If Tim Burton’s 3-D Alice in Wonderland is Too High-Tech For You…

Cidu Bill on Mar 10th 2010

Here’s the very first Alice in Wonderland film, from 1903:

Filed in Alice in Wonderland, Bill Bickel, YouTube, movies | 8 responses so far

8 Responses to “If Tim Burton’s 3-D Alice in Wonderland is Too High-Tech For You…”

  1. mitch4 Mar 10th 2010 at 07:29 pm 1

    “It’s time for your treatment”. […]
    “Did I fall asleep?”
    “Just for a little while.”

  2. Marshal Mar 11th 2010 at 12:10 am 2

    Oh, that is a nice find. Wish it were in better condition.

    I like the fact that when she shrinks the boards in the floor do not
    change size. 8^)

    .

  3. Chuck Mar 11th 2010 at 04:44 am 3

    I think you mean they DID change size, proportionally with Alice.

    Clearly she spilled.

  4. mkilby Mar 11th 2010 at 07:42 am 4

    I’m more inclined to lament the bandwidth wasted on the utterly incongruous soundtrack (turning the volume to zero doesn’t save any bits). The combined results that Flash produces (at least on this side of the pond) are only marginally better than the quality of that print itself.

  5. Nicole Mar 11th 2010 at 08:01 am 5

    Better quality would have been nice, but that this exists at all is pretty amazing. Without the glitz and special effects there is still something very charming about the simple presentation of the story in this way.

  6. Steven Hunter Mar 11th 2010 at 01:03 pm 6

    To everyone wishing that it was better quality would do well to remember that the film used in 1903 (107 years ago) would have been nitrate based (nitrocellulose) and thus both highly flammable and prone to degradation in all but the most climate controlled of areas. Additionally even when it was new, most prints would have exposure problems, scratches, missing frames, visible edit splices, etc. Essentially we’re lucky to have anything at all.

    And yes, I’m being preachy, so imagine me in your best “Dad lecture” voice. :P

  7. mkilby Mar 11th 2010 at 09:08 pm 7

    I discovered an alternate link on the Washington Post’s “Comic Riffs”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeIXfdogJbA
    This version has more appropriate music, and the restoration of the video seems much better.

  8. Todd Mar 14th 2010 at 12:33 am 8

    If I had a time machine, I’d probably use it to go back and rescue copies of all the lost works. And copies of all the paper records.

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