find anywhere else. It's and excellent movie and u will not be disappointed! It was my favorite movie whne I was younger, and this version is 300Xs better than the Disney version. Your children will probably like this one better. It includes mnay scenes not shown in other versions. There's the scene with the baby that turns into a pig, the scene where the woman turns into a lamb, a train scene, 2 different characters telling the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter, the scene with the unicorn and lion with the cake, a scene with Humpty Dumpty, and the best scene of all, the JABBERWOCKY! This movie is great, I don't know why it's so hard to find. But it will definately spark a whole new universe to a child's imagination. I can't wait til it gets to my house!
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40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
FINALLY!! THE BEST version of this MASTERPIECE is out on DVD!!, July 28, 2006
I can't believe it! God has answered my prayers for a DVD release of this masterpiece! I have waited so long, so long for this to come out on DVD! I own it on VHS but I was afraid I was going to have to have it transferred to DVD but now I don't have to!
Back in the 80's when I was about 7 or 8 years old, this 2 part movie came on TV and we recorded it, of course it was on Beta back then. I totally fell in love with this movie. After I only saw it once or twice, I wasn't able to see it again for the longest time because my family lost the tape and TV never showed it. So I was wanting it for years and finally in the late 90's, like 98 or 99, I just happened to look in the Disney store and saw both Alice In Wonderland (1985) and Alice Through The Looking Glass (1985) and I bought them right away. They were on VHS but it doesn't really matter because I love them so much. To this day, at 27 years old, I still love this 2 part film and never get bored of it.
I have watched many other versions of Alice In Wonderland and no other version has had an Alice as good as Natalie Gregory or a white rabbit as good as Red Buttons. Even Ringo Starr is in this version. I totally love that rabbit costume and back in the 80's, you can tell, or at least I can tell how much work the director put into this film. Since 1985, other versions haven't shown as much detail and work like this version has. Even the roses in the rose garden looks real. The set design is just amazing and the actors performances are truly magnificent! This is the ULTIMATE version of Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass! I am just so happy to be able to own this on DVD soon because my tapes have gotten a lot of use in the last 5 or 6 years. If you own any Alice In Wonderland, own this 2 part one because this one puts every other version to shame!!!
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