Dreamchild |  | Director: Gavin Millar
Actors: Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher, Nicola Cowper, Jane Asher
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: Video
This item is no longer available
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 565
Format: NTSC
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Discs: 1
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6302717655
UPC: 027616276735
EAN: 9786302717655
ASIN: 6302717655
Theatrical Release Date: October 4, 1985
Release Date: April 1, 2003
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| Editorial Reviews:
From Amazon.com
This 1985 film from Britain offers up the only possible reason the extraordinary British writer Dennis Potter could be involved with a project also featuring the talents of Jim Henson's Muppets. The subject is the awkward relationship between Charles Dodgson (Ian Holm), better known to the world as Lewis Carroll, and Alice Liddell (played by Coral Browne as an adult), as it was in the 19th century when Liddell inspired Carroll to create Alice In Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. The full account of that bond is finally told by Alice in 1932, as she arrives in New York City to participate in the 100th anniversary of Dodgson's birth. Flustered by press and public attention, Alice releases her repressed memories from that time, and Henson's factory does a wonderful job creating bold realizations of the author's characters and settings. Both dark and light, Dreamchild is a mesmerizing spectacle with inner portraits of two quite dissimilar but equally vulnerable people. Holm is excellent as the stammering, often ridiculed Dodgson. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews:
a flawed, overlooked gem May 22, 2004
ageofanxiety (usa)
this film is all the proof one needs that ian holm is a vastly underrated character actor who ranks with the likes of claude rains, sydney greenstreet, james mason and more.
he is brilliant in the role of carrol.
the film istelf is a disturbing, pentrating, dreamlike look into a very uncomfortable relationship between carroll and alice .
coral nearly equals holms' and provides a challanging, highly emotional performance.
jim henson too provides challanging work in millar's overlooked gem.but, there is one major flaw and that is the romantic subplot invovling alice's young maid.
so out of place, so distracting.
when will see the dvd release?
probably not anytime soon.
 Why is a raven like a writing desk? December 19, 2003
Pamela Scarangello (Middletown, NJ USA)
"Dreamchild" is a pleasant drama based on a 1967 BBC television play by Johnathan Miller. While being entirely fictional, the film drew much inspiration from the historical figures involved in developing the "Alice in Wonderland" book. At the same time, this movie features playful yet disturbing characters created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which at the time had finished working on "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth."
The year is 1932. The dignified Mrs. Alice Hargreaves (Coral Browne) has arrived to New York City to receive an honorary degree from Columbia University. The institution is planning to celebrate the 100th birthday of Charles Dodgeson (Ian Holm), AKA Lewis Carroll. Upon hearing the news about her arrival, New York's hungry reporters and photographers surround the old woman like vultures, treating her like celebrity. While they are anxious to know the relationship she once had with Lewis Carroll, she doesn't understand why so much fuss is placed into her association with a children's novel. In fact, after 70 years of strict, Victorian etiquette, Mrs. Hargreaves has almost forgotton about the simple joys of childhood nonsense. In the first half of the film, she is proud in her upper-class pomposity, reprimanding any stranger who calls her by her first name. Occasionally, there is humor in the clash between British and American behaviors. Later on, Jack Dolan (Peter Gallagher), a handsome and ambitious ex-reporter from the Harold Tribune, tries to convince Mrs. Hargreaves to capitalize on her identity; to rely on her childhood memories as a method of endorsing a feature film and radio ads. For further persuasion, Jack even uses his charms to woo Lucy (Nicola Cowper), Mrs. Hargreaves fragile and obedient daughter. Gradually, behind closed doors, the old woman becomes more vulnerable as she begins recalling the buried memories of her past. Throughout the film, viewers will see flashbacks of Alice's childhood; as a spirited, 10-year-old girl (Amelia Shankley), she has a blossoming love for her mathematics teacher Charles Dodgeson, who once told the adventures of Wonderland to her and her older sisters. Mr. Dodgeson, meanwhile, is a shy, private individual who stutters in the company of other people. He also feared that the little girl he knew as Alice would soon forget about the gift he gave her. It's clear that he's much more comfortable in the warmth of his own imaginative world than in the coldness of reality.
As Mrs. Hargreaves struggles to recall what Mr. Dodgeson said to her, several hallucinating scenes show her walking INTO the fantastic world of Wonderland. While her image flips back and forth between that of a child and an elder, she is tormented by the grotesque characters she encounters. The Griffin, for example, appears as a fierce predator, bearing the head of a hairy rooster and the large wings of a hawk. The purple Caterpiller has an unpleasant, almost pulpy body while he sternly stares at Alice with his yellow eyes. The March Hare looks like a diseased animal with his crooked buck teeth and gray fur. The Mad Hatter is perhap the most abusive character of all; when Mrs. Hargreaves forgets what day of the month it is, he snarls, "You stupid, ugly old hag. You should be DEAD!"
The movie, overall, is quite a treat to watch. Not only does it picture the stylish look of the early 1930's, but it also emits a mystery caught between both the fantastic and the real worlds. Fans of "Alice in Wonderland" will enjoy it because it captures the lovely summer days of the 19th century; it's a time when ladies were dressed in lace and children played croquet on the grassy lawns.
not for young children... June 25, 2002
Molly
Alice in Wonderland is a stroy which seems vastly different when read as a child and then reread as an adult. In this, a truly amazing movie which examines the lives of the real Alice in Wonderland and the real Lewis Carroll, the story told from Mrs. Hargreves (Alice's) point of view. She is now a woman in her eighties who has come to America for a ceremony in honor of the late Reverand better known as Lewis Carroll.
Travelling with Mrs. Hargreves is a young lady, who falls in love with an out-of-work reporter who is determined to get the "real story" out of Mrs. Hargreves. The love story is very charming.
Jim Hensons puppetry is also in the film, but this is not a movie for young children. The puppets are fierce and scary (indeed, very well done) The other reason that this is not an appropriate movie for young children is because it examines the awkward attraction and the Reverand's inappropriate love for young Alice. This is handled very well by the filmakers, keeping the movie in good taste. It is highly recommended for adult fans of Henson, and people who love Alice in Wonderland.
Jim henson does alice in wonderland December 14, 2000
This film is one of my favorites of all time. An avid Lewis C./Alice in Wonderland fan, this film has all the elements of brilliance. The story is dark, Jim Henson does some of his best work ever, and the acting (especially by Ian Holm) is superb. It is an older film, and thus the special effects and such are not up to todays standards, but the story itself is timeless, and Henson and his workshop did a flawless job of bringing their characters to life. Highly recommended.
It Ain't the Meat, it's the (E)motion August 31, 2000
Nancy B. LaMotta (Annandale, VA United States)
"Dreamchild" hypothesizes the relationship of _Alice in Wonderland"'s author Lewis Carroll (Rev. Dodson)and Alice Liddell, the little girl to and for whom he told the tale. It does this through flashbacks in the psyche of the now 80-year old Alice, en route to America to be honored in a centenary of Dodson's birth. This movie's premise is that Alice has just plain forgotten, or deliberately put the 70-year old relationship with Dodson out of her mind, repressed it, because of the slightly sinister, decidedly unnatural spin her suspicious mother placed on it all those years ago. In the end, she realizes that "I was too young to recognize the gift" at the time it was offerred--namely, that Dodson simply loved her--and that she loved him. I found the movie spellbinding, the hypothesis believable, and Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Jane Asher, and Amelia Shankley mesmerising; but most of all, it's the dreamy, brooding soundtrack that haunts...! I've seen this movie many times; from opening credits to final logo it reduces me to tears, and even for days afterward. Just thinking of a few bars of it has me running for tissues.
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