Among the many rare and unique titles held in the NFSA’s Non-Theatrical Lending Collection is a single 16mm print of Alice Through the Lift Doors, an obscure 20-minute promotional film made for the department store Myer. Directed by Ron Saunders, the film was produced in 1977 for the Australian Retailers Association and used as an induction tool for new employees being trained at the store.

This clip showcases the film’s mix of surrealist, scripted whimsy and conventional documentary storytelling, which loosely adapts characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to the ‘70s wonderland of glittering suburban malls. Popular television actors of the time, Judy McBurney (The Box) and Ron Shand (Number 96), were cast as Alice and the White Rabbit. The duo navigate the history and function of the retail ecosystem, particularly the opportunities for working women.

Scenes were filmed in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Italy, and include coverage of the 1977 Macef Primavera retail trade show in Milan. A notable sequence later in the film features a performance by rock band the Angels for Christmas shoppers at Roselands Shopping Centre in south-west Sydney. When it first opened in October 1965, Roselands was – briefly – the largest indoor shopping centre in the southern hemisphere.

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