{"id":5237,"date":"2008-02-03T11:19:10","date_gmt":"2008-02-03T18:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5237"},"modified":"2023-11-18T18:26:55","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T01:26:55","slug":"dreamchild-1985","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5237","title":{"rendered":"Dreamchild (1985)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;We all want you to be the little girl you once were.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Dreamchild-Poster2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Dreamchild-Poster2-199x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-67469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Dreamchild-Poster2-199x300.png 199w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Dreamchild-Poster2-678x1024.png 678w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Dreamchild-Poster2-85x128.png 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Dreamchild-Poster2-179x270.png 179w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/Dreamchild-Poster2.png 741w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 1932, 79-year-old Alice Hargreaves (Coral Browne) &#8212; the inspiration for Lewis Carroll&#8217;s <em>Alice in Wonderland<\/em> &#8212; arrives in New York for a centennial celebration with her assistant (Nicola Cowper), and finds herself besieged by both reporters (including the unscrupulous Peter Gallagher, who pursues Cowper) and marketers. Meanwhile, she reflects back on her days as a young girl (Amelia Shankley), when Carroll (Ian Holm) was clearly besotted with her.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fantasy<\/li>\n<li>Flashback Films<\/li>\n<li>Historical Drama<\/li>\n<li>Ian Holm Films<\/li>\n<li>Writers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nThis most unusual little film &#8212; scripted by Dennis Potter &#8212; relies on a real life event (Alice Hargreaves&#8217; visit to America in 1932) to fictionally explore the confusing &#8212; though literarily fruitful &#8212; relationship between besotted Lewis Carroll and young Alice, and the ramifications this famous association continued to have on grown Alice&#8217;s life. The &#8220;modern-day&#8221; section of the film pokes satirical fun at the culture clash between dignified Hargreaves (Browne is simply wonderful) and media-happy, Depression-era America, which is more than willing to exploit Hargreaves&#8217; presence &#8212; with pay &#8212; for the sake of marketing her &#8220;image&#8221; like mad (this part of the story is reminiscent of Chaplin&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=4660\"><em>King in New York<\/em><\/a> from 1957). Less successful is the budding romance between a mercenary ex-journalist (Peter Gallagher) and Hargreaves&#8217; young assistant (Nicola Cowper), though Cowper (who sadly never made a big name for herself) more than holds her own in scenes which don&#8217;t do her justice. <\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, however, <em>Dreamchild<\/em> is most concerned with Alice&#8217;s reflective flashbacks to her childhood, which &#8212; often in nightmarish ways &#8212; occasionally merge with the present in her aging mind. Ian Holm perfectly embodies the conflicted Reverend Dodgson (pen name &#8220;Lewis Carroll&#8221;), effectively conveying his desire for Alice while remaining sympathetic to viewers, given that he never acts upon his pedophilic urges. Amelia Shankley as young Alice is an excellent counterpart to Holm, showing clear evidence of the insouciant charm Carroll fell in love with, while (we sigh with relief) making the boundaries between the two of them perfectly clear. Equally impressive &#8212; though not given enough screen time &#8212; are Jim Henson&#8217;s Wonderland creations, including Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter, Gryphon, Caterpillar, and Dormouse. They&#8217;re both magical and frightening, a perfect manifestation of Carroll&#8217;s twisted imagination and Alice&#8217;s lifelong interpretation of them, and they add just the right surreal touch to this highly unique film. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.trivia-library.com\/c\/biography-of-alice-in-wonderland-alice-liddle-hargreaves-part-1.htm\">here<\/a>  and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.trivia-library.com\/c\/biography-of-alice-in-wonderland-alice-liddle-hargreaves-part-2.htm\">here<\/a> to read more about Carroll&#8217;s real-life relationship with young Alice and her sisters. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Coral Browne as Alice Hargreaves<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-browne.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-browne.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5240\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Ian Holm as Lewis Carroll<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-holm.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-holm.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5241\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Nicola Cowper as Mrs. Hargreave&#8217;s naive young assistant<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-nicola.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-nicola.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5242\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Amelia Shankley as &#8220;young Alice&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-alice.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-alice.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5238\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jim Henson&#8217;s muppetlike creatures of Wonderland<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-creatures.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/dreamchild-creatures.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5239\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a little-seen &#8220;good show&#8221;, and for Browne&#8217;s performance. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good Show<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0089052\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1985\/10\/04\/movies\/film-dreamchild-about-lewis-carrol-s-alice.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moria.co.nz\/fantasy\/dreamchild.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/dreamchild-1986\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/65763\/dreamchild.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We all want you to be the little girl you once were.&#8221; Synopsis: In 1932, 79-year-old Alice Hargreaves (Coral Browne) &#8212; the inspiration for Lewis Carroll&#8217;s Alice in Wonderland &#8212; arrives in New York for a centennial celebration with her assistant (Nicola Cowper), and finds herself besieged by both reporters (including the unscrupulous Peter Gallagher, who pursues Cowper) and marketers. Meanwhile, she reflects back on her days as a young girl (Amelia Shankley), when Carroll (Ian Holm) was clearly besotted&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5237\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5237"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93383,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237\/revisions\/93383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}