Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy

Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy may indeed be one of the earliest examples of erotic fan fiction to ever surface. Receiving a considerably wide release in the late 1970's, the film became one of the defining pornographic parodies and continued to capitalize on the pornography craze in America during that time. To this day, it's something so quirky, as an idea and a feature-length film, that it practically begs you to watch it just by its title and its cluttered poster of sex-starved misfit characters.

The film revolves around Alice (Kristen De Bell), who falls asleep while reading the classic novel Alice in Wonderland and wakes up in a sexual wonderland, guided by the white rabbit (Terry Spelman) and other classic characters, now bearing some sort of sexual attribute to their personalities. Alice, who prides herself on being a good-natured woman, very dainty and puritanical, has never before seen such sexual freedom and advances run rampant, and the film chronicles her sexual awakening in the land as she assists other characters, such as Humpty Dumpty and the Mad Hatter, in their own personal escapades.

Kristine De Bell is a real find of an actress here, largely because B. Anthony Fredericks gives her character something to do rather than owning the title of the key masturbatory fantasy in the picture. De Bell's Alice is placed into one incredibly silly and deranged setpiece after another, yet through all this insanity, she not only keeps a straight face, but she keeps her persona straight too, naive and well-meaning. Her charisma as an actress is fairly strong and, much like Fredericks' silly screenplay, she's given a lot of creative range as an actress.

Despite bearing an "X" rating, a rating no longer used in the United States, the film is pretty mild - it's no more graphic than Flesh Gordon (which was produced by Alice in Wonderland producer William Osco two years before) because it largely focuses on the story structure and trying to parody something in a memorable way. Pornographic films like these are interesting species largely because they are not focused on the endlessly and emptily scored/shot sex scenes, but more concerned with infusing some cheap, sexualized humor into the screenplay.

Both this and Flesh Gordon are far more innocent pictures than you probably think, but both have the same problem of failing to be very erotic. Because they are bent on setting up a story and characters that mirror their original source material, they falter in the respect of trying to be erotic in addition to making an admirable attempt to cater to more people than those who would frequent a Grindhouse theater on a lonely Wednesday evening. Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy also features a handful of songs composed for the film and even those can distract from the eroticism the film wants to create but can't consistently maintain.

Still, much like Flesh Gordon, there's fun to be had here. De Bell is a real find of an actress, the set decorations are largely attractive, and the songs provide for momentary diversions of plot and point-A-to-point-B structure. This is another one of those see-it-to-believe-it-pornos that would only benefit from being shown on a projector in a room equipped with about two dozen well-worn seats, a sticky floor, an incense odor, and a few shady characters down in front.

Starring: Kristine De Bell, Terry Spelman, Alan Novak, Bradford Armdexter, Gila Havana, and Ron Nelson. Directed by: Bud Townsend.

I'm not much for porno films,to me,if you've seen one then you've seen them all but Alice in Wonderland is a cut above the rest. I remember seeing Kristine Debell on a daytime soap opera (The Young and the restless) back in 1982 and I instantly thought she was something special so I looked into her career and of corse found out about Alice in Wonderland. Anyway,I have seen both soft core and hard core versions of this film and I have to say,I think the best thing would have been if the hard core version was NEVER released. I think it totally ruins the movie for what it was and turned it from a masterpiece into just another XXX movie not to mention that I think it ruined Kristine's career (who I thought was not only beautiful but very talented as an actress) I miss her.

I agree with Rick who previously reviewed this. The soft core "R" version is excellent. The hard core version released later is so disjointed that it is a hardship to watch. The extra hard core scenes detract from the great movie and are truly extraneous.

While originally intended to be a true hard core porno, but the first with a true big budget and quality, Bill chickened out and opted to release an edited "R" rated version instead. That version is the one that everyone loves.

Years later, he succumbed to the pressure from curiosity seekers and added in much of the footage originally left on the cutting room floor, and released the X rated version.

It's pretty obvious when watching the X rated version when these scenes appear.

If you like adult spoofs of fairy tales, quality acting, singing, costumes and sets, then by all means get the "R" rated version. You'll enjoy it.

If you're an avid collector, get both versions.

Adult version of the classic Lewis Carroll tale is much better than you might expect. Here Alice is a virginal librarian who falls down the rabbit hole and learns to love sex and her own self image. Made at the time when adult films were creative endeavors with plots instead of just a series of sex scenes, this is a good looking little movie more akin to the low budget films of its day. Despite what you may think this film actually has a good script with funny jokes and good songs. Its an naughty little tale for adults. If you're wondering whether or not my recommendation is a good one or not consider that the film was pretty much only available in its non-hardcore version for the better part of the last three decades simply because the film stands up with out the sex, which is how I first saw the film years ago on cable TV. The relatively recent home video release on DVD put back the sex (in horribly grainy inserted clips) which makes it clear the removal of the shots was the best choice all around. If you're an open minded adult with a taste for something spicy I can heartily recommend this little film as a nice diversion.

Years ago I saw the box for Alice In Wonderland in a local video shop. I remembered those blue eyes on the cover. After I saw the Big Brawl, I went back to rent the movie, but it was gone. It took me 18 years to get an X-rated cut, and it was worth the wait. The actors look very 1970s...a bit scrawny/decrepit with a lot of hair, but the story is actually entertaining. Nothing like musical numbers in the middle of a porn movie. And there was something special about Kristine DeBell. She is able to project a sort of wholesomeness in the middle of a sex scene. I thought she was great in her appearance on Night Court also. It is a shame that her career never really blossomed.