This BBC TV-movie "Alice," an episode of "The Wednesday Play," is strikingly similar to the feature-length film "Dreamchild" (1985). Both were written by Dennis Potter, and it could be said that this "Alice" is something of a first draft for the later, theatrically-released film. Both approach Lewis Carroll's book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by focusing on Charles Dodgson's relationship with Alice Liddell, with the suggestion that Dodgson was a repressed girl lover. The point made in this version is that he's supposedly prudish and traditionalist because he resists change--to that of Oxford and any renovations thereof and to that of children growing up, Alice specifically. The framing story on the train, whereupon he meets another grown-up girl-turned-woman aboard the modern invention, is part of this peculiar aversion of his.
Many of the scenes of Alice and Dodgson would later be used almost verbatim in "Dreamchild." Likewise, Dodgson is largely portrayed as a stuttering pedophile in both, with Alice's mother being concerned and Alice confused, which is reflected in episodes from the book, which are inter cut with the historical scenes. The same episodes also appear in "Dreamland": the mad tea party, the Mock Turtle, and the Caterpillar. "Alice" also includes a bit regarding the painting of white roses red. Another difference is the role of the Dean, Alice's father; although, reportedly, the character was originally included in "Dreamland," but the producer disliked the casting and so the character was cut out of the picture.
Besides "Dreamland' adding another layer to the narrative with an elderly Alice coming to a reckoning of her past with Dodgson, the feature film also benefits from the grotesque puppetry of Jim Henson's creature shop, among other superior production values. The TV stagings here, on the other hand, can be very poor. The blurry circular framings for the Wonderland episodes are curious and unnecessary, especially given that, instead, they go simply with a black background for the Caterpillar scene. Curiouser and curiouser, indeed.
