So much average

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Although this film is almost impossible to get let alone watch I successfully managed to find it. Being a person who has been researching the relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell this film does provide an interesting view to what I presume if a fictional representation of an older Alice Liddell travelling to New York and recalling her memories of Lewis Carroll. Alas if you are looking for anything with a direct point or opinion as to what was the relationship between Lewis and Alice then I fear you won't get much. A downfall for this film was adding the fictional character Sally to the story and her useless storyline however it was a pleasure to see Coral Browne play a good role as Alice Liddell and Ian Holm's role was well played. Overall an interesting watch.

In 1932, 79-year-old Alice Hargreaves, a no-nonsense sort from England traveling with her timid female assistant, sails for New York City to receive an honorary degree from Columbia University; the school is celebrating the centenary of author Charles L. Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, whose literary masterpiece "Alice in Wonderland" was inspired by Hargreaves when she was but a precocious child. Impeccably-produced and designed on a limited budget, this curious drama mixes fact and fiction with a light hand...and yet, it rarely takes off emotionally. Coral Browne's adult Alice reexamines her lazy childhood days--as well as her past and present states of mind while interacting with Carroll's nonsensical creations (courtesy Jim Henson's Creature Shop)--but screenwriter Dennis Potter includes no poetry of his own in the dialogue. There are lovely moments (particularly the finale at Columbia and its tag), strong performances from Browne and Ian Holm (as the stammering Reverend Dodgson), and the film does improve slowly after a very creaky start. ** from ****

The relationship between 10-year-old Alice Liddell, the young girl for whom "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" was written, and Rev. Charles Dodgson a.k.a. Lweis Carroll, the book's author, is explored in this thought-provoking film.The former Alice Liddell, now Alice Hargreaves, is invited by Columbia University to give a speech on the centennial of Dodgson's / Carroll's birth. She meets a reporter who becomes her agent and romances her assistant. Meanwhile, she is haunted by childhood memories of her time spent with Mr. Dodgson.A mostly good script by Dennis Potter only disappoints when focusing on the romance. The excellent cast makes up for the few shortcomings. Amelia Shankley debuts as the young Alice Liddell, and gives a fine performance. She later appeared in a three part adaptation of A Little Princess (1986) and Red Riding Hood (1988). Imogen Boorman, who plays older sister Lorina, went on to co-star in Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988).

This is a stunning film, there have been all kinds of rumors and stories about the Rev. Charles Dodgeson and just who he was. This film lovingly and sadly portrays a what-if tale about Alice Liddell, the real Alice, of his famous books and what Victorian society did to her memories of this delightful man. I am not a member of the camp that thinks Dodgeson had a unnatural love for little children I find it preposterous and slanderous to say the least. This movie portrays him brilliantly and Ian Holm is such a superb actor you really feel sad for the lonely man with no wife and children of his own who writes these wonderful tales only to be suspected of unacceptable feelings for the little girl. This movie gives us all that with some wonderfully creepy Wonderland sequences by Hensen's creature shop. Simply marvelous!