In Alice, a little girl follows a white rabbit into a world where nothing is quite what it seems. Where Czech surrealist Švankmajer’s Alice differs from other adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is that it explores the book’s darker side as well, thereby remaining faithful to the tone of uneasy confusion that pervades the original story. A live-action Alice (Kristyna Kohoutova) inhabits a Wonderland that teems with threatening stop-motion characters. Švankmajer’s visual canniness and piercing psychological insight permeate the film with a menacing dream-logic. Curiouser and curiouser.
He did a version of FAUST that is one of my all time best movies. Watched it on video (remember those?) a few weeks ago.
Cool… How was the picture quality? I have a bunch of old videos and a video machine still, but no TV. I’m scared mine will have deteriorated beyond watchability by now…