I'm surprised I haven't posted this clip on here before seeing as I always seem to be introducing people to it, but here's Ian Holm's stratospheric turn as the White Knight in a 1998 adaptation of Alice Through the Looking Glass not short on intelligent readings - Penelope Wilton's also in it, and Geoffrey Palmer in dundreary whiskers, and Steve Coogan as a gnat, all giving precisely judged comic readings rather than just putting on a costume and being loopy because it's Lewis Carroll. I also really like how Kate Beckinsale's adult Alice listens, a credible mixture of attention and distraction. The Buster Keaton make-up is a bit distracting maybe - although its heart is in the right place - and Holm had already played Lewis Carroll so this might just be stunt casting, but it still takes my breath away twenty-two years later. This is how you do it. Thanks, Ian Holm. I'm sorry you've gone.
Thank you for sharing this. I remember seeing this production when I was a teenager and just not getting it at all. I would like to give it another try, now.
THanks to Bob Pipe over on facebook for alerting me to Dennis Potter's Dreamchild in its entirety on youtube here. Ian Holm as Carroll. Carol Brown as Alice. Lots of muppets that look like Ken Campbell. And Ken Campbell! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwnoJ-WSEEY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2pmTmSpcvID38hWDNKtlOj2AoIY3-x2IG4dR9ALf9eUJsxgFZu5Xmo0iw
I also like Gary Cooper in the same role in the generally attractive but ineffective 30s film from Paramount starring everybody. Cooper does distractedness and slapstick very well, two things he was never ever asked to do again.
I'm greedy so I wish Lionel Jeffries had also done it, it's the role he was born for, he looks like the Tenniel drawings and he could be heartbreaking and ridiculous at once. And Kenneth Williams as the Mad Hatter, how the hell did that not happenm?
Gary Cooper's falls were perfect! I find both Alice books hard to fantasy cast since every charactre pretty much comes, then goes, arcless, which means they're not really characters at all. So it all comes down to who you want to hear say the lines, and goodness yes, I with you on Williams regarding that. (Have you seen Andre Gregory's Hatter? This might have come up before. He's traumatised. It's not much fun but it works.)
Thank you for sharing this. I remember seeing this production when I was a teenager and just not getting it at all. I would like to give it another try, now.
ReplyDeleteThis is the highlight certainly.
ReplyDeleteTHanks to Bob Pipe over on facebook for alerting me to Dennis Potter's Dreamchild in its entirety on youtube here. Ian Holm as Carroll. Carol Brown as Alice. Lots of muppets that look like Ken Campbell. And Ken Campbell! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwnoJ-WSEEY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2pmTmSpcvID38hWDNKtlOj2AoIY3-x2IG4dR9ALf9eUJsxgFZu5Xmo0iw
ReplyDeleteThanks for this again.
ReplyDeleteI also like Gary Cooper in the same role in the generally attractive but ineffective 30s film from Paramount starring everybody. Cooper does distractedness and slapstick very well, two things he was never ever asked to do again.
I'm greedy so I wish Lionel Jeffries had also done it, it's the role he was born for, he looks like the Tenniel drawings and he could be heartbreaking and ridiculous at once. And Kenneth Williams as the Mad Hatter, how the hell did that not happenm?
Gary Cooper's falls were perfect! I find both Alice books hard to fantasy cast since every charactre pretty much comes, then goes, arcless, which means they're not really characters at all. So it all comes down to who you want to hear say the lines, and goodness yes, I with you on Williams regarding that. (Have you seen Andre Gregory's Hatter? This might have come up before. He's traumatised. It's not much fun but it works.)
ReplyDelete