This intelligent, absorbing, and insightful BBC TV special centers on Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodson (an excellent performance by George Baker), an awkward and stuttering, but brilliant and creative academic who wrote the classic novel "Alice in Wonderland" under the alias Lewis Carroll. Dodson was inspired to write said book through his friendship with the lovely and radiant young girl Alice Liddell (a delightful and enchanting portrayal by the adorable Deborah Watling). Director Gareth Davies and writer Dennis Potter not only astutely peg how Dodson's eccentricity alternately charmed or irritated those who knew him, but also show how everyday events influenced his work. In addition, Davies and Potter vividly capture Dodson's tremendous leaping imagination and painfully acute sensitivity (he was vehemently opposed to change and was extremely uncomfortable with the fame his book brought him). Moreover, there's a few neat visualizations of key scenes from the book. Baker and Watling do sterling work in the lead roles; they receive fine support from Rosalie Crutchley as Alice's concerned mother Mrs. Liddell, David Langton as the self-absorbed Dean Liddell, Maria Coyne as Alice's bratty sister Edith, John Bailey as the batty Mad Hatter, and John Saunders as the melancholy Mock Turtle. Charles Parnall's sharp black and white cinematography boasts several stately fades and dissolves. Peter Green's spare, melodic score likewise does the trick. Worth a look for fans of Lewis Carroll's work.
Review of Alice
