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Alice in Wonderland (1951)
In the animated Disney musical classic (based upon
Lewis Carroll's 1865 tale Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) that
told about a madcap world known as Wonderland where Alice ventured
during a fanciful dream sequence:
- in the film's opening set in England's Victorian
era, young and immature Alice (voice of Kathryn Beaumont) was resting
by a flowery river bank while listening to her older sister (voice
of Heather Angel) read a "history lesson" from a boring book; her
mind drifted to fanciful thoughts about her own private Wonderland
world; Alice explained to her small, confused pet kitten Dinah
(voice of Clarence Nash): "If I had a world of my own, everything
would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything
would be what it isn’t. And contrariwise, what it is, it
wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"; she then
sang: "A World of My Own" to describe her nonsensical world
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Alice on the Riverbank with Her Sister
and Kitten Dinah
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- Alice caught a glimpse of a White
Rabbit (voice of Bill Thompson), with a waistcoat and a large pocket
watch, racing by and singing "I'm Late" ("I'm late, I'm late for
a very important date. No time to say hello, goodbye. I'm late,
I'm late, I'm late") and comically quipping: "Don't just do something,
stand there!"; Alice and Dinah followed the rabbit to a hole, where
she tumbled downward into a dark tunnel
Alice Tumbling Down the Rabbit's Hole
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Alice Floating Downward in a Vertical Tunnel
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Talking Doorknob
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"Drink Me" Bottle To Shrink in Size
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A Shrunken Alice at Locked Door
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Growing Larger after Eating Cookie - Her Head Struck the Ceiling
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- at the bottom of the hole, Alice pursued the
Rabbit through a series of increasingly-smaller doors into a larger
room, where the talking Doorknob (voice of Joseph Kearns) suggested
that for Alice to follow the Rabbit through his tiny door, she
could drink from a bottle that magically appeared on a table marked
"Drink Me"; she shrank down, but then couldn't enter because the
door was locked (and the key was unreachable on the tall table);
the Doorknob then advised her to consume a cookie in a box labeled
"Eat Me"; now, she immediately grew larger and her head struck
the ceiling
- disturbed by everything, Alice began
crying and her copious tears flooded the room; Alice again
drank the few remaining drops from the small "Drink Me" bottle,
became smaller again, and dropped inside the bottle; on the sea
of her own tears, the bottle floated and navigated
through the Doorknob's keyhole (mouth) and onto dry land
- there, she watched a Dodo Bird (voice of Bill Thompson),
dressed like a sea captain, and other animals in a "jolly caucus
race" supervised by the Dodo standing on a rock: ("♪ Backward,
forward, outward, inward Bottom to the top ♪ Never a beginning
There can never be a stop ♪ Skipping, hopping, tripping Fancy
free and gay ♪ Started it tomorrow but will finish yesterday")
- after briefly the White Rabbit into a forest, Alice
encountered the fanciful and very fat twin brothers Tweedle Dum
and Tweedle Dee (voice of J. Pat O'Malley) who halted her chase,
and danced as they recited the short narrative poem of "The
Walrus and the Carpenter" (a poem in Carroll's own 1871 sequel Through
the Looking-Glass) (aka "The Story of the Curious Oysters")
- the curious young oysters were convinced to leave their offshore
beds and follow the predatory Walrus, not knowing that they would
be eaten
Dodo Bird
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The Jolly Caucus Race
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Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
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- after chasing the White Rabbit into his house, Alice
again grew in size after eating a cookie and she became stuck inside;
when the Dodo threatened first to expel Alice with
the help of Bill the Lizard (voice of Larry Grey), and then proposed
burning the house down ("We'll smoke the Blighter/Monster out"), Alice
took a bite out of a garden carrot and became three inches in height
to escape
- in the outdoor garden, Alice gazed at welcoming
Talking Flowers in a flower-bed and other strange insects (i.e.,
a Rocking Horse Fly) - who sang "All in the Golden
Afternoon," but then turned against her when they
thought she was a weed, and forced her to leave: ("She's nothing
but a common mobile vulgaris.... To put it bluntly, a weed....Don't
let her stay here and go to seed...We don't want weeds in our bed.
Move along")
Talking (and Singing) Flowers
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Caterpillar
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Caterpillar: "Who...Are...You?"
