The Disney movie that never was.

Disney has made two Alice in Wonderland feature films so far. The colourfull trippy1951 animated movie and the 2010 Tim Burton film that couldn´t really made up its mind if it was gloomy or lighthearted. But before the1951 movie Disney planned an Alice movie before, in 1939. It was quite close to realisation, Disney illustrator David Hall allready made a load of production sketches. However, Walt Disney wasn´t really satisfied, and when the war came the movie was shelved. Some of the ideas were reused in the 1951 movie, but ultimately this movie was completely different. The 1939 movie would not have included sequences from Alice through the Looking Glass like the 1951 movie and would had have an overall darker tone.

 

 This book here is the original story by carrol illustrated with Halls production sketches.

Alice and the Dink Me bottle. In this movie the bottle would have been an anthropomorphic character, similar to the Doorknob in the 1951 version.

 

Not fitting through.

Alice drinks from the bottle and shrinks down fast. Note the bottle character.

Alice grows huge after eating the cake, She appears much bigger than in the 1951 movie, making this scene quite claustrophobic.

Alice shrinks tiny again. I love the dynamic of this sketch.

To the White Rabbits house scene. Alice grows quite fast here.

Finally she is quite uncomfortablely wedged in.

Bill trying to get into the house throgh the chimney, with the same old result.

Pepples fly at an angry eye in the window.

  

Arguing with the white rabbit. This was taken over to the 1951 movie.

Alice has shrunk again, only to escape a playfull creepy puppy.

 Alice and the caterpillar. Note that the caterpillar looks less cartoony and much more creepy than in the 1951 movie.

Here is something from the book that was changed in the 1951 movie but would have been keept in this one. Alice shrinks weirdly untill she is basically just head and feet. I think no Alice movie so far has actually done this scene like that.

Alice and the mushroom pieces.

Alices head shoots to the sky, much to the annoyance of a pidgeon.

The entire pidgeon family attacks her.

One of the pidgeon children between her feet with one of the mushroom pieces.

Unfortunatly there are no sketches of sizechanges in the courtroom, a pity because the characters at the queens court look so wonderfully grotesque.

All in all im a bit of two minds concerning this movie. On one hand I think it is a bloody shame that it was never made, the visuals look incredible and it would jave been one of the most true to the original book movies ever. On the other hand that would have meant that the 1951 movie, which is quite dear to me, would have never existed. The book is awesome, it was published in 1986 by Simon & Schuste and is still available used via Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Alices-Adventures-Wonderland-Lewis-Carroll/dp/0671635654 .