DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 17, 2025

Alice in Wonderland (1903) While drowsing in her garden, Alice spots a giant white rabbit and follows him down a hole. There, with the aid of a magic fan, she is able to pass through a small door to Wonderland. Once inside, she tries to befriend a dog, meets a baby that turns into a pig, and attends the Mad Hatter's tea party. Eventually, Alice ticks off the Queen and has to escape being executed. It's amazing all the things you can get done in a few minutes when you put your mind to it. This first ever film adaptation of Lewis Carroll's beloved book is heavily abridged, originally running 12 minutes, but now just 9 in the only existing, heavily damaged copy available for viewing. Though all the scratches and artifacting give the film a bit of a David Lynch feel, overall, it's a little pedestrian by modern standards. Even so, it's enough to get the point across until you can watch longer, weirder versions.

TIL: Those of a certain age might remember Reader's Digest Condensed Books, a surprisingly popular series of hardcover anthologies published from 1950 to 1997. Each edition typically featured 2–5 abridged (or "condensed") versions of bestselling novels, allowing readers to whiz through a book without committing to the full-length work. Don't want to wade through the entirety of War and Remembrance or East of Eden but still want to get the basics of the story? Not to worry, Reader's Digest has you covered. It's most daring abridgement was probably in 1982 when the company released the Reader's Digest Condensed Version of the Bible, which reduces the size of the Old Testament by about 50% and the New Testament by 25%. This makes for brisker reading but, obviously, is utter crap if you want to make sure you get all the nuances of the book's complex theology. Still, if it gets you started on the journey, go for it.

Unknown Island (1948) A fortune-seeker talks his rich fiancée into chartering a trip to an island where dinosaurs supposedly still thrive. Along for the journey are a lecherous drunken captain, a semi-drunken first mate, a heroic seaman who starts off the movie in a drunken stupor, and a ship full of racially ambiguous stereotypes who probably had to get drunk to play these parts. Once on the island, things go awry as the motley crew cross paths with a bunch of dinosaurs that look like low-budget prototypes for those inflatable T-Rex costumes, and a guy in a gorilla suit that we're meant to believe is a giant sloth. More or less taking the island part of King Kong and making it the whole movie, this no-budget quickie is easy viewing for those who find old films with shoddy effects charming. 

TIL: Back in the 6th century, St. Brendan the Navigator undertook a seven-year voyage that legends say took him to a number of unknown islands. There was an isle of crystal pillars (icebergs, maybe), a "paradise of birds" inhabited by singing avian saints, and a moving island that turned out to be a whale's back. The most astonishing was a gem-covered island inhabited by ageless saints with whom he spent 40 days praying and feasting. After Brendan's departure, the island vanished into a mysterious fog. As late as the 16th century, sailors in the area still reported seeing this island appear and disappear. However, whether the tales are entirely factual or not, the unknown islands encountered by St. Brendan have come to symbolize the spiritual trials and divine wonders to be experienced on the Christian journey.