After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Not the best, I personally have a preference for the 1933 film, the Disney film, the 1985 version(though it is uneven) and the 1983 theatre production. It is on par though with the 1999 and 1972 versions and is much better than Tim Burton's film and the Burbank Films Australia and Jetlag versions. This Alice in Wonderland is certainly fascinating and is the most unique adaptation of the book, though Anne-Marie Mallick's Alice was too detached and expressionless even for a character that was written in the film to be like that, the film drags in places and the Old Father William poem recitation made little sense truncated and felt pointless. The croquet match sequence is also on the strange side, though in a way it's meant to be. The black and white photography is beautiful though, and the costumes and sets are very charming and surrealistic. Ravi Shankar's music is very hypnotic and dream-like in quality, very ideal for the atmosphere. The story has a much more surreal and darker touch than most Alice in Wonderland adaptations, but it still entertains and the Mad Hatter tea party sequence is truly memorable. The highlight is the Gryphon and Mock Turtle scene, brilliantly done. Jonathan Miller directs with a wonderfully weird style with a touch of subtlety when needed. The dialogue is in keeping with the tone of the film yet doesn't completely ignore Lewis Carroll's writing either. The best line? Personal favourite is Peter Sellers' "they don't have verdicts like that anymore"(or something along the lines of that). The supporting turns are excellent, especially Peter Cook as the maddest Mad Hatter there has ever been- and in a good way-, while Wilfred Brambell's jittery White Rabbit, Michael Redgrave's aloof Caterpillar, Michael Gough's twitchy March Hare, Peter Sellers' hilarious if too brief King of Hearts and John Gielgud's touchingly melancholic Mock Turtle stand out too. To conclude, a good Alice in Wonderland adaptation and very uniquely done. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This version of Alice in Wonderland is an excellent film - very much reflecting the book but also reflecting the 1960's and the wishes of the director. I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this question - but here goes! I am pleased to learn I live in one of the houses used in the making of this film. I would very much like to obtain copies of some of the stills taken of my house and other locations in the film. Particularly the beach location (Pett Level - you can just see Dungeness Nuclear Power Station on the horizon in one scene) and the filming which took place in Hastings. Does anyone know who I should approach? or where the stills and other archive material might be stored? Or would all this material be destroyed by now? Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Ian

Seeing this again after some years only made me appreciate it the more. It is thoroughly inspired, and a true work of genius by Jonathan Miller, who both produced and directed. His interpretation of the famous Lewis Carroll story is as a summer daydream. As the flies buzz, Alice drifts off to sleep on the grass, perspiring in the sun, and the visions begin. Many of her comments are given in confidential whispers, as befits a dream rather than a real drama. She rarely looks at anyone during the action, mostly tending to stare into space as if she were sleep-walking. This studied approach is successful at conveying the intended unreality of the story. It is set very firmly in Victorian times, with perfect costumes and suitably mannered behaviour by all the actors for the period. Miller uses the film to expose the hidden agenda of Carroll's fantasy, which was to use surrealist humour to attack the pomposities, bigotry, and hypocrisies of Victorian Church, state, manners, and society. (It is not for nothing that the Surrealists of Paris later adopted Lewis Carroll as their direct predecessor and Louis Aragon even translated 'Through the Looking Glass' into French.) Miller, with his wide circle of acquaintance, was able to assemble a huge number of famous actors to play cameos throughout this film. Peter Sellers was content to be the King of Hearts, Michael Redgrave was a haughty caterpillar, Leo McKern was dressed in drag as the Duchess, with a pig wrapped in swaddling clothes in his arms, and Miller's former colleagues in 'Beyond the Fringe', Peter Cook (as the Mad Hatter) and Alan Bennett (the latter of whom is still his neighbour directly across the street), were drafted in, ably supported by John Bird, old character actor Finlay Currie (as the Dodo), and a brilliant appearance by Wilfred Lawson as the Dormouse. Michael Gough is a very fine March Hare. Particularly inspired is the sequence at the seashore with Sir John Gielgud and Malcolm Muggeridge as the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon respectively. Muggeridge was not an actor, but a noted broadcaster and author, and his choice was especially inspired. At the time this went out during the Christmas season of 1966, the viewers were divided between those who loved it and those who hated it. The latter mostly had their expectations disappointed, because they thought 'Alice' should be portrayed in a more conventional way, and that what Miller did was some form of sacrilege. (A hysterical over-reaction, if ever there were one!) Miller has always had a tendency to be shockingly innovative in his interpretations (perhaps most of all in his television version of Shakespeare's 'Timon of Athens'). Miller's only commercial feature film, 'Take a Girl Like You' (1970), was not a success, and a large number of people savagely envious of his brilliance and versatility were delighted to seize upon that and stop him entering the film world. He has always had the most astonishing number of bitter enemies. People say he snaps at them. I have only ever known him to be charming and delightful. Who can say? It is all a mystery to me. But this particular achievement in black and white film will live forever, truly it will.

Jonathan Miller's conception of Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' is dark, disturbing, fun, and inventive.His cast (including Michael Redgrave, Wilfred Lawson, Peter Cook, Leo McKern, Peter Sellers, and Wilfrid Brambell) are all fairly good but Alice, for me, is the one who is of most interest. The character sleeps and dreams the story, so this Alice sleepwalks through the madness, observing and rarely commenting on what goes on.This is definitely not a production for children. It is rather scary in places, and is beautifully shot and produced. It has a very sixties feel, not just because of the subversiveness of many of the cast, but because of the way the story has been adapted.Costume is Victorian - rather than the cast portraying actual animals - and this works well.This film is available from the BFI on videotape.