Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Based on a True Story (Apple #2)



This is not Alice Pleasance Liddell. It is Coral Browne portraying the real Alice P. Liddell on the eve of her eightieth birthday in the 1985 British film, DREAMCHILD.

Most of this film summary was taken from the link above:
Exploring the somewhat darker and more mysterious side of the Lewis Carroll's classic book, the movie follows Alice Liddell (the book's inspiration) as an old woman who is haunted by the characters she was once so amused by. As she thinks back on it, she starts to see her relationship with the shy author/professor in a new way and realizes the vast change between the young Alice and the old.*
In 1932, Alice Liddell Hargreaves...travels to New York to attend a celebration of Lewis Carroll's centenary.** Columbia University is awarding Mrs. Hargreaves an honorary degree. The Depression-era media exploits the first American appearance of the "real life Alice."***



Ian Holm is Professor Dodgson/Lewis Carroll.


Peter Gallagher is a resourceful journalist and Nicola Cowper portrays Lucy, Mrs. Hargreaves' traveling companion.


Amelia Shankley portrays "Little Alice."

In one of the flashback sequences, Jane Asher has a cameo appearance as the mother of "Little Alice".
Ms. Asher was the real-life inspiration for the song LADY JANE. Recorded by the Rolling Stones, the song was written in honor of Paul McCartney's then-girlfriend. What a small and wonder-filled world it is!

If I were a film critic, I would give DREAMCHILD one thousand stars, forming a constellation of the Cheshire Cat. But I would insist on having Jim Henson's Creature Shop do the special effects because they re-created all the animated Wonderland characters seen in this movie. Suffice it to say that none of these Henson creatures will ever be mistaken for Muppets.

This is a preview of DREAMCHILD with potential access to the entire film.



The film summary was written by *Max Vaughn, **Molly Malloy, and ***me.
DREAMCHILD was directed by Gavin Millar and written by Dennis Potter.


(Apple #3) is here.


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