Truly one of the worst movie musicals of the 1970's, this definitely was the impossible dream of British cinema to add songs to Lewis Carroll's family classic, and literally having the audience most likely covering their ears so they wouldn't have it hunting them as they left the theater. A miscast Fiona Fullerton is oldest looking Alice I've ever seen, even though there probably were older actresses playing her either in this or " Alice Through the Looking Glass", musicalized several years before for American television and featuring much more hummable tunes. Fullerton is pleasant but has a bland singing voice, and that becomes amplified by the truly wretched song score.
An All-Star British cast does their best to bring these characters to life, and they are probably the best element of the film which features grotesque costumes but pretty sets, although the 1933 Paramount version was pretty grotesque looking as well even though it's much better. Robert Morley, Michael Crawford, Flora Robson, Dudley Moore, Michael Hordern and Robert Helpmann are a few of the talents involved, grabbing a quick buck with their cameos and praying that it would be quickly forgotten. Public domain prints don't help this with their garish faded colors.
I'll give this film credit for one thing. It's slightly better than the Tim Burton remake which is even more grotesque looking and far more forgettable. At least with the bad songs, picky movie musical fans will have fun laughing at it, but when it makes Liv Ullman singing and dancing with a group of children in "Lost Horizon" and Lucy hiding her age while croaking out a ballad in "Mame' seem like art, you know it's a bad idea truly gone sour. Stick with the 1933 version, the Disney classic and the TV Epic from 1984 (plus a few other assorted versions), and leave this in the rabid hole where it belongs.
An All-Star British cast does their best to bring these characters to life, and they are probably the best element of the film which features grotesque costumes but pretty sets, although the 1933 Paramount version was pretty grotesque looking as well even though it's much better. Robert Morley, Michael Crawford, Flora Robson, Dudley Moore, Michael Hordern and Robert Helpmann are a few of the talents involved, grabbing a quick buck with their cameos and praying that it would be quickly forgotten. Public domain prints don't help this with their garish faded colors.
I'll give this film credit for one thing. It's slightly better than the Tim Burton remake which is even more grotesque looking and far more forgettable. At least with the bad songs, picky movie musical fans will have fun laughing at it, but when it makes Liv Ullman singing and dancing with a group of children in "Lost Horizon" and Lucy hiding her age while croaking out a ballad in "Mame' seem like art, you know it's a bad idea truly gone sour. Stick with the 1933 version, the Disney classic and the TV Epic from 1984 (plus a few other assorted versions), and leave this in the rabid hole where it belongs.