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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - the DVDs
February/April 2005:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Released 25.04.05), DVD, released
in UK.
Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic, English.
As advertised:
 A
fifiteen year old Fiona Fullerton heads an all star British
cast in this double BAFTA winning musical comedy-widely regarded
as the most lavish and most faithful adaptation of Lewis Carroll's
classic Fantasy Novel.
One of the most enduring classic stories of all time! Fully
restored, digitally remastered in correct 'Scope Aspect Ratio!
Gorgeous Limited Edition DVD boxset with Book! Grade 'A' all
star British cast!
Filmed to mark the centenary of the completion of the Alice
novels, this extravagantly lush British spectacle, which brings
Sir John Tenniel's famous illustrations enchantingly to life
with a bewitching score by James Bond composer John Barry
and BAFTA winning cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001:
A Space Odyssey), is presented for the first time on DVD in
its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 Todd-AO 35 'Scope alongside
the classic novel upon which it is most faithfully based.
Stars: Michael Crawford, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Spike
Milligan, Sir Michael Hordern, Fiona Fullerton, Sir Ralph
Richardson, Dame Flora Robson, Roy Kinnear, Michael Jayston,
Hywell Bennett.
* This DVD box set release includes the classic Lewis Carroll
book on which the film is based!
On Saturday the 2nd of April, the Daily Express (UK) issued
a free DVD with that day's edition of their newspaper. It's from
the same source as the forthcoming official UK release (mentioned
above), but came in a CD-style cover containing the Daily Express
Logo. Readers were also given the opportunity to get a free CD containing
the 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' story the following day, in
The Sunday Express.
David Wishart commented on the free DVD [Hiachresis discussion
group]:
"I mentioned in an earlier post that the sound was "a bit
ropey" on this DVD. Well now I know why. It was late here in the
UK and I thought I'd not disturb anyone by popping the headphones
on and listening to the film that way. Aha ... the producers of
the DVD - or someone along the way - had sought to "stereorise"
the mono sound! It might sound a bit ropey via speakers but its
damned near impossible to listen to on headphones!"
by Geoff Leonard, December 1, 2003
Here is an idea
of the poor quality of the Platinum Disc 'Alice' DVD. Click on the
jpgs to get a better idea and then imagine it enlarged many times
again.
Page
best watched at 1024 x 768 or higher.
Here is my review
from 2001:
'Alice’s Adventures
In Wonderland’ has been released on DVD
 Alice’s
Adventures In Wonderland’ has been released on DVD. That’s the
good news. The bad news is that the print is so bad, I’ve got a
ten-year old video taped from TV with a faulty aerial in better
shape! So, only get this if you are desperate (it is cheap) and
even then think twice and do without it.
The company concerned
is Platinum Disc Corporation of La Crosse, WI, USA, and may God
have mercy on them for having the nerve to put this out for public
consumption.
It’s pan and scan,
unsurprisingly and appears to be region free. Pity the whole thing
wasn’t! It’s such a shame that it’s not a decent transfer as it’s
an excellent film. In fact, I was quite surprised to find so much
music not on the original Warner Brothers LP. This is definitely
a candidate for some enterprising company or person to re-record
with all the songs and musical bridges intact.
Another release
on dvd found
"December
16, 2003.
 John
Barry Yahoo group member Alan More has found another dvd release
of 'Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland’. He writes this about it:
A widescreen
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland DVD is available at:
http://godvd.com.au/godvdshop/product_info.php?products_id=337
I (Alan,
ed.) have received it and here are my comments:
The good news:
The web page says Region 4, but it's Region free.
The web page says Full Screen, but it's Widescreen 2.35 letterbox.
The bad news:
The web page page says Stereo, but soundtrack is mono DD 2.0
Video quality is a lot better than the poor Platinum canadian
release.
Audio quality is standard mono (clean but not hifi). "
To enable
capture from PowerDVD, I had to disable the hardware-assist feature,
and the motion of characters may be somewhat blurred.
Alan More
Pan and scan
captures provided by Geoff Leonard.
Widescreen captures
provided by Alan More.
New offerings found on Amazon.com
In addition to the previously reviewed Platinum Corp and
Aussie DVDs, there are now four more versions available. Here
is what detail we can establish (very sketchy) with a warning
that it's very likely that only the Universal one (out shortly)
is official. (17-12-2004)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Digitally Remastered)
Studio: Digiview Productions
Format: Color, Full Screen
Audio Encoding: Stereo |
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Studio: Westlake Ent. Group
Format: Color, DTS Surround Sound, Original recording remastered |
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Studio: Bci Eclipse Company
Format: Color, Closed-captioned |
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Studio: Universal Studios
Features: Full Frame 1.33
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.1 English |
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