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- Alice's next encounter was with a blue Caterpillar
(voice of Richard Haydn), smoking a hookah and singing: "A-E-I-O-U
(The Caterpillar Song)" while exhaling smoke in the shapes of vowels;
he breathily asked the 3-inch tall Alice: "Who... are... you?"
and answered her questions with cryptic and confusing statements;
after turning into a butterfly, he also offered advice about the
mushroom Alice was sitting on; he told her to nibble on one side
or the other in order to alter her size; this caused Alice to eventually return to her original height
(but she disturbed a Nesting Mother Bird (voice of Queenie Leonard)
who accused her of being a nest-egg eating "serpent"), before another
bit reduced her size again
Alice Debating Which Mushroom Piece to Eat
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Growing Larger and Disturbing a Nesting Mother Bird
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Cheshire Cat
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- Alice's next encounter was with a grinning, mischievous
Cheshire Cat (voice of Sterling Holloway) with purple stripes that
faded in and out ("Most everyone's mad here. You
may have noticed that I'm not all there myself"), who gave Alice
cryptic directions that might lead her to the White Rabbit
- in the garden, she came upon a fancy tea table
covered with steaming and tooting teapots during the celebration
of a wacky "Unbirthday"
tea party; the celebration was attended
by the Mad Hatter (voice of Ed Wynn), a very confused March Hare
(voice of Jerry Colonna), and a small Dormouse (voice of James
MacDonald), who sang "The Unbirthday Song"; the Mad Hatter
explained to Alice: "Now statistics prove, prove that you've
one birthday.... But there are 364 unbirthdays"; Alice became
frustrated with continual interruptions and the frequent changing
of the subject
The Mad Hatter
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The March Hare
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Dormouse
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- when Alice decided to leave - she had become exasperated:
"This is the stupidest tea party I've ever been to in all my life";
she departed to pursue the White Rabbit, but she became lost in
the dark Tulgey Wood forest, where she was confronted by many strange
birds and a colorful group of Mome Raths (bipedal, flower-like
creatures without arms) who directed her to a pathway home;
however, when the path was swept away, Alice lost hope and was
about to give up her chase ("Now I shall never get out"), and she
tearfully sang to herself: "Very Good Advice"; she was saved when
directed by the Cheshire Cat on how to escape through a short-cut
- Alice entered into the high hedge maze garden of
the Queen (and King) of Hearts, where she met a jolly group of
Playing Cards (known as The Mellomen) painting white roses red
and singing: "Painting the Roses Red"; she was startled when the
White Rabbit announced the arrival of the blustery, domineering
Queen of Hearts (voice of Verna Felton), the diminutive King (voice
of Dink Trout), and her marching Playing Card army; the Queen was incensed
that her roses had been sloppily painted red in the royal
flower garden and had three Playing Cards dragged away as she
bellowed: "Off With Their Heads!"
- Alice was invited by the Queen to play a strange
game of croquet using flamingos as mallets, hedgehogs as balls,
and card soldiers as curved wickets
The Queen Bellowing: "Off With Their Heads!"
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Game of Croquet
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The Chase After Alice Following the Trial
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- the prankster Cheshire Cat fooled the Queen into
losing her temper and blaming Alice - while constantly bellowing: "Off
with her head!" and urged Alice to be executed immediately;
instead, the King suggested a trial; witnesses were called, including
her friends at the tea party, but she was poorly
defended until the Cheshire Cat reappeared and disrupted the trial
proceedings
- Alice escaped momentarily
by eating a piece of the mushroom she had stashed in her apron, and
she grew to an enormous size; with the tables
turned, Alice scolded the Queen for a few moments until her giant
size quickly wore off; the Queen reordered Alice to again have her
head chopped off, and a chase ensued through the garden maze
- Alice ran off and returned to the Doorknob room,
where she looked through the keyhole and saw herself sleeping by
the riverbank; she was awakened (and saved from the mob chasing
after her) by her sister's voice calling out: "Alice, wake up!
Please wake up, Alice!"; they returned home in time for afternoon
tea
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The White Rabbit: "I'm Late"
Alice Floating Through the Doorknob's Mouth in a Bottle on Her Sea of Tears
The Walrus and the Carpenter
The Walrus Coaxing the Curious and Young Oysters to Leave Their Beds - to be
Eaten
The Rabbit's House - Enlarged Alice Inside
"All in the Golden Afternoon" - Alice with Singing Flowers
The Mad-Hatter's Tea Party
Alice's Pursuit of the White Rabbit at the Tea Party
Playing Cards Painting the Roses Red in the Queen's Hedge Maze Gardens
The Queen's Marching Army of Playing Cards
The Queen of Hearts
The King
Alice's Escape Back to the Doorknob
Chased
Keyhole View of Alice Sleeping - Before Awakening
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