MovieChat Forums > Alice in Wonderland (1933) Discussion > Maybe only one "missing scene"...

Maybe only one "missing scene"...

posted 10 years ago by nycruise-1
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Years ago I bought the Whitman Publishing Company's "Big Little Book" version of this movie. It was small - with every other page a still from the movie, published in conjunction with the initial release of the movie back in 1933.

The only part that was in the BLB version was a garden hedge with some roses - who apparently talked (like in "Through the Looking Glass"). I remember seeing a credit once (in a W.C. Fields movie book) where a character cited as "Rose" was listed.

But the movie that we all know has no talking flowers, so apparently that scene was excised at some point just prior to release.

As for the rest of the BLB version, it follows the movie exactly - so it seems unlikely that there originally was about 10 minutes of missing footage that would increase the known-version to a running time of 90 minutes.

Although maybe there was a sequence with "Old Father William" as well that was cut but that appeared in the BLB version. I can't remember.

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"

[–] nycruise-1 10 years ago

Amazingly, in the few days since I first posted my original message, I came upon the Big Little Book of the movie! (turns out I didn't sell it!)

There is a page missing from the book - the first page of the story - so I can't tell if there is mention of "Alice's sister", who IS listed in the credits as played by Jacqueline Wells/Julie Bishop (she changed her name at one point during her acting career). Presumably, the intro where Alice is in her own house pondering her own fantasies originally included some exchange between Alice and her sister, and then the scene was cut after Paramount premiered the film.

HOWEVER, what is truly noteworthy about the Big Little Book version is that it contains a rather lengthy part about the Mad Hatter being on trial for stealing the Queen of Hearts' tarts! As told in the BLB version, the trial continues until Alice cries out to the court "You're nothing but a pack of cards!" - just like she does in the first book, at which point all the cards all fly up and Alice awakens from her dream. However, apparently the Paramount version used this scene to transition into the "Looking Glass" sequences by having the Red Queen blow in on the wind caused by the flying cards.

In the final version of the film, the transition happens when the Griffin grabs Alice's hand and then makes her run with him against a rising wind. When they pass behind a tree, as they come out on the other side, the Griffin has been replaced by the Red Queen. I can only surmise that the scene was shot after the decision to cut the Mad Hatter's trial was made, as a quick fix to maintain a semi-logical transition to the "Looking Glass" sequences (it really makes very little sense otherwise).

"Don't call me 'honey', mac."
"Don't call me 'mac'... HONEY!"