Alice in Wonderland (1903)

The DVD release of the 2009 documentary Alice: A Look into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has both the 1903 and 1915 adaptations of Alice on it as special features. The 1903 version was recently restored as much as possible by the British Film Institute and they’ve made it available online on the BFI website.

“Alice in Wonderland consists of a number of loosely connected scenes from the novel. The audience was assumed to be familiar with not only the book but also Tenniel’s famous illustrations. As far as we can establish from Hepworth’s catalogue, the most significant scene that’s missing is one in which Alice meets a giant puppy in the garden – this was offered separately, but no copies appear to survive.”

It’s worth a watch, it’s got some rather sophisticated visual effects for a film of it’s time, I believe.