Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1972)

A young girl (Fiona Fullerton) follows a white rabbit (Michael Crawford) down a rabbit hole and falls down the hole until she lands in a most curious kingdom where the most amazing adventures await her. Based on the classic novel by Lewis Carroll and directed by William Sterling. Carroll's ALICE has been the basis of countless film, TV, stage, ballet and opera adaptations. This film adaptation is a musical with music by John Barry (who also did the lovely underscore) and lyrics by Don Black (which incorporate Carroll's dialog from the book). Alas, my viewing was hindered by watching a subpar transfer of the film which compromised the visuals (Geoffrey Unsworth's cinematography and Anthony Mendleson's costumes won BAFTA awards). The songs tend to be monotonous and the film might have been better served without them. Perhaps it's my over familiarity with the story but I found most of it tedious. The two highlights were the tea party with Peter Sellers as the March Hare, Dudley Moore as the Dormouse and Robert Helpmann as the Mad Hatter and the Mock Turtle sequence with Michael Hordern as the turtle and Spike Milligan as the Gryphon. 13 years later, Fullerton would be a Bond girl in A VIEW TO A KILL. With Ralph Richardson, Flora Robson, Hywel Bennett, Roy Kinnear, Michael Jayston, Dennis Price and Peter Bull